15 hikers missing or injured and at least 2 have died on Mt. Baldy in January 2023

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 A mountain of trouble? The draw – and danger – of California’s Mount Baldy

At 10,064ft high, Mount San Antonio – commonly known as Baldy – towers in the San Gabriel mountains on the eastern edge of ...

 In January alone, 15 hikers have been hurt or lost on the mountain, and at least two have died. Among those still missing is the British actor Julian Sands, who was reported lost on 13 January. Authorities continue to search for him, but have been hampered by challenging weather.

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The main problem is that you have 25 million people in Southern California and some of them are hikers like I always was.  I have taken the ski lift up to close to the top of Mt. Baldy with my son in the spring or summer and walked to the point where I could see both into the desert east of Mt. Baldy and back towards the view of Pomona and towards Los Angeles and the ocean (which on a clear day you can see the ocean too from there). But, I've never climbed Mt. Baldy.

To the south of Mt. Baldy past San Bernadino is also Mt. San Gorgonio which I have climbed to the top of. But, if you do this in the winter time you might die doing this like I almost did at about age 21 in the snow and ice storm at the summit and after.

So, often people take risks while climbing Mt. Baldy or San Gorgonio. Of the two there are more ways to survive a problem on Mt. Baldy as long as you don't get too far from a road or civiization doing this.

However, Mt. San Gorgonio is much more remote in every way so dying on Mt. San Gorgonio at 11,503 feet is the tallest mountain in southern California. 

But, if you are taking risks as a climber (whether you understand you are or not things can go sideways pretty quickly if you sprain your ankle or have another problem like I did.

What I did was to walk with snow shoes across what is normally 6 to 8 feet tall ironwood bushes that were covered with enough snow so you couldn't see the tops of them. And at one point I fell Through and was hanging upside down getting poked by ironwood badly and hung upside down from my snow shoes inside the bush and under the snow. This was after climbing San Gorgonio to the top and I was already exhausted when this happened and now I was bloody from all the pokes of ironwood into my flesh.

But, somehow I found the courage to continue and when I got to the parking lot where my car was a rescue party was there in case they needed to rescue me and my father was there too who had driven up from Yucca Valley when my other hikers saw I didn't return by nightfall to the parking lot. So, almost anything can go wrong hiking up there especially in the winter when conditions are often snowy to where you cannot walk anywhere without snow shoes or cross country skis through that wilderness area.