Officers have recognized one of many three hikers discovered useless on Mt. Baldy this week as 19-year-old Marcus Muench Casanova of Seal Seaside.
Casanova fell 500 toes on Monday whereas climbing Satan’s Spine, a pointy ridge with steep drops on both aspect, in response to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Division.
Two different hikers have been then noticed on the mountainside by a helicopter despatched to rescue Casanova, however crews have been unable to conduct the operation resulting from excessive winds, officers stated. An airship later lowered a medic, who discovered that each one three males had died. A sheriff’s air rescue group recovered the our bodies at about 2 p.m. the next afternoon.
The identities of the 2 different males haven’t been launched. Investigators stated they weren’t climbing with Casanova, and it’s unclear after they died, how lengthy they have been on the mountain or whether or not they have been reported lacking previous to the invention.
Casanova was a part-time seasonal worker with the Lengthy Seaside Division of Parks, Recreation and Marine and had labored as a crusing teacher on the Leeway Crusing and Aquatics Middle since 2023, the town stated in a press release.
“Marcus had a uncommon present of connecting with everybody he met, making summers and weekends brighter for crusing program members and his fellow colleagues,” the assertion stated.
The hikers’ deaths have reverberated by means of the Southern California climbing neighborhood, the place outdoor fans discovered themselves explaining, in on-line boards and to reporters in cellphone interviews, the twin nature of situations on Mt. Baldy as observers speculate about what may have occurred to every of the hikers.
Officers haven’t offered any particulars on what they suppose induced Casanova to fall or how the opposite two our bodies ended up within the space.
Usually phrases, the climb to the highest of Mt. Baldy is taken into account an entry-level mountaineering expertise throughout hotter climate however harmful throughout the winter, stated Kyle Fordham, a 36-year-old hiker from Lakewood who has summited the best peak in Southern California’s San Gabriel Mountains not less than 10 instances — twice in snowy situations.
The mountain’s shut proximity to Los Angeles, coupled with social media content material selling the hike, encourages inexperienced adventurers, Fordham stated, with “zero regard to the precise hazard they’re placing themselves in.”
There are two common routes, Fordham stated. The Baldy Bowl Path is shorter however requires a steeper climb. The Satan’s Spine path is usually thought-about the simpler choice, however it turns into “a demise slide” within the winter, Fordham stated.
“It mainly turns into a large ice cliff,” Fordham stated. “If you happen to don’t know what you’re doing, you possibly can very simply die on it.”
Allen Giernet, director of the So Cal Snow Avalanche Middle, stated the mountain tends to get storms that originally drop rain at excessive elevations earlier than the rainline drops, the moist floor freezes, and snow falls on prime of the ice, obscuring the slippery hazard. The Satan’s Spine is a very troublesome spot, he stated.
“We had one thing like 13 rescues in 14 days one winter,” he stated.
With such a protracted drop on both aspect of the path, even an skilled mountaineer with an ice ax and crampons would discover it tough to cease themselves from sliding, stated Giernet, who as soon as turned again from the route resulting from icy situations years in the past.
When climbing Mt. Baldy final month, Fordham opted for the Baldy Bowl Path, he stated, noting that it supplies extra stability, one thing inexperienced mountaineers usually don’t know.
Equally, veteran hiker George Rojas, 53, stated some folks unfamiliar with the terrain will take Satan’s Spine as a result of it’s not as steep as Baldy Bowl. However the path is slender and uncovered, with some areas simply six toes extensive and flanked by 1,000-foot drops on both aspect, he stated.
And snow can obscure the path completely, he stated — “you suppose you’re stepping on strong floor and, actually, your complete physique drops all the way in which right down to your chest” or, worse, down an embankment. “If you happen to’re not aware of the realm — and I imply extraordinarily acquainted — it’s very simple to fall off the path.”
Rojas lives close to Mt. Baldy and estimates he’s climbed the mountain 20 to 30 instances. Greater than as soon as, he’s began down Satan’s Spine from the height however has needed to flip again and go down the opposite means as a result of a shift within the winds has made the path unsafe, he stated.
Though it’s necessary to examine the climate earlier than a hike and produce the suitable gear and provides, many judgment calls have to be made on the spot in response to altering situations, he stated. That requires data solely expertise can impart.
“Most necessary is to know when to show again,” he stated.
“A number of the native hikers are inclined to steer clear of that space within the snow as a result of it’s so harmful and there’s been plenty of deaths there earlier than,” he added. Hikers have additionally died elsewhere on the mountain, he stated, together with Crystal Gonzalez, who fell about 500 toes whereas climbing on the Baldy Bowl Path in 2023. Rojas was not there on the time however sometimes hiked with Gonzalez, he stated.
Momo Dovalina, 47, is an skilled hiker who organizes common meetups to summit native peaks. She climbed Mt. Baldy twice in 2024 — in June, then once more in September. She wanted solely strong climbing footwear and trekking poles.
Within the winter, the mountain is a complete totally different beast, she stated. “Despite the fact that I’ve hiked plenty of locations, I do know that may be a extremely technical hike that I don‘t have sufficient expertise for.”
Since she’s been lively within the native climbing neighborhood, she stated, “I sat again and watched yearly folks go up there and never return.”
Loura Favis, who routinely hikes Mt. Baldy, took the Baldy Bowl Path on Sunday, a day earlier than the our bodies have been discovered. She encountered three younger hikers who seemed to be of their early 20s, she stated, and warned them in opposition to persevering with as a result of they didn’t have the correct gear. They didn’t pay attention and insisted on making an attempt to summit, she stated.
When she hiked up the mountain every week prior, on Dec. 21, she descended by means of the Satan’s Spine Path and bumped into a bunch of youngsters, one carrying Nike Dunks — basketball footwear. “One misplaced the only of their shoe. Just one was carrying climbing footwear. They [didn’t] have flashlights with them,” Favis stated.
Favis, of Anaheim, urges hikers to chorus from taking the Satan’s Spine route throughout snowy situations. “That path may be very, very uncovered. One robust wind can knock you over,” she stated. “Not plenty of hikers go that route within the snow. That’s why it makes it extra scary, as a result of you possibly can fall and no one sees you.”
Sunday’s hike was robust, she stated, with very windy situations and snow as much as her knees. Favis has hiked the mountain each Sunday for the final two months, and numerous instances earlier than that. She’s scared to go once more, she stated, a query now clouding her thoughts: “Am I going to find a useless physique?”
