UPDATE: Two Hikers Injured on Storm-Shrouded Baldy, Carried Off Mountain

 

Update 3:37 p.m. Two men who were injured Sunday on Mount Baldy spent the night at the ski hut below Baldy Bowl before volunteers carried them out on rescue litters, a sheriff's deputy in Baldy Village said Monday afternoon.
"We made numerous attempts with aviation from both San Bernardino County and Los Angeles County, but due to lack of visibility they could not do a hoist," Deputy Robert Whiteside of San Bernardino County sheriff's Volunteer Forces told Patch in a phone interview.
"They were littered out by San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Kern county search-and-rescue," Whiteside said. "One of them was 55 to 60 years old and the other was 25 to 30. Both men."
The San Antonio Ski Hut, is at 8,300 feet elevation and it is a steep three miles to the trailhead at Manker Flat.
The volunteers reached the trailhead with the injured men before 3 p.m. Dec. 24 and transferred them to waiting ambulance personnel, who drove them to hospitals for further treatment, Whiteside said.
Whiteside said he was shutting down the command post at Mt. Baldy Fire Station at 3:30 p.m.
Posted 12:17 p.m. Two hikers were injured Sunday on storm-shrouded Mount Baldy, volunteers located them and they spent the night at a ski hut, and helicopter pilots Monday were trying to determine if a hoist rescue was possible, a deputy at a command post said.
One of the hikers may have been injured on the Devil's Backbone trail, Robert Whiteside of San Bernardino County sheriff's Volunteer Forces told Patch in a phone interview Monday afternoon.
The individuals' injuries included possible rib fractures, hip injuries and scrapes, Whiteside said, speaking from a command post at Mt. Baldy Fire Station in Baldy Village.
Search-and-rescue volunteers located the injured hikers Sunday, managed to help them to the San Antonio Ski Hut below Baldy Bowl, and that is where they spent the night, Whiteside said.
"Right now the two injured are still on the mountain," Whiteside said. "Aviation units are looking at conditions to assess whether a hoist rescue is possible. Medics are up there with them. Their condition is considered stable."
The two individuals were in different groups while hiking Dec. 23 on Mount Baldy, north of Claremont and La Verne, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
"The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department was contacted and deputies responded," Whiteside said in a news release.
"A rescue plan was initiated through mutual aid," Whiteside said. "Members from San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, Mt. Baldy Fire Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Los Angeles County Fire Department and American Medical Response responded."
Search-and-rescue volunteers from San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Kern counties responded and located both hikers, Whiteside said.
"The hikers were brought to the Mount Baldy Sierra Club Ski Hut, where they are being [prepared] for transport off the mountain for further medical treatment," Whiteside said. "Stormy weather conditions are being reported on the mountain with minimal visibility."
The San Antonio Ski Hut, built by volunteers in 1937, is at 8,300 feet elevation below Baldy Bowl, and it is a steep 3-mile hike from the trailhead at Manker Flat.
Mount Baldy, also known as Mount San Antonio, is 10,064 feet and straddles the Los Angeles-San Bernardino county line. Its summit is the highest point the San Gabriel range and in Los Angeles County.
Last week a sheriff's helicopter crew rescued two people who were stranded near the summit of Mount Baden-Powell, northwest of Mount Baldy in the San Gabriels.