As the search for much-loved actor Julian Sands enters its 12th day on the snow-covered peaks of the San Gabriel ranges outside Los Angeles, another hiker has disappeared.
A third hiker, LA resident Crystal Paula Gonzalez-Landas – known as the “hiking queen” – died on January 8 after slipping 200 metres down Mount Baldy, after warning hikers of treacherous conditions on her Facebook page.
“This stuff is dangerous,” she said, filming an ice-flow cascade down a ridge line four days before she died.
Sands (A Room with a View, Ocean’s 13) is an experienced hiker and was first reported missing by his wife, Eugenia Citkowitz, on January 13 after hiking up Mount Baldy, sparking a widespread search-and-rescue operation that has spanned almost two weeks.
Friend Kevin Ryan, who regularly hikes with the 65-year-old Sands, said he was “a powerful hiker … always prepared”, and someone who knew “that mountain backwards”.
“If anyone can get through this, he can,” he wrote.
Sands’ family describe him as a “heroic mountaineer” while fellow actor Matthew Modine took to social media to “keep candles burning for his safe return from the mountain he loves”.
On January 16, LA South Bay man and experienced hiker Bob Gregory, 61, also disappeared while hiking on nearby Mount Islip and has still not been located.
For a fourth hiker, North Hollywood man Jin Chung, 75, there was overwhelming good news.
He also disappeared in the same Baldy Bowl area on January 22 but was found on January 25 (AEDT) and treated for a leg injury and “some weather-related injuries”.
Authorities said severe winter weather following weeks of storms that dumped heavy snow in California mountains made the Baldy area dangerous for outdoor recreation.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s office describes avalanche risks, poor trail conditions and multiple road closures, including no phone coverage.
“Hiking not advised,” wrote a roadside warning.
In the past four weeks alone, search teams have conducted 14 rescue missions on Mount Baldy and surrounding areas for lost or stranded hikers, two of whom died.
‘A heroic mountaineer’
In a 2020 interview with the Daily Mail, Sands revealed his love of mountain climbing, including climbing Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn.
“The highest peak I’ve scaled is Aconcagua in the Andes, at 6962m, and I’ve also climbed in Antarctica, Greenland and Asia,” he said at the time.
However, his brother Nick Sands told local Yorkshire paper the Craven Herald he felt in his heart that his brother had died.
“He has not yet been declared missing, presumed dead, but I know in my heart that he has gone.
“However, sibling rivalry being what it is, it would be just like him to walk out of there and prove me wrong.”
Mr Sands said the Mount Baldy mountain range was his brother’s favourite place, where he would go as often as he could.
“Julian liked to say, ‘I have never had a holiday but I do rest occasionally’ – well he’s resting now in a place he would truly approve of.
“It was the hills and mountains where Julian really revived, hiking in the Yorkshire Dales leading on to him climbing iconic mountains like the Matterhorn and the Eiger, technically challenging but high reward.
“Last year, like most years, he came to Gargrave [North Yorkshire] on three occasions every time walking up Sharp Haw to view Gargrave and the beauty of the Craven Fault.”
Last week, Sands’ family released the last known images of him mountaineering, telling The Independent: “This is how he would love to be seen, doing what he loved best – a heroic mountaineer.”
The search continues
The 17-kilometre Mount Baldy hike takes walkers to the highest point in LA at a height of 10,064 metres.
There is a 6.5-kilometre climb, described as a “tough yet popular hike”, well worth the effort and you can see the Pacific to Mojave on a clear day, according to Mount Baldy’s official website.
The Baldy Bowl, a large sloping area below the crest of the Mount Baldy ski area, is a popular destination for skiers, climbers and backpackers.
Phone signals detected on January 15 showed Sands was then heading to the Mount Baldy area, apparently the latest indication he was still on the move.
Subsequent attempts to “ping” his phone failed “due to the lack of cell service and most likely cell phone power failure”, the department said in an update posted on January 19.
Helicopters resumed an aerial search on January 23 in the same locations as they found Mr Chung alive.
A ‘beautiful actor’
Born in West Yorkshire, England, Sands moved to California in the 1980s to pursue a Hollywood career after the success of the 1985 film A Room with a View, a period romance that co-starred Helena Bonham Carter.
He also starred as the son of Satan in the 1989 supernatural thriller Warlock and its sequel Warlock: The Armageddon.
He played the title role in the 1998 film version of The Phantom of the Opera and starred opposite martial arts performer Jackie Chan in the 2003 action-comedy The Medallion.
He also had major roles in Arachnophobia, Naked Lunch (1991), Boxing Helena (1993) and Leaving Las Vegas (1995), and has worked consistently in the decades since with smaller roles in film and television.
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