Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board 51 Yr Old Woman Missing on Baldy

31ruecambon,

Good eye.

I think you are correct. It looked like MT Whitney to me also

Sadly, Stacy, that's pretty common with any story involving a lost hiker. Some of the "participative" comments on news websites regarding the Nebraska group missing on Whitney last month were much worse than these. "Let 'em die", "They're not worth the effort or expense", "Stupid = dead", blah-blah-blah. In some cases they're just slimy trolls who are looking for attention, but in far too many cases they're regular people who couldn't get a clue if their life depended on it.

Hoping for a good outcome for Michelle.

I have been on Baldy when Search and Rescue were looking for someone and the mountain was open and they seemed happy to have others around that were familiar with the area. They were showing photos of the missing person asking hikers look out for him. This was in 2004 when Eugene went missing.
SAR wouldn’t be allowed to encourage someone to search or allow them to join in their search, but I don’t think they would try and stop someone from walking the trails on the mountain and keeping their eyes and ears open. If I could go I would just avoid any area where they appeared to be actively searching .

I am still hoping for her to turn up safe.

@Stacy, if you look at youtube allot or online stuff it really does never cease to amaze me the IQ of some people, or utter lack of respect for their fellow human being. Just ignore them.

Gary
I heard and read alot of comments about that rescue. They might have made a bad decision to continue up to the summit based on time and approaching weather, but that does not mean they should be left to die for thier mistake! You're right, they don't have a clue.

Stacy

I am about 75% sure I may have seen her about mid-way between the top of the bowl and the summit. It would have been noonish. I was going down, she was booking it on the way up. I have a fuzzy recollection of a big smile, bright colors maybe some bright red pants? Maybe plastic boots? The gal I saw was doing great and acting like she knew exactly what she was doing and was carrying a very full good sized daypack. At that time of day no one was more than 10-15 minutes from someone in front of or behind them. A somewhat steady stream of people. Stacey and Curt were 10 minutes in front of me at that point. Stacey, does any of this sound familiar to you?

I know Jeff. And I hate to react to it because that's what these fools want...attention
This one just hits extremely close to home because we were all there having such a great time on the summit earlier that day.
And by that evening while we were sitting at REI enjoying Cindy's awesome presentation, this poor woman was alone, probably injured, and freezing cold on the mountain...
Juat a sad sad turn of events.

Stacy

Yes Ron,
Curt and I remember saying hello to an Asian woman in a yellow jacket on the ridge heading down. We stepped aside to let her pass. I think it was somewhere around the area where we stopped to warn you about that steep icy section...maybe just past it.
She didn't say much just looked up and smiled. I wish I could remember the details, but I don't think it would help at this point. I just hope they find her...like NOW!!!

Stacy

How might you describe in more detail the location where you last saw her to someone who was not with your group or is not familiar with Mt Baldy. While I have been summiting frequently since 1968 and am quite familiar with the area, I know from working with the WVSAR team on the July 5th/6th search that some of the volunteers, while highly experienced, were not familiar with the area. Also hard sightings with specific times can be quite helpful to the coordinator. Any extra detail can help out quite a bit.

I might suspect from your comment that she chose an alternate route back.

So, which ridge? Approximately at what point? Can you provide an approximate lat/lon of the last sighting (perhaps from reviewing a map or google earth)?

The guys are likely operating out of the Mt Baldy fire station again and would probably like to hear from you or any of the others that hiked that day. In July it was West Valley SAR (WVSAR), based on twitter in may be San Benardino SAR (SBSAR) this time.

We all have high hopes. I pray she makes it out okay.

Jim

P.S.
The Mt Baldy Command Center # was 1-909-982-1625 in July, I don't think it has changed. I am sure they are very busy, but would like to hear any sightings.

PS2
Just tried calling. Looks like they possibly have tied a fax to the line. I'm off looking for alternate #.

PS3
Just talked with Mt Baldy Fire Station 1-909-982-1213. Their last confirmed sighting of her was on the Summit. So, BiletChick probably has a later sighting.

The spot where Curt, Stacy and I MAY have seen her is right on the main trail, maybe a mile below the summit and she was on her way up. I guarantee they have scoured the area where we saw the gal somewhat matching her description.

Everyone who hikes with her said she ALWAYS goes the same way. And down the backbone to the lift. I searched today and I think she slipped on the backside. The ice is slicker than snot and an ax would've been useless. This is so sad. Plus it rained like heck Sunday night.

Tracie be careful, don't get yourself in trouble.....Don't get Yeti angry with ya!!!

As I understand things, she goes up the Ski Hut Trail and down the Backbone. She was doing a day hike on Saturday. The precipitation arrived on Sunday. I did a Register Ridge - Ski Hut loop on Friday. There was little snow on the Backbone until past Harwood on the way to Baldy. Rick Graham made similar comments in this thread about his hike on Sunday morning. Has anyone provided any indication that there were dangerous conditions on the Backbone on Saturday between Register Ridge and the Lodge?

Yes backbone had bad, icy conditions. Thanks Yeti, I am off the mountain. Not going back till the weekend.

OK. It was not clear to me that things were already bad on Saturday. It makes me glad I did not head down that way. There was no snow on Register Ridge and things were pretty mellow on the Ski Hut Trail.

Tracie, got any photos of the icy/snowy sections on the backbone trail? Just curious as to which sections along the backbone trail were holding on to more snow than around the Harwood area.

I don’t know about the temps on Sat or Sat evening, but I was surprised how mild the temps were on Sunday morning. I hiked up Register Ridge (RR) in a t-shirt and then put on a MH wind-jacket at the intersection of RR and the backbone trail due to the wind chill.

This time of the year (vs. Summer time), very few people seem to hike up across the backbone trail. On Sunday, I didn’t see anyone else hiking over from the notch. Too bad, as more "eyes" out there may have spotted something.

Keep up the good thinking folks, this thread shows the value of lots of Baldy “experts” and brains can have trying to figure out what happened. I’m still holding onto hope that she’s going to make it.

Graham I only took photos of suspect looking things and I have to go look at them on my laptop to zoom in...II am near sighted...plus was windy on top and I was being extra careful ...

Rick, while much of the DBB has the potential to ice up in winter, two areas are typically sketchy (as I’m sure you know). One is the south facing traverse below Hardwood, just west of where you drop onto Register Ridge. I’m thinking that was mostly dry when I saw you on Sunday?

The other area is the curving east and south facing traverse, not far from the upper chair lift. The route most people take in winter avoids the traverse though and climbs up to the ridge proper. While that’s safer, it does expose you to the steep north faces. While we were on the summit a couple of guys were considering going that way. Since they didn’t have ice axes, we convinced them that it would be a bad idea. I don't know whether or not Michelle had an axe and crampons.

Hoping for the best.

On todays news they showed a recent pic of her in all her gear. It looked like she had an full backpack and she was wearing a red parka. Perhaps she has more than one parka.

Also, the news indicated that since they are having trouble finding her they are asking for volunteers to help them this weekend. SAR said they looked in all the probable places where hikers have gotten in trouble and now they are starting to look else where, which means they are looking in places where survivability is less probable.

TeamBruin is also hoping for the best, as Michelle has been on our minds and in our prayers since the weekend ... I regret to report that a local news station just released the following:

"San Bernardino County Sheriff's deputies tell KTLA they found a body believed to be that of missing 49-year-old Michelle Yu who disappeared while hiking near Mt. Baldy in the Angeles National Forest.

The body was found Wednesday night in the Fish Fork area, 2,100 feet down the side of a cliff."

The full story is here:

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-mt-baldy-missing-hiker,0,1025976.story

Our heartfelt prayers go out to Michelle's family and friends.

BruinDave