Article by Malia Dietz
On Saturday, January 26th, 2019, at 3:48 p.m., a call went into 911 dispatch requesting wilderness aid for a fall victim. The location given was near San Gorgonio Peak on the South Fork Trail. The reporting party stated that she was not at the scene, but that she had received a text message indicating that her husband had slipped and fallen down a steep cliff and could not be reached or seen from the trail.
Apparently the victim and his son had been hiking together when the accident occurred. A text message went to a family member indicating that the victim had fallen at approximately 2:00 pm. The victim’s son was trying to call 911 but did not have enough signal for a phone call. He was however, able to send a text message.
The victim’s son reportedly hiked for approximately two hours until he was able to get signal. He continued hiking to a nearby ranger station to meet with first responders.
Upon arriving and meeting with the Sheriff’s Deputies, San Bernardino County Fire Units and Search and Rescue Teams, the son related what had happened. At 4:45 p.m., the son went with air units to find the location where his father had fallen, while ground crews established an incident command center near the trail-head.
By 8:00 p.m., two teams with Search and Rescue were out looking for the victim, along with a snow cat team. As the night progressed, more teams arrived to aid in the search effort. At approximately 2:34 a.m., the victim was found, apparently with fatal injuries.
Mountain Reporter staff were on scene through the entire incident. Our team extends sympathies and condolences to the family in their time of loss. The Official press release is pictured below:
DATE/TIME: Saturday, January 26th, 2019- Approximately 4:00 PM
INCIDENT: Search and Rescue
LOCATION: South Fork Trail, Jenks Lake Area
VICTIM: 56 Year Old Male Hiker
SUMMARY:
On Saturday January 26th, at approximately 4:00pm, Sheriff’s Dispatch received a report of a 56-year-old male hiker who had slipped/slid down an ice chute along the South Fork Trail in the area of Jenk’s Lake. The reporting party was the victim’s son, who had to hike approximately 2 hours until he had cell reception in order to report the incident.
Throughout the night, Sheriff’s Helicopter 40King4, 40King6, and Air Rescue 306 attempted to locate the subject in the rough terrain by using Night Vision Goggles and FLIR. Unable to locate the subject, San Gorgonio SAR Team members assembled a “Hasty” team and began hiking to the location. At approximately 2:34AM on 1/27/2019, the subject was located in a ravine, deceased. Due to the ice and snow conditions, San Gorgonio SAR members requested a hoist recovery of the victim.
On January 27th, after completing an unrelated Search and Rescue, 40King6 and Air Rescue 307 returned to the location to assist San Gorgonio SAR members. The crew of Air Rescue 307 was able to lower an Alpine Trained Air Medic to the awaiting SAR team. With the help of the SAR members already onscene, the victim was placed into a “Stokes basket” and was hoisted from the location. The victim was released to the Coroner’s office for further investigation.
JOHN McMAHON, Sheriff-Coroner
San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner Department
