Found Deceased CA - Lifei Huang, 22, hiking on Mount Baldy, 4 Feb 2024

[RickshawFan]

"Lost Person Behavior". Absolutely fascinating the things I learn here, so randomly. I am going to have to read up on this.

Meet the World’s Preeminent Expert in Lost Person Behavior, a Double Hoo

Robert Koester has led more than 100 rescue missions and has a 96% success rate.

news.virginia.edu

Yes, exactly that.

Here is Robert Koester on video, to get the flavor... I think this video might be one of the more detailed interviews, since it's more technical. You'll see other videos on the sidebar when you pick this one.

 

[RickshawFan]

IMO on the Lifei case, regarding "lost person behavior", I would speculate SAR pinpointed her location quite quickly according to the paradigm, but she was in a spot they couldn't see.

It seemed Lifei had a phone with her right near the area and she had a signal. It's so sad that maybe it didn't have "fall detection"? It would have called 911 with her location.

Pro tip: if you have fall detection on your phone, turn it on for hikes. It's a standard feature on many iphones.

 

[RickshawFan]

There are three main routes to climb Baldy (the Bear Canyon Trail, the Ski Hut Trail, and the route via the Notch & the Devil's Backbone) as well as some more obscure & difficult ones.

Of these three, the Ski Hut Trail, aka the Baldy Bowl Trail, is the middle in terms of difficulty. (In winter, it's also safer than the Devil's Backbone.) The Ski Hut Trail ascends almost 4000 feet to the summit in less than 4 miles. At 8,200 feet, San Antonio Ski Hut is a little over halfway to the top in terms of both elevation and distance.

At the beginning, you're on a fire road; the elevation gain is harder because most of it doesn't start until you get to the Ski Hut Trail, which isn't marked. I think they figured out that LH initially overshot the entrance to the Ski Hut Trail, which is not unusual.

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/california/san-antonio-ski-hut

A February 11 review of the trail on AllTrails there mentions how slippery the trail was. So yes, she could've slipped on a rock, or just slipped. If the trail was covered with snow, it's also possible that she got a bit off-trail and then slipped. I've also heard that there are some confusing spots on that trail, so maybe she took a wrong turn. (I haven't been up it in years and was with a group both times, so I didn't have to figure out the trail.)

One can definitely go up to the Ski Hut and turn around (which may have been her plan), but it's still a challenging trail. That LH got as far as she did under those conditions implies that despite her lack of experience or understanding of the conditions, she was fairly strong. But she may have been exhausted by the time she got to her last known location.

Here's a description from 2011 of a hike to the summit via that route. To clarify & correct my earlier post, just before the Ski Hut, the stream is level with the trail. (I think a spring that I contributes to the stream has been diverted through the kitchen of the Ski Hut.) But I don't think LH got all the way up to the Ski Hut. Also, the very top part of the stream near the Ski Hut would've been easy to search. If she'd been found there, it would have happened much sooner and they probably would've said she was found near or below the Ski Hut rather than in the "upper San Antonio Creek Falls area."

Mt. Baldy Hike - August 7, 2011

Descriptive narratives of hikes by Dan Simpson in the San Gabriel Mountains; including photos and links to trusted hike guides on Dan's Hiking Pages

danshikingblog.blogspot.com

P.S. It's called a ski hut, but the actual skiing on Baldy is much further down. The San Antonio Ski Hut is a backcountry hut that is maintained by the Sierra Club.

JMO

This is so helpful @LAhiker . I can visualize the situation from a hiker's point of view now. And that's why I get confused: the Ski Hut Trail is the same as the Baldy Bowl trail, and is the more common way up the mountain.

A photo in that blog shows the canyon. It looks V-shaped, and then has a near vertical drop near the bottom.

And I totally agree that if she had been above the falls and entered the orbit of the Ski Hut, they would have said so. Since we've ruled out the vicinity of the falls, the cliffy sections above the falls are likely the only stretch which would have required a helicopter winch just to drop SAR in there?

Also, it's possible there was a white out and she didn't see the edge of the cliff. But I still have a feeling it was a photography moment, since the camera was evidently out of the case.

People slip, trip, fall, all kinds of stuff; my own pattern is not a photography thing, but a) taking a pit stop and tripping on a branch; b) sliding on ice with the wrong shoes on, especially on rocks; c) being tired; and slipping on rubble.

 

[SimplyCass]

Body of woman is found on Mt. Baldy a week after she went hiking alone during storm

The body of Lifei 'Ada' Huang, 22, who went missing Feb. 4 while on a solo trek at Mt. Baldy, was recovered Sunday, according to officials.

www.latimes.com

LA Times article

Mt. Baldy danger: More than 100 rescue, 10 deaths in recent years. A new push to save lives

In January alone, 15 hikers were injured or lost on Mt. Baldy, and two died. San Bernardino County's sheriff is asking for new measures to restrict access to the peak.

www.latimes.com

Another LAT article from last year...reports 10 deaths on Mt. Baldy since 2020. (I read another article that cited 15 deaths since 2017.) That is...really incredibly dangerous. Just the fact alone that three other hikers were rescued on the same weekend as Lifei Huang is concerning.

 

[LAhiker]

IMO on the Lifei case, regarding "lost person behavior", I would speculate SAR pinpointed her location quite quickly according to the paradigm, but she was in a spot they couldn't see.

It seemed Lifei had a phone with her right near the area and she had a signal. It's so sad that maybe it didn't have "fall detection"? It would have called 911 with her location.

Pro tip: if you have fall detection on your phone, turn it on for hikes. It's a standard feature on many iphones.

Fall detection sounds very helpful and might well have helped in this situation.

That said, I'm surprised that Lifei had cell signal as long as she did. While I gather that signal in the area has improved since some repeaters were installed in Baldy Village, it's still very spotty and I've heard that it may cut out soon above her last known location. (Which of course means she might've gone further than that.)

As far as I know, the Ski Hut itself connects to the outside world via a line-of-sight radio (?) link to Harwood Lodge, a Sierra Club lodge that's across Mt. Baldy Road from the trailhead. (The hut hosts may also have satellite phones -- I don't know.)

JMO

 

[RickshawFan]

Body of woman is found on Mt. Baldy a week after she went hiking alone during storm

The body of Lifei 'Ada' Huang, 22, who went missing Feb. 4 while on a solo trek at Mt. Baldy, was recovered Sunday, according to officials.

www.latimes.com

LA Times article

Mt. Baldy danger: More than 100 rescue, 10 deaths in recent years. A new push to save lives

In January alone, 15 hikers were injured or lost on Mt. Baldy, and two died. San Bernardino County's sheriff is asking for new measures to restrict access to the peak.

www.latimes.com

Another LAT article from last year...reports 10 deaths on Mt. Baldy since 2020. (I read another article that cited 15 deaths since 2017.) That is...really incredibly dangerous. Just the fact alone that three other hikers were rescued on the same weekend as Lifei Huang is concerning.

Regarding the three hikers last weekend....

Their rescue appears at the beginning of this thread. They may have thought in retrospect they could have made some different decisions in going out on that trip, but let's parse this a bit. Most folks who spend a lot of the time in the wilderness have made at least a handful of very stupid decisions.... But, this is why you come very well prepared.

These 3 were actually, in fact, very experienced mountaineers, as I understand it (they came from a mountaineering club). You can tell from the details. They had a tent with them. Then later you read, they knew enough to pitch the tent out of the wind between rocks. Smart. And then, you notice, they came down below treeline, since the photo shows them right on the edge. And then you find out that they made a decision to stay put instead of trying to hike out in deep snow when they'd lost the trail. (I believe they had snowshoes and/or crampons, but made the correct decision not to break trail and soon exhaust themselves.) And then you find out that they did just fine hunkered down in their tent for something like 24 hours. And then you read they had sleeping bags. And then you see a photo and notice a fairly substantial pack and an ice axe. Then you realize, that to get help, the fellas had some way to communicate with SAR, and they didn't lose communication. These fellas don't mess around! This is all experience, savvy they picked up from other experienced outdoors folks, winter "10 essentials" (which include sleeping bag, extra clothes, and shelter, and are a lot more than 10), and minimizing risks in advance of the bivouac. For instance, they knew to keep their communication device warm and/or had spare batteries.

All SAR had to do was hike them out. Feel good for everyone. This is very different from some of the other stuff we're seeing on Mount Baldy, and which is responsible for all the fatalities. IMO the USFS should close the mountain to save people from themselves.

 

[RickshawFan]

Body of woman is found on Mt. Baldy a week after she went hiking alone during storm

The body of Lifei 'Ada' Huang, 22, who went missing Feb. 4 while on a solo trek at Mt. Baldy, was recovered Sunday, according to officials.

www.latimes.com

LA Times article

Mt. Baldy danger: More than 100 rescue, 10 deaths in recent years. A new push to save lives

In January alone, 15 hikers were injured or lost on Mt. Baldy, and two died. San Bernardino County's sheriff is asking for new measures to restrict access to the peak.

www.latimes.com

Another LAT article from last year...reports 10 deaths on Mt. Baldy since 2020. (I read another article that cited 15 deaths since 2017.) That is...really incredibly dangerous. Just the fact alone that three other hikers were rescued on the same weekend as Lifei Huang is concerning.

Those were the fatalities, and consider the number of rescue missions. In January 2023, there were 15 sorties in 3 weeks. IMO we can't keep doing this to our SAR volunteers. They're getting burned out.

 

[RickshawFan]

Fall detection sounds very helpful and might well have helped in this situation.

That said, I'm surprised that Lifei had cell signal as long as she did. While I gather that signal in the area has improved since some repeaters were installed in Baldy Village, it's still very spotty and I've heard that it may cut out soon after her last known location. (Which of course means she might've gone further than that.)

As far as I know, the Ski Hut itself connects to the outside world via a line-of-sight radio (?) link to Harwood Lodge, a Sierra Club lodge that's across Mt. Baldy Road from the trailhead.

JMO

I was surprised to hear that Lifei had cell service in that location because of terrain, tree cover, etc. But they would have known that at that point she had to be in the open. They might have had her ping location, too.

Side note: Fall detection is, incidentally, BRILLIANT if you have a senior in your life, from my experience. The AppleWatch has that feature. You don't even need service to the watch, just have your phone nearish (so it can automatically dial 911). Consider: no need for "Life Alert" with its expensive subscription, no need for a land line with a monthly bill, and you can go anywhere you want, not just in your house. I convinced a senior friend to give up all of that, and she started going for walks... Soon-ish, she was flat out in the street after slipping on ice, face to pavement, talking to the 911 operator on her watch. The watch automatically made the call.
I got my watch solely for the fall detection in case I fell in the bathroom, but I've only ever fallen while hiking!

 

[LAhiker]

This is so helpful @LAhiker . I can visualize the situation from a hiker's point of view now. And that's why I get confused: the Ski Hut Trail is the same as the Baldy Bowl trail, and is the more common way up the mountain.

A photo in that blog shows the canyon. It looks V-shaped, and then has a near vertical drop near the bottom.

And I totally agree that if she had been above the falls and entered the orbit of the Ski Hut, they would have said so. Since we've ruled out the vicinity of the falls, the cliffy sections above the falls are likely the only stretch which would have required a helicopter winch just to drop SAR in there?

Also, it's possible there was a white out and she didn't see the edge of the cliff. But I still have a feeling it was a photography moment, since the camera was evidently out of the case.

People slip, trip, fall, all kinds of stuff; my own pattern is not a photography thing, but a) taking a pit stop and tripping on a branch; b) sliding on ice with the wrong shoes on, especially on rocks; c) being tired; and slipping on rubble.

Thanks! I find the official name "Baldy Bowl Trail" a bit confusing myself because after the Ski Hut, the trail goes up the ridge to the left of the actual Bowl. Meanwhile, some people climb the Bowl itself in winter using various routes. That requires winter mountaineering equipment, training, and judgement, though some have attempted it without that. Last year, a fairly experienced hiker who for some reason was wearing microspikes rather than crampons was fatally injured when she fell over 500 feet within the Baldy Bowl.

Regarding where Lifei fell, there's quite a distance between the upper falls and the Ski Hut area; I don't know where she was found. While it's possible that the searchers who recovered her body were lowered into the canyon because (at least at the bottom) the location was down a cliff, they also might have determined that they they couldn't go down the slope because that might trigger an avalanche.

If Lifei did slip and fall, that could indeed have started with a cliff. (I don't remember any right next to the trail, that doesn't mean one wasn't there -- I haven't been there in years.)

But sometimes snow on a trail can make places that look solid that aren't, cornices being the most extreme example. For instance, she could've slipped and tumbled down a slope with a steeper drop or cliff at the bottom. She might've been taking a photo, or she might just have been hiking along while holding her camera and case. Even if the searchers have a good idea of what happened, we may not hear it...

JMO