Trails on Bald Mountain have reopened after three hikers fell to their deaths from an icy ridge last month in what investigators believe were two unrelated incidents.
The agency responsible for the rescue warned that this does not mean the situation is safe: snow, ice, limited visibility and the possibility of unexpected storms remain.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release that 23 people have died on the mountain outside Los Angeles over the past decade and that crews have responded to 345 search and rescue calls on the slopes, criticizing the U.S. Forest Service, which manages the area, for not doing more to prevent injuries and deaths.
“The high frequency of rescues our department is involved in each year and the lack of attention paid to what is happening on Bald Mountain by those responsible for keeping visitors safe needs to be addressed,” San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dickus said in a statement. “Over the past few years, our department has been working to get the U.S. Forest Service more involved in keeping people safe as they rebuild on Bald Mountain.”
Dicus said he continues to meet with representatives from the agency and Congress to express his concerns. In the past, he has called on the Forest Service to temporarily close the mountain during unsafe weather conditions and create a permitting process to track the number of hikers and educate them on the risks they face. San Bernardino County supervisors still support the measures, Supervisor Dawn Rowe said recently.
The Forest Service did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the sheriff’s statement. The agency recently said it was evaluating a range of options to improve visitor safety as part of its visitor use management efforts and had closed trails when conditions warranted. “When considering closures, we must balance public safety with continued public access,” a spokesperson for Forest Service Region 5 wrote in a Jan. 6 email.
The Forest Service also said signs warning of extreme weather conditions and recommending winter climbing gear and training are posted at several high-use recreation sites, including the trailheads of Icehouse Canyon, Bear Canyon and Devil’s Backbone, a steep ridge route where a hiker fell and died last month.
Read more: Here’s what the world loses when Devil’s Backbone Trail takes away another young Bald Mountain adventurer
Bald Mountain serves as the backdrop to the Los Angeles skyline, and its picturesque alpine trails attract experienced hikers and novices alike. However, some of these routes, especially Devil’s Backbone, can become extremely difficult in winter, transforming from moderate hikes into dangerous climbs that require specialized equipment and training.
Marcus Muench Casanova, a 19-year-old college student on winter break, slipped and fell while hiking near the south-facing slopes of Mount Harwood on the afternoon of Dec. 29, his family said. While trying to find him, search helicopters happened upon the bodies of two other men, Juan Sarat Lopez, 37, and Bayron Pedro Ramos Garcia, 36, who had been seen hiking together.
High winds initially prevented crews from rescuing the men, but later that night investigators confirmed all three were dead. It is believed they fell on the same day and along the same stretch of road.
In the wake of the tragedy, Casanova’s parents have spoken out to remember their son, an unusually kind and adventurous young man, and to warn others of the dangers of hiking in the winter without a helmet, ice ax and crampons.
The Sheriff’s Department urges anyone considering hiking on Bald Mountain to “carefully evaluate conditions, bring appropriate gear, and know your personal limits.”
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.