Hikers disoriented in white-out
By Ed Hill
On March 29th Mark Forwalter and
John Wytso decided to climb Cucamonga Peak by the
south east ridge. They planned to stay on the
summit and hike down via Ice House Canyon the
next day.
A storm moved in Wednesday evening
and dropped three to four feet of snow, and
reduced visibility to only a few feet.
On Sunday, April 2, RMRU was invited
by the boys' parents to join the search. We were
to concentrate on the steep, loose, south face of
Cucamonga Peak. The San Bernardino Sheriff's
teams would cover Ice House Canyon and the
northern slopes. We decided to send a strong team
of six men up the route the climbers had planned
to take.
Just as our men started up the ridge
the Sheriff reported that the climbers had walked
out of Ice House Canyon. They were in good shape
considering that they were two days overdue.
Talking to the climbers later I
learned that they had made the summit Wednesday
evening and had camped on it. Thursday they were
in a "white-out" condition and had
dropped down the upper reaches of Lytle Creek by
mistake.
Saturday morning it had cleared
enough for them to recognize where they were and
they climbed up to Ice House saddle from the
east. Sunday they had simply hiked down the floor
of Ice House Canyon, by-passing the Sheriff's
teams who were on the trail on the north wall.
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