The group of hikers that found actor Julian Sands’ body months after he vanished within the Southern California mountains have spoken out in regards to the “surreal” experience for the primary time.
Sands, 65, was reported missing by his wife on Jan. 13 after the “The Killing Fields” star never returned from a hike within the San Gabriel Mountains outside of Los Angeles. He was last seen in the realm of Mount Baldy — which is notoriously treacherous for hikers.
His body was found by local hikers on June 24 after months of unsuccessful search efforts.
The leader of the mountaineering group who, like all hikers in the realm, was well aware Sands had gone missing on the mountain, had an eerie fear behind her mind: “I hope we don’t discover a dead body today,” she told the Los Angeles Times.
Three hours later, the group said they weren’t surprised after they spotted a lone boot. After which one other boot, a trekking pole and, finally, human bones.
They found a pile of dark winter clothing and a wallet nearby. Contained in the wallet was a driver’s license with Sands’ familiar face looking back at them. The name on the ID confirmed their suspicions.
“It was surreal,” hiker Bill Dwyer told the outlet.
The hikers noted how his stays blended into the landscape, making him hard to locate.
The group’s organizer told the outlet that the hike, while difficult, is gorgeous: “Stuffed with wildflowers and waterfalls, it’s perfect for individuals who don’t like trails, like me.”
They reached the flat canyon, at about 8,400 feet, three-and-a-half hours later. The organizer said she walked right past the primary boot, which was spotted by one other hiker behind her.
The bones, they said, were scattered — likely by wild animals. But Sands’ stays might have been pushed into the realm by avalanches or melting snow.
What was most concerning to the hikers was the dearth of kit found near the stays needed for such a dangerous winter hike.
They didn’t discover a backpack, which could have contained needed survival supplies, and noted he was “dressed like a ninja” in dark clothing, making him hard for rescuers to identify.
The hikers also noted that he was wearing microspikes — small metal cleats which are great for mountaineering on snowy trails, but not for icy mountain trails, where crampons, heavy spikes strapped to mountaineering boots, are needed, in keeping with the LA Times.
“I used to be a bit shocked to see the microspikes,” Dwyer said. “They were just the incorrect tools for the job at hand.”
Additionally they found no signs of a helmet or an ice axe. They did find Sands’ cellphone perched on a rock beneath a tree, but many of the mountain doesn’t get reception.
After finding the bones, Dwyer used his Garmin InReach — a $400 pocket-size satellite-messaging device — to send an SOS with their exact location to authorities, he told The Times. Responders arrived in eight minutes, he said.
Officials confirmed the stays were Sands’ three days later, five months after his disappearance.
There have been greater than 100 rescues and not less than 10 deaths on Mt. Baldy since 2020, in keeping with the LA Times.
How or exactly when Sands died has still not been determined. The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said last month that his death was ruled “undetermined attributable to the condition of the body and that is common when coping with cases of this sort.”
The seek for the English actor was hindered by the weather. After he had been reported missing, the county sheriff’s office conducted eight land and air searches, totaling greater than 500 hours and costing over $100,000, in keeping with the LA Times.
Heavy storms repeatedly buried the realm under piles of snow in the times after Sands’ went missing.
Officials determined he was more likely to be in Goode Canyon — where he was eventually found — after his cellphone last pinged from a ridge on the Baldy Bowl trail. Searching the canyon on foot through the winter would have been dangerous to rescuers given the snow, ice and steep terrain, officials said.
One other large search effort was launched in June, but Sands was still not found, despite using high-tech equipment from helicopters.
