LASD - Altadena Station, Los Angeles County Sheriff

Jim McDonnell, Sheriff

Community: Two hikers descend from Switzer Falls onto Sloan Saddle, Altadena Mountain Rescue Team finds hikers & leads to safety.

Last night at 7:55pm Altadena Mountain Rescue Team was called for the search for two hikers in the area of Switzer Falls, in the Angeles National Forest. Two hikers had called the Altadena Sheriff's Station and said they were on a three hour hike and become lost. The hikers, 23 y/o male residing in West Hills and 24 y/o male residing in Winnetka were able to send a text message with their location. Altadena rescue team members plotted the hikers location on a mapped the hikers appeared to be on Tom Sloan Saddle, approximately 3/4 of a mile off the Mt. Lowe Fire Road. The hikers had run out of water and becoming cold as nightfall set. We had two teams of rescuers drive as far as they could on the rough mountain road, and then set off hiking almost a mile on the ridge-line to reach the hikers. The pair was relieved to see the rescuers lights getting closer, but it took over an hour to reach them.
When rescuers reached the hikers they said they were part of a four person hiking group, and had become separated from their two friends they were hiking with, and the location of the friends was not known. We had additional rescuers start searching for the additional hikers believed to be lost.
The two hikers were given water, and were able to hike out to the rescue vehicles on their own. The rescued hiker were medically cleared by rescue team members and were driven to Altadena Sheriff’s Station. Within thirty minutes of locating the first two hikers, cell phone contact was made the the remaining two hikers, 25 y/o male and 20 y/o female both residing in El Monte. The second pair of hikers were not lost and able to hike out of Switzer Falls on their own.
Thankfully none of the hikers were injured. They did have small packs with flashlights and equipment with them, but the temperature quickly dipped into the 50's after it became dark.
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