Search for Missing Actor Continues Months After He Disappears Hiking Mt. Baldy
Actor Julian Sands has been missing for about six months now, but the search continues. According to a report by TMZ, about 80 volunteers massed on Saturday to search for Sands in the San Antonio Canyon where he disappeared during a hiking trip back in January. Sands had set out to hike Mount Baldy and never returned.
Saturday's search effort was organized by the San Bernadino Sheriff's Department and included both civilian volunteers and professional search-and-rescue crews, as well as police. The department said that they found nothing this weekend, but will continue trying in a more limited capacity. Their search has included drones and helicopters to look for Sands from overhead, though they admitted there were some sections that could not be accessed at all due to poor conditions.
Rescue teams often make a renewed effort at a search like this in the summer when snow should be at its lowest point for the year. However, California mountains had unusually high precipitation last year and many peaks are still covered in more packed snow and ice than usual. This has even been a major concern for hikers traversing the Sierra mountain range as part of the Pacific Crest Trail.
The sheriff's department said that it has conducted eight separate searches for Sands with nearly 500 hours of total volunteer hours, and multiple aerial assistance passes. Some members of Sands' family told TMZ that they have already said their goodbyes, though his missing person case remains open. Police said that searches will continue in a limited capacity from here on out.
Mount Baldy is situated in the Angeles National Forest near the border of Los Angeles County and San Bernadino County. It is a popular recreation area for hiking, reaching nearly 4,200 feet above sea level with a view of the San Gabriel Mountains and other nearby features. Sands was believed to be on the popular Baldy Bowl Trail – a four-and-a-half-mile trail with steep climbs leading up to the highest summit in the San Gabriel Mountains.
Sands was 65 when he went missing in the mountains, but he had lots of experience hiking and mountaineering according to a report by The Guardian. At the time, severe storms hit the area in the first few days after his disappearance, possibly obscuring his trail and hampering the search. Investigators found evidence of avalanches in the area where they believed Sands had been hiking.
Originally from England, Sands is best known for his work in the 1980s and 1990s, including A Room with a View, Naked Lunch, and Warlock. More recently, he starred in the movies Seneca: On the Creation of Earthquakes and The Piper earlier this year. According to IMDb, Sands still has three more projects filmed and in post-production. Fans continue to hope for the best in the search for Sands.