The body of a 22-year-old hiker was recovered by police on Sunday after a week-long search on California’s Mount Baldy to find the missing woman.
Search and rescue workers and volunteers battled through heavy snowfall and were hampered by avalanche risks in their attempts to find Lifei Huang. In the end, it was a civilian flying a drone who spotted a body seven days after she went missing, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department wrote in a press release.
Huang set off for a solo hike in the Mount Baldy area of the San Gabriel Mountains on Feb. 4, just before an “atmospheric river” storm battered southern California. The storm brought heavy rainfall and near-hurricane-force wind gusts to the Los Angeles area that damaged homes and knocked out power for some 530,000 homes and businesses across the state.
By Feb. 5, the morning after Huang left for her hike, some 40 million people were under flood, winter storm and high wind advisories, according to the National Weather Service.
Police were first alerted that Huang was missing after a 911 call came in just before midnight on Feb. 4. Huang had begun the hike at 2 p.m. local time that day and had not been heard from since around 4 p.m.
Members of the Sheriff’s West Valley Search and Rescue Crew were assembled and they arrived at Mount Baldy at around 2:30 a.m. but they were unable to locate Huang.
As the search continued the next day, police report the rescue crews faced “extremely heavy snowfall” and “avalanche risks hindered the search efforts.”
In the end, the crews were pulled off the mountain for their own safety, though personnel remained stationed at the trail head to continue searching when it was safe to do so.
“The weather has effectively buried the mountain in snow,” the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department wrote, adding that it “strongly urges everyone to stay away and refrain from mountain activities during this inclement weather.”
“The fact that our search and rescue crews are extremely well trained and they are unable to get there and search, that should give you an idea of the seriousness of the conditions,” Mara Rodriguez from the sheriff’s department told NBC Los Angeles.
Eventually, on Saturday afternoon, police received a call from the U.S. Forestry Department and learned that a body had been spotted by a person using a drone in the area.
“Deputies and search and rescue team members responded to the upper San Antonio Creek Falls area but were unable to hike to the spot where Ms. Huang was believed to be, due to the conditions on the mountain,” San Bernardino police wrote.
The high winds that day also prevented aviation crews from carrying out an aerial search for the body.
Delayed by the weather yet again, search and rescue crews made camp and stayed the night near the reported location.
On Sunday around 7:45 a.m., authorities located Huang deceased. Medics were brought and they airlifted Huang’s body off the mountain.
“We would like to thank all our personnel and volunteers that aided in the search, as well as the citizen that alerted U.S. Forestry,” San Bernardino police wrote.
Huang’s cause of death has not been released and police did not state how long the 22-year-old had been dead when her remains were found.
The City of El Monte, Calif., of which Huang was a resident, gave its condolences to the Huang family and thanked authorities for their rescue efforts.
“Our hearts go out to the Huang family during this difficult time as the El Monte community comes together to grieve the loss of Lifei,” the city wrote in a Facebook post.
Mount Baldy was also the location where actor Julian Sands went missing in January 2023. His remains weren’t found until late June.
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