The search continues for missing actor Julian Sands in California

A week after an actor disappeared on a treacherous mountain near Los Angeles, search and rescue teams are hoping his mountaineering experience has allowed him to survive the below-freezing temperatures and snowy conditions.

Julian Sands, best known for his work on “A Room With a View” and “Warlock,” disappeared in Mount Baldy on January 13. The search for the 65-year-old British actor began that day and has continued every day since, no sign of him.

Although not well known outside of Southern California, Baldy mountain It is one of the most famous peaks in the region, as difficult to find as it is beautiful. Although an hour outside of sunny Los Angeles, the 1,064-foot (4,193-meter) mountain is often covered in snow and ice in the winter and has been the site of many deaths and accidents over the years.

Earlier this month, an experienced hiker and mother of four named Crystal Gonzalez fell 500 feet to her death while trying to reach Baldy Peak. Her death came less than two weeks after another hiker, Jarrett Choi, died in a fall in nearby Ice House Canyon. Crews are also searching for another lost hiker in the mountains east of Baldi.

“We’re doing the best we can,” said Gloria Huerta, a Department of Defense spokeswoman. San Bernardino County Sheriff The crews who recovered Gonzales’ body are still searching for any sign of the sand.

Huerta said that two cell phones ringing on the 13th showed that the sands were in the Baldi area.

Despite the exploitation of their resources and unfavorable conditions, she said the crews plan to continue searching for sand indefinitely.

“We understand from his family that he’s experienced and it looks like he got up there prepared,” Huerta said. “We still hope for a good result.”

Although helicopter crews and SWAT teams with drones have been searching for sand every day since his disappearance, ground crews were only able to safely search for the mountain on January 14, when the weather moved in and created avalanche-hazardous conditions that persist today. .

Part of the problem with deaths and rescues in Baldi is the ease of access to Los Angeles and the fact that people underestimate the difficulty, said Jeff Hester, an experienced mountaineer who helps run a Facebook hiking group in Southern California and owns a group of experienced people. company which organizes challenges for hikers across the country.