The Search for Michelle Yu

Michelle Yu was in the midst of preparing for a climb of Aconcagua in Argentina. As such, she was a weekly hiker of Mt. Baldy, and had recently completed a number of 14,000 ft peaks. She set out on Saturday, December 4 for a training hike, and was spotted near the Sierra Hut and near the summit by fellow hikers. She did not return on Saturday night, and was reported missing by a housemate on the afternoon, of Sunday, December 5.

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West Valley SAR was called, and with the weather worstening, the call for additional alpine resources was made. The first night, 4 teams were fielded composed of members of West Valley SAR and the Cave Team. There was no information as to the route of Ms. Yu, but her car was found on the Falls Rd. Teams were deployed into Goode Canyon, San Antonio Canyon, The Sierra Hut Trail, and the Devil's Backbone. Travel was very slow as the winds were high and rain severe. At the higher elevations there was snow falling, and ice everywhere. Eventually safe travel was no longer possible, so the teams in Goode Canyon and the Devil's Backbone were recalled. The team in San Antonio Canyon had arrived at the Hut and was beginning to warm up with plans to continue in the morning. The rock fall hazard in the canyon was tremendous with all of the flowing water. There were reports of very large boulders making their way down the canyon.

The following three days of searching included Goode Canyon, San Antonio Canyon, Manker Canyon, drainages into Stockton Flat, drainages off the north side of the peak, and ridges and drainages west of Baldy and the Baldy-Dawson saddle. Searchers from San Diego, Los Angeles, and Ventura Counties joined the search, but due to the difficulty of the terrain, additional searchers from all of California were summoned.

Searchers from as far away as San Francisco were enroute when a team that was being extracted from Fish Fork noticed something on the ride out in the helicopter. Closer investigation proved that this was Ms. Yu. She was found in the same general drainage that this team had descended. This drainage is composed of three drainages that combine at the bottom. Ms. Yu was in the "sub drainage" that was next to, but out of sight, of the one that was used by the team. This is not an unsual circumstance. Finding a non-responsive missing person in this, or any, environment is not trivial. A sharp eye on the extraction saved many hours in the field.

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Comments

[John Metzger]

Jeff, Good job on the story. I like the addition of news reports.

JM