Stranded Hiker Rescued After Chilly Night in Cave : Outdoors: Man was left alone near top of Mt. Baldy after sending companions for help. They alerted Sheriff’s Department, whose helicopter found him.

An exhausted hiker, stranded in two feet of snow near the top of Mt. Baldy in Angeles National Forest, found a cave and survived a stormy night before he was rescued in good condition by the crew of a sheriff’s helicopter Tuesday morning.

Steve Quinn, a 37-year-old truck driver from Long Beach, had sent his two companions for help Saturday morning after his legs began to cramp and he started losing his balance as the trio struggled up San Antonio Ridge in the worsening storm.

“I didn’t expect to see them again,” Quinn said Tuesday. “I thought I was going to die. We didn’t talk about that. But I figured that, at least, the two of them could make it.”

Quinn’s companions, Ed Kinghorn, 37, and Nancy Carroll, 34, climbed the remaining 500 feet to the top of the 10,000-foot mountain. Within four hours, they had found their way down to a cabin and telephoned for help, sparking a massive air and ground search.

About 16 hours later, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department helicopter equipped with an infrared heat-seeking device spotted Quinn in the bottom of a canyon. A crew member dropped down with a sling, and Quinn was airlifted to safety.

Quinn, who considers himself an experienced hiker, said the adventure began Saturday morning when the three set out from the East Fork Ranger Station, north of Glendora, for an arduous trek through about 10 miles of rugged back country to the top of Mt. Baldy, the tallest peak in Los Angeles County.

“We figured the hike to take about 2 1/2 to three days,” Quinn said. “But the going was steep and difficult, and we started getting behind schedule. . . . By Monday morning, it was snowing and cold. We really weren’t prepared, clothes-wise. I was wearing shorts.”

As the morning wore on and the hikers made their way slowly up the ridge between 8,007-foot Iron Mountain and 9,988-foot West Baldy Summit, the weather worsened and Quinn began to weaken.

“We couldn’t go back the way we’d come--that was too dangerous,” Quinn said. “Because we had to climb higher to find the trail that would take us out, we knew the snow would get worse.”

Quinn said that about 10 a.m., he began to develop symptoms of hypothermia.

“My legs began to cramp, and I started losing my balance,” he said. “I stopped, got into my sleeping bag and we agreed that the two of them should go on for help.”

“It seemed like the best choice,” Kinghorn said later. “I didn’t think Nancy would last up there, and I didn’t think she could find her way out alone. . . . But when we left, I didn’t think I’d see Steve again.”

Kinghorn and Carroll set off up the ridge, leaving Quinn behind. She said the West Summit and the 10,064-foot main summit of Mt. Baldy were closer than they expected, and within a few minutes, they found a sign directing them down the mountain to Bear Flat.

“After a while, we found some cabins,” Carroll said. “There were people there . . . and we dialed 911.”

Sheriff’s deputies said they received the call shortly before 3 p.m. on Monday, and within a couple of hours, about 50 members of five volunteer search-and-rescue teams had begun working their way up the slopes of Mt. Baldy.

Meanwhile, near the mountaintop, Quinn had discovered that after a two-hour rest inside his sleeping bag, he had regained much of his strength. Crawling out of the bag, he resumed his climb.

“I went right over the top of Baldy, but I missed the trail coming down,” he said. “I figured out which way was south, and I started down. By then, it had started to rain, and I was getting soaked and chilled.

“At about 2 p.m., I found a cave and I crawled in there and spent the night,” he said. “I had some food with me.”

The ground search for Quinn was suspended at midnight. It resumed at dawn Tuesday, assisted by two helicopters from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and another from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

Quinn said that when he awoke on Tuesday morning, “The sky was blue and I felt my troubles were over.”

A few minutes later, he said, he was spotted by the helicopter.