2 O.C. Hikers Lost in Outing at Mt. Baldy

A 37-year-old woman and an 11-year-old boy from Orange County became lost while hiking down from the summit of Mt. Baldy and remained missing for a second night Saturday in high winds and below-freezing temperatures as searchers continued to scour the mountaintop.

The two--Cynthia Moyneur, a recreational therapist from Yorba Linda, and her boyfriend’s nephew Ryan McIntosh--have been missing since Friday afternoon, when a sudden snowstorm and 100-m.p.h. winds hit the San Gabriel Mountains. The two were not dressed for extreme weather.

Ten teams of rescuers, totaling about 60 people, searched the mountaintop Saturday, sometimes crawling on hands and knees in high winds in hopes of finding the pair, who had hiked to the 10,064-foot summit during an annual post-Thanksgiving outing Friday.

Two teams remained on the northwest side of the mountain Saturday night. This morning, 70 searchers from Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties were scheduled to go up on the mountain. The searchers were planning to take five dog teams and also search by helicopter, weather permitting.

Moyneur and McIntosh were part of a group of Orange County residents--two adults and four young people--who set out Friday afternoon on the 2-mile hike from the ski lift at the 8,500-foot-level of Mt. San Antonio, Mt. Baldy’s official name.

Moyneur and her boyfriend, Chris Jordan of Yorba Linda, left the ski lift area about 1 p.m. Friday with two of Jordan’s daughters, his nephew McIntosh, and a girl who is a family friend. Moyneur and Jordan had made the hike the previous two years the day after Thanksgiving.

Scott Adams, the ski lift operator who carried the group up, said he pointed out darkening clouds and warned them that a storm was imminent. The group started out anyway, but the three girls became tired so Jordan led them back down, leaving Moyneur and McIntosh) to continue the hike. In good weather, it would take about 90 minutes to reach the summit and one hour to return, according to a San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department spokesman.

The pair was later sighted by other hikers at the summit, but when they did not return to the lift, Adams notified authorities. About 5 p.m., the winds came up and by 7 p.m. the storm had hit with winds measuring up to 100 m.p.h. It lasted about two hours, authorities said. Friday night, the temperature dropped to 13 degrees, with a wind chill factor of 33 below.

Moyneur, a physical therapist, jogger and avid biker described by friends as very knowledgeable on hypothermia, was wearing long, calf-length spandex pants, hiking boots and a thin jacket, according to authorities. McIntosh was wearing an orange fluorescent jacket, jeans, T-shirt, black sweat shirt and Chicago Bulls hat. Neither had food or water with them, authorities said, but Moyneur had two flares and a compass.

Searchers believe that the pair may have gotten lost coming down from the summit on one of the five separate trails leaving the peak area, said Deputy Ruben Gonzales, a spokesman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

Members of the San Dimas Mountain Rescue Team started their trek at 7 p.m. Friday, walking and crawling throughout the night, covering 8 or 9 miles in 17 hours. Seven members of the San Dimas Mountain Rescue Team returned to base at 2 p.m. Saturday.

“I’ve got to tell you, we didn’t see a sign of anything,” said Jeff Humphries, one of the team members. “It’s a big mountain. There’s lots of places they could have gone.

“As you’re crawling up there in the solitude, you are thinking about these individuals, their lives, what they look like. You have to be optimistic. You have to believe you can find them.”

Still, the weather conditions made movement on the mountain difficult, even for the searchers.

“I’ve been on a lot of these operations, but this is the worst weather I’ve seen,” said Sgt. Bob Morris of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s San Dimas station. “I mean, we’ve got guys going down like bowling pins.”

Shortly after 1:30 a.m. Saturday, a fire was spotted near Dawson Peak, close to Mt. Baldy, but a crew sent to check it out was driven back by high winds, Gonzales said.

“We’re pretty hopeful with (Moyneur’s) experience and their dress that we’ll be able to bring them out,” Gonzales said.

Inside the rustic Mt. Baldy fire station, which served as a command post, search and rescue teams looked at maps while the families of the missing sat on a small couch, sleeping, eating food provided by the fire station or reading the newspaper.

Ryan’s father, John McIntosh, who lives in North Tustin, said he and his wife, Barbara, were keeping their confidence high because of the number of search teams out.

His son, who plays baseball and football, is considered “athletically adept,” he said. “Ryan is a very wonderful and special boy.”

As the day began to wane, however, John McIntosh said he was becoming increasingly nervous.

“As any person that gets caught up in this situation, one wants to be hopeful and optimistic, but on the other hand we want to be realistic,” he said. “We have a range of feelings, from sheer terror . . . to optimism.”

Moyneur’s father and brother went to the summit, while her mother waited by the phone in Yorba Linda.

“She’s just a warm person, a neat gal,” said Cynthia’s aunt, Pat Moyneur. “It’s just hard to imagine this. But she’ll survive this. She’s a survivor.”

Moyneur, who has a master’s degree in physical therapy, is the head of the physical therapy department at Sequoia Athletic Club in Buena Park. She works with club members as well as outsiders who come in for therapy after accidents or surgery.

She has been working at the club about two or three years and supervises a staff of five, according to club supervisor Scott Shattuck.

Moyneur is an avid jogger, said Marla Horton, a friend who lives in Yorba Linda. Moyneur and Jordan jog together a couple times a week at the Fullerton College track or out in the canyons behind Jordan’s home in Yorba Linda, Horton said.

“She’s very athletic. She’s just a super outgoing woman” as well as being “an extremely personally disciplined individual,” Horton said.

Jordan, a doctor, is also an avid jogger and skier, Horton said.

Times staff writer Eric Bailey contributed to this story.