Dana Point, San Clemente Skiers Missing on Mt. Baldy

Friends and relatives of two missing Orange County skiers waited and worried Wednesday night as storms and darkness on Mt. Baldy forced a halt in the search for the men.

The missing skiers are Tim Pines, 31, of Dana Point and Charles Prior, 34, of San Clemente.

“They went to Mt. Baldy yesterday (Tuesday) morning, and Tim said he’d be home about 5 in the afternoon,” said his wife, Becky Pines. “I started getting very worried about 7 o’clock.”

A search began early Wednesday morning but was halted about 5 p.m. because of bad weather and darkness. San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Sgt. Jim Mauldin said the hunt is scheduled to resume at 7 a.m. today.

Mauldin said there were three major avalanches Tuesday in the area. Rain from the storm buffeting Southern California has since undermined more snow and created the possibility of more avalanches.

About 20 people from the West Valley Search and Rescue Team took part in Wednesday’s search, Mauldin said.

Mt. Baldy, the nickname for 10,064-foot-high Mt. San Antonio, is on the border between Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Most of the ski area is in San Bernardino County.

When the men arrived there Tuesday morning, they found one side of the area closed because of high winds, Mauldin said. The part that remained open is for advanced skiers.

Deputies found Prior’s car at the ski area at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, but there was no sign of the skiers.

In a brief telephone interview Wednesday night from her home, Becky Pines said friends and relatives have joined her in prayers for her husband and Prior.

“We’re all praying for them,” she said. “Hopefully, the search will resume early (Thursday) morning.”

Pines said her husband has been skiing for about 20 years.

He and Prior are friends from church, she said. Tim Pines is a project manager for product development at Mazda in Irvine.