Deputies Resume Search for Body of Second Skier

A team of 30 San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies Sunday resumed the search for a skier missing on Mt. Baldy, a day after determined friends and relatives had discovered the body of the skier’s partner, missing since February.

Charles Prior and Tim Pines, two friends from Orange County, had been presumed dead Feb. 11 after they had gone skiing at the Mt. Baldy ski area during a severe storm, which triggered an avalanche under Thunder Mountain.

Officials said the 33-year-old Prior’s body was found in the slide area, which remains unstable and covered with melting snow.

“One of the family members had fallen, and when they got up, they saw something red,” Sheriff’s Deputy Debra Dorrough said. “They dug down three feet and found a boot. They continued to dig and found the body.”

The relatives contacted the Mt. Baldy Fire Department, which called for an aviation team from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department to fly the body out.

Dorrough said members of the search team had found nothing by dusk Sunday, but they said they hoped that they would find Pines’ body in the same general area.