Widen Avalanche Search, Family Asks

The parents of a 24-year-old Costa Mesa man who disappeared in a Mt. Baldy avalanche five weeks ago said Friday that they are furious that the search team has dwindled to less than a dozen working only on weekends.

“We’re not searching for a needle in a haystack; we’re searching for a human being,” David Pilotti, 52, said Friday from his motel room in Ontario. “We were told Gov. (Pete) Wilson would intervene and send more people. But we found out they were going to continue on a weekend basis, doing no more than before.

“Our whole family is devastated. We can’t eat or sleep. We’ve been walking around like zombies.”

Pat Pilotti, 44, said she wants to be able to bring her son’s remains home as soon as possible rather than wait until the spring snowmelt.

“Whether he’s alive or dead, he’s not a wild animal. We can’t just let him rot away up there. We want to reclaim (the body) so we can touch him and lay him to rest at home,” she said.

After an intensive search for Mike Pilotti, the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department reduced the search to weekends, citing the lack of personnel and dangers of melt-down caused by warmer weather.

Pilotti was snowboarding Jan. 23 in an off-limits area with friend Larry Beard when an avalanche occurred. Beard crawled out of the snow.

For a week, volunteers from around the region probed the snow banks with 20-foot poles while the Pilotti family waited in a trailer at the edge of the mountain.

“We’re not saying (the rescuers) didn’t do the best job they could,” Pat Pilotti said. “It was just a terrible tragedy, that’s all. Mostly what we’re asking for is for the people of California to please help us find our son while we’re here so we can make arrangements to bring him home. That’s all we’re asking.”