Rescuers Find 2 Snowboarders Missing for Nearly 24 Hours

Demonstrating anew the dangers of off-trail snowboarding, park rangers and rescue workers braved snow and rain Sunday to retrieve two snowboarders who had been missing for nearly 24 hours in the storm-wracked Angeles National Forest.

Patrick Jenks, 23, of Glendale, and Claudio Maluje, 28, of North Hollywood, were found in good health in a small canyon a few miles south of the ski resort where they began their snowboarding journey Saturday, authorities said. Maluje’s wife had reported her husband missing early Sunday morning.

Nearly 40 volunteers and rescue workers combed the snow-covered mountains around the Snow Crest ski resort off the Angeles Crest Highway in the heart of the national forest. Tracks in the fresh snow led rescuers to the canyon were the men were found. From there, a helicopter lifted them to safety.

“We realize we could have lost our lives at any time,” Jenks said late Sunday.

“They are cold and wet. One [snowboarder] looks like he took a pretty good tumble, but they are in pretty good shape considering they were lost for 24 hours,” said John Steely, president of the Snow Crest ski resort.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said the men did not need hospitalization and were brought Sunday evening to the La Crescenta sheriff’s station for a reunion with their families.

The search came just over a week after rescuers found 14-year-old snowboarder Jeff Thornton wandering in forested canyons near Wrightwood, where he had been missing for six days. Thornton, who was found about 15 miles east of where Jenks and Maluje were located, died unexpectedly Friday.

Jenks and Maluje--adventure lovers who have mountain-biked at Mt. Wilson and scuba-dived off Santa Catalina Island--left Glendale early Saturday to spend the day snowboarding at Snow Crest, a resort unfamiliar to either of them, in the rugged mountains about 35 miles north of La Crescenta.

But Jenks and Maluje left the well-worn ski trails for the unpatrolled wooded area on the east slope of the mountain, officials said.

“Snowboarders like the powder,” Steely said. “They can get in the deep powder in the trees and maneuver really well. People do it every day.”

About 75% of the visitors to Snow Crest prefer snowboarding to skiing, he said.

The area where Jenks and Maluje were last seen is marked with signs warning that the area is not patrolled and is prone to avalanches, authorities said.

The two men said Sunday they went outside the resort boundaries by accident, and began heading down the mountain in search of a trail that would take them back to the marked routes. When the terrain became too rough, they abandoned their snowboards and began hiking. But as the sun set and temperatures dropped, they realized they were lost--and alone in the wilderness. They said Sunday they spent Saturday night in a cave--in which they found dry wood. Using Maluje’s lighter, they built a fire.

On Sunday morning, they began hiking downward, over boulders and down steep, rocky inclines. A rescue helicopter made two passes directly over the men, who were frantically waving their shirts in the air, but didn’t see them, Jenks said. At another point, they said, they slipped off a mountain face and fell 60 feet into a freezing river, a drop that left Jenks with a slight limp Sunday.

The difference between life and death for the two men, authorities said, was the relatively mild weather.

Storm clouds began to dissipate Sunday afternoon, allowing helicopters to join in the search. Temperatures were relatively warm for the area--36 degrees--and the storm had dropped only about four inches of powder, not enough to obscure the tracks of the missing men.

Just after midday, searchers following the tracks found their abandoned snowboards near a creek in an area called Bear Canyon. A sheriff’s helicopter picked the men up about 3:15 p.m.

Throughout the search, Steely said, rescuers could not help but think of the end to Thornton’s rescue.

“Everybody is talking about it,” he said.

Thornton, a ninth-grader from Brawley, was pronounced dead Friday at Loma Linda University Medical Center after experiencing severe breathing difficulties. He had gone without food and endured winter storms and subfreezing temperatures for six days.

Thornton died a week after rescuers discovered him sitting near a creek about two miles from where he was last seen, the New Mountain High ski area near Wrightwood.

Sheriff’s Lt. Mike Leum, an operations leader for the Montrose search and rescue team, said Sunday evening that neither Jenks nor Maluje would be billed for the cost of the rescue. Residents of Los Angeles County generally are not billed for local rescues, he said.

Sheriff’s officials said, however, they intend to ask the district attorney’s office to decide whether any laws have been broken.

“We’re not criminals,” Jenks said. “We made a bad decision.”