Searchers Fail to Find Lost Hiker, 16

A 16-year-old San Fernando Valley boy who disappeared on Southern California’s highest mountain remained missing Tuesday despite an intense search by rescuers on foot, on horseback and in two helicopters.

William Parven of Woodland Hills has not been seen since about 3:30 p.m. Sunday when, sheriff’s officers said, another hiker reported encountering him a mile from the top of 11,499-foot Mt. San Gorgonio.

A torrential downpour in the eastern San Bernardino Mountains on Tuesday afternoon complicated the search.

San Bernardino County sheriff’s officers set up a command post at a trail head near Forest Falls, a few miles off California 38, on the southwest side of the mountain.

About 40 professionals, a dozen of them on horseback, were involved in the search, which began Monday. Parven’s father, Michael Parven, reported him missing at 9 a.m. Monday.

“My guess is that he went down the wrong trail and panicked,” the father said.

Michael Parven described his son as an experienced hiker and outdoorsman who loves adventure.

“Anything that involves risk, he likes,” the father said.

William Parven is preparing to begin his senior year at Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino. He was planning to climb Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous United States.

After leaving from the Vivian Creek trail head Sunday, he had gone ahead of his father and 12-year-old sister on the steep trail to the mountaintop.

“He just had to go to the summit,” his father said.

The youth was believed to be carrying a sweater and three or four small bottles of water, but little food. He was wearing shorts and a sweatshirt.

An unidentified hiker who was coming down the mountain Sunday afternoon said he advised Parven to turn back, according to sheriff’s officials. The hiker told the teenager there wasn’t time to make it to the top and back down to the trail head before nightfall. But Parven reportedly said he was determined to make it to the top.

Temperatures even at high elevations of Mt. San Gorgonio at this time of the year are typically mild, in the 50s at night and in the high 80s during the daytime. But when thunderstorms strike there can be chilly high winds and, frequently, hail.

The conditions on the mountain in the summer are “certainly survivable,” said sheriff’s spokesman Chip Patterson, “but water and food, of course, would be critical considerations.”

San Gorgonio is crisscrossed by trails, some of them rarely used. Rescue personnel were putting fresh markers along the paths Tuesday, hoping that they would lead Parven to safety if he were lost and striving to find his way out.

Helicopters were ferrying ground search teams to high elevations on the mountain from which they worked their way down.

Searchers on horses also patrolled the mountain.

As night approached, a spokesman said the Sheriff’s Department planned to place stationary rescue teams on the mountain. The teams use lights and sound, including whistles, to try to attract missing hikers. Authorities said they hoped Parven is still able to walk to safety.

“It’s a difficult area to search” because of the many trails and steep terrain, said Patterson.

About 200,000 visitors and campers come to the San Gorgonio vicinity each year, but most do not venture into the high country close to the summit. There are several boys and girls summer camps near Jenks Lake on the north side of the mountain.

The Vivian Creek trail starts on the southwest side and is the shortest, most direct route to the summit, a more than 5,000-foot climb that stretches for 7.8 miles.

The area is densely wooded with pines to an elevation of about 9,200 feet. It then opens up and becomes rocky toward the summit, said John Flippin of the San Gorgonio Wilderness Assn.

The ranger’s station near the trail head recommends allotting 6 1/2 hours for the moderate to difficult ascent of the mountain. The Parvens were on a day hike.

The trail is popular with day hikers. Nearly 900 received permits in July, according to the ranger’s station records, and 37 more registered Sunday.

San Gorgonio is the highest peak in California south of the Sierra Nevada. Snow often remains at its highest reaches well into the summer.

Deer, black bears and coyotes populate the San Gorgonio Wilderness Area, and, Flippin said, “It’s not uncommon for people to be missing for a short period of time.”

Sheriff’s Sgt. Frank Gonzales said the boy was in apparent good health when he was last seen, but he had, in the past, occasionally suffered from altitude sickness.

Times staff writer Kenneth Reich contributed to this story.