The peak is just there in the distance, hovering above Los Angeles, snow-capped and tantalizing to the city-bound.

About an hour from the sands of the Pacific coast, Mount Baldy and the surrounding Angeles national forest have long been a wilderness playground to millions who call the greater Los Angeles area home.

But the mountain, which rises to 10,000ft above sea level, has also become a treacherous landmark. Between 2016 and 2025, 23 people died on Mount Baldy. And at the end of December, another tragedy: a 19-year-old hiker plunged 500ft off a trail known as the Devil’s Backbone.

When rescue crews were ultimately able to reach the location, the teen was dead, and first responders found the bodies of two other men who had also died. It took another day to recover them due to fierce weather conditions.

Local officials closed all hiking trails in and around the area for two weeks after the fatalities, with the county sheriff saying it was a necessary step to “prevent further loss of life”. Those trails have now reopened, but the episode has prompted renewed calls for those heading to Mount Baldy to respect the dangers the area holds, as well as renewed considerations of a possible permitting process or preemptive trail closures when the weather gets dangerous.

Hikers descend a trail from the Mount Baldy Ski Resort on 23 December 2024. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Rob Klusman, the operations leader of the Sierra Madre Search and Rescue Team, has been a member of the volunteer organization for 30 years. He’s spent decades climbing Mount Baldy as an outdoorsman, hiking to the summit in summer and winter alike.

He has also participated in upwards of 70 search and rescue operations there.

When he spoke to the Guardian, it was 80F and sunny in Los Angeles, and Klusman could see a snow-capped Mount Baldy from his window.

The mountain is unique, Klusman said, in that “in a straight line, in less than 50 miles, you go from sea level to 10,000ft. And in between are 10 million people.”

Angelenos looking for a day in the woods regularly venture to the mountain without fully understanding how conditions on the slopes can change dramatically, not just between seasons, but day to day.

“People look out the window and when it’s a perfectly clear blue sky like today, they say, ‘Wow, that’s amazing, I want to go play in the mountains,’” Klusman said. “We have a lot of people who don’t have much experience in the mountains in general, who don’t realize [Mount Baldy] requires a whole different set of skills and equipment.”

A photographer takes in the sunset on a hike down from Mount Baldy’s summit on 14 December 2016. Photograph: Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

For every 1,000 feet in elevation, the temperature drops by 5F, he noted. Meaning even on a beautiful day in LA, it could be near-freezing at the summit. Trails that are popular and relatively safe in the summer can become fatal when winter rolls around.

“The winter is far more complex, far more unforgiving,” Klusman said. “A minor injury in the summertime that may incapacitate you, keep you from being able to walk, may kill you in the winter.”

Search and rescue groups have spent the weeks since the latest fatalities trying to educate hikers about Mount Baldy’s notoriously fickle conditions.

West Valley Search and Rescue, another volunteer rescue unit, shared details earlier this month of two teenagers who went to hike Mount Baldy’s trails despite the closures and got stuck overnight. They were wearing microspikes on their shoes – small-toothed, wraparound devices to give a hiker extra traction on flat trails or in snow-covered parking lots. But Mount Baldy requires a more intense stability device: crampons – metal teeth that bite down into the snow in high-risk fall or slide areas like the Devil’s Backbone. But in some conditions, even those won’t work.

Allow Facebook content?

This article includes content provided by Facebook. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click ‘Allow and continue’.

“That snow will be slop right now, but as soon as the sun goes down, all that snow that got soft during the day is going to turn into bulletproof ice at night,” Klusman said. “You would be hard-pressed to get the crampons to penetrate more than half an inch into it once it freezes solid. If you have something like microspikes on, they will not penetrate it at all, period – they will not work.”

The two teens spent a “cold, wet night braving the elements” but were able to hike out the following morning unscathed. Search and rescue teams still spent all night trying to locate them.

The San Bernardino county sheriff’s department waded into the debate surrounding Mount Baldy’s future earlier this week. Sheriff Shannon Dicus has previously called for a permitting process to help track the number of hikers in the area. He said the latest deaths prompted the need for the federal government to take visitor safety “seriously” as Mount Baldy sits within Angeles national forest and is under the management of the US Forest Service.

“Our search and rescue members are some of the most well trained in the nation, skilled and proud to do this job,” Dicus said in a statement. “The frequency of rescues our department is involved in annually, and the lack of concern for what’s happening on Mount Baldy by those who are responsible for maintaining visitor’s safety needs to be addressed.”

Snow-covered Mount Baldy on 18 February 2021, seen from Altadena, California. Photograph: Myung J Chun/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

“For the last several years, our department has been trying to have the US Forest Service more involved in keeping people safe while they recreate on Mount Baldy.”

Dicus said he met with the federal officials more than a year and a half ago, as well as a member of Congress, and continues to do so to express his concerns.

“It is my hope that with the new leadership who recently took over the area, this will be a priority for them, and they take visitor safety seriously for those who use public lands and the allied agencies who support them,” he added. “Enthusiasts must do their part as well: be prepared, know the weather conditions and the limitations of our own skill set. Have fun and please be safe. If, heaven forbid, you have a serious problem, we will be there to help.”

Angeles national f management said earlier this month it would seek public comment on a new strategy for the Mount Baldy area and feedback will be open until the end of February.

In the aftermath of the latest deaths, government officials have said the US Forest Service has a duty to protect the public, but also provide access to public lands.

“Our goal is always to balance public safety with keeping the area open for local residents, visitors and permitted winter recreation activities,” Keila Vizcarra, a spokesperson for Angeles national forest, told SFGate this month. “As always, we encourage our users to ‘know before you go’, and be aware of potential conditions in the area prior to visiting, and to be equipped for potentially adverse weather this time of year.”

Klusman said he believes agencies responsible for the Mount Baldy area need to take a look at what they believe are the best practices for the mountain. He noted that there are eight search and rescue teams in Los Angeles county alone that, on average, respond to about 800 mountain search and rescue operations a year.

But he said from a rescue perspective, people should never be afraid of calling for aid if they need it.

“Search and rescue is free. We don’t charge for responding, and if somebody needs help, that’s what they do,” he said. “It is a regular part of our mission to do public awareness campaigns … and we try to do the best we can to encourage safe recreation in the mountains.”

“For some people that mean stay out of the mountains until the snow starts to melt. For other people that may mean get the right equipment, get some training, and start slow and build your skills and experience.”