Long Beach Press Telegram

Lost hiker believed hurt
Teams find no tracks of Seal Beach man, think he may be immobile; hunt continues.
By Tracy Manzer
Staff writer

Friday, January 23, 2004 - FOREST FALLS With temperatures plummeting to zero degrees at night and a mountainside covered in sheets of ice rescue crews returned to the San Gorgonio Wilderness Area Friday for the fifth day in the hopes that a missing Seal Beach man might be found alive.

"We're pretty sure he has to be (hurt) somewhere because it's snowed twice since he left for the summit, and we haven't seen any tracks from either the ground or the helicopter,' said Deputy Shannon Kovich, of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

"We're pretty certain he's immobile, but if he can still utilize his equipment, there is a chance he's still alive.'

Eugene Kumm, 25, was reported missing by his girlfriend Sunday night when he failed to return to their Seal Beach home from an attempt to reach the summit of Mt. Gorgonio.

Rescuers began scaling the mountain, the highest peak in Southern California. With a hard pack of ice and snow on the mountain, it is very likely the field engineer for a Long Beach construction company, Kiewit Industries, slipped and injured himself, crews said Friday.

It is also possible that Kumm became disoriented and wandered off the Vivian Creek trail he was following to the peak of Mt. San Gorgonio, which rises to an elevation of 11,490 feet.

Hikers often see the lights of Palm Springs from the mountain, which lies about about 50 miles to the east of the wilderness area. But the terrain that lies between the peak and the tony desert town is some of the most brutal in the area, which includes such geographical challenges as Frustration Creek, Pooped Out Hill and Hell for Sure Canyon, Kovich and others explained.

"We get people all the time around here who see those lights and become totally disoriented,' said one local man who did not give his name. "If you're going to come up here, especially this time of year, you better make sure you have a compass.'

Hikers who met Kumm as he camped last Saturday night about 2,500 feet below the summit at High Creek told authorities they had even joked with him about what he was doing in the area without a compass, map or cell phone. They gave him directions to the summit and moved on, and several other hikers who reached the summit and returned safely Sunday, said they aw no sign of the Seal Beach man, Kovich said.

Kumm's black Chevy pickup truck still sits at the trail head in Forest Falls, where a map of the region is folded and wedged between the seats and an apple sits decaying on a passenger seat. Annual Nebraska National Park Permit stickers dot the windshield friends say he attended the University of Nebraska and Kovich said Kumm's cell phone was found stashed beneath the driver's seat.

Rescuers said Kumm was equipped with a good pair of hiking boots, crampons, a sleeping bag, and a tent. He took the Vivian Creek Trail, often referred to as the Old Grayback trail, which is the shortest route to the summit at eight miles. Although it is a clearly marked dirt trail, those who have lived in the area for many years said it is not maintained in the wintertime and can be treacherous when loose rocks on the trail mix with sheets of ice.

Kumm and his girlfriend had come up to the area every weekend the three weeks prior to his disappearance, Kovich said. Each time, the couple camped at High Creek on Saturday night, then started back down the mountain on Sunday morning.

This past weekend Kumm came alone and he did not secure a permit to hike to the summit, but did secure one for the High Creek Camp, Kovich said. Rescuers are almost positive he never made it to the peak on Sunday because he did not sign the log at the top of the mountain.

"There are books in some old ammo cannons and his girlfriend said that if he had made it to the top there is no way he would not have signed in because it's an accomplishment,' Kovich said.

Rescuers set out on foot at 6 a.m. Friday from four different vantage points and headed for High Creek camp, which sits at about 9,000 feet.

At 9 a.m., a specially trained volunteer Alpine rope crew from Northern California, including Marin and San Mateo counties, were whisked to the peak by a converted military helicopter belonging to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department once some of the cloud cover had passed. Authorities said their training should prove especially helpful with the harsh conditions, which included steep slopes covered with ice, about an inch of hard-packed snow and winds blowing at about 40 knots.

Days have been long for the rescue crews, including one group flown in by the single-engine Huey helicopter at 8 a.m. Thursday that did not emerge from the brush at the bottom of the trail until about 10 p.m. that night, Kovich said.

Several search-and-rescue experts with 20 or more years experience in the region were among the 18 people working Friday. Almost all were volunteers, Kovich said.

Today's operation is expected to be much larger with many volunteer searchers able to use their days off from regular jobs. Among those who took the time to help Friday were a nurse from Loma Linda University Hospital and an American Medical Response Emergency Medical Technician who works in Riverside, the deputy said.

About 30 rescue operations are carried out each year, although Kovich said the county has been particularly busy this year with the fires and mudslides. He estimated that some 200,000 people visit the San Gorgonio Wilderness Area every year, and that although there are more rescues in the summertime, winter rescues usually prove more risky.

"We'll never give up the search,' Kovich said when asked if the operation will be changed from one of search and rescue to retrieval.

"But what happens, over time, is that we have to scale the operation back, usually to running searches on weekends.'