Dogs Brought In To Help Search For Missing Hikers On Mount Baldy

MOUNT BALDY (CBSLA) — Search and rescue teams are stepping up their efforts to find two missing hikers who have not been seen since Saturday.

The search for Eric Desplinter, 33, of Chino Hills, and Gabrielle Wallace, 31, of Rancho Cucamonga, started up again Wednesday as winds have died down. Air support was not able to bring search teams to the top of the mountain to search for the pair due to the high winds.

The pair was hiking with coworkers when they got separated and never returned to their car. Since then, crews have found a beanie, a trekking pole and other items – but no sign of Wallace and Desplinter. Eric Vonrohr, who hikes Mount Baldy once a week, believes they ran into trouble.

"Something happened to them," he said. "They got hurt, 'cause it's hard to get lost."

Five teams of three plus two search dogs were brought in Wednesday to scour the mountain. The windy weather has complicated the search and has forced the rescue effort to make changes.

"Two of those teams will be staying the night out on the mountain because we've had trouble with our air support inserting the teams because of the high winds," San Bernardino County sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Bachman said.

Friends and family are hopeful the pair will be found alive – but they're concerned that they might be running out of supplies.