Below is an excerpt from an article that appeared on L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky's website on May 2nd about the dangers of Eaton Canyon and the five fatalities that have occurred there in the last two years. To read the full article, click on the link at the bottom of this post.

  Five people have died in the upper raches of Eaton Canyon in the past two years, including this man in 2011.

It was late in the day when several twentysomething hikers happened upon veteran Los Angeles County rescuer Richard De Leon. Next to him was another young man, whose broken body had just been retrieved from the rocky floor of Eaton Canyon.

“Where you coming from?” De Leon asked the group, knowing all too well the answer.

“The second falls,” they confirmed. “But we’re fine.”

De Leon motioned to the man now being photographed by coroner’s officials. “So was he about an hour ago.”  

The hikers assured De Leon they weren’t like that guy.  “We know what we’re doing,” they insisted.

“So did he,” the rescuer said, hoping to drive home his point but knowing that he might as well have been lecturing the rocks.

Click Here to continue reading the piece on 

The call came in just after 12:30pm for a hiker stuck on a ridge above the first waterfall in Eaton Canyon. Team members deployed to Eaton Canyon and located the victim, on the ridgeline above canyon bottom where so many hikers end up.

The individuals position on the ridge did not require a highly technical rescue, instead, team members were able to set a nummber of hand lines, allowing them to gain access to the victim. Once at the victims location he was placed in a harness and secured to a hand line. Once safely secured, the process of getting down the ridge to canyon bottom began. By 4:30pm the victim was safely down from the ridge and the team was back at headquarters. 

Today was day one of a three day training exercise arranged by L.A. County Fire that took place on the Angeles Crest Highway. Along with AMRT, there was Montrose Search & Rescue, U.S. Forest Service and multiple stations from L.A. County Fire. The training operation focused on high angle extraction. Pictures from todays exercise have been added to the gallery.

Images from team training at Devil's Gate on Sunday April 14th have been added to the gallery

*UPDATE - The boy was found unharmed.

A call came in just before 8am to search Devil's Gate Reservoir for a missing 11 year old boy. Team members are responding at this time. Updates will be posted as they become available.

Stop by the Dog Haus Bier Garten in Old Pasadena today, Saturday April 20th, any time all day between 11:00am and 1:30am (yep, that is A.M.). Have some great food, and meet members of the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team.

The Dog Haus will donate 15% of your food and drink order to the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team. When ordering, present a copy of the event flyer or mention Altadena Mountain Rescue Team.

Team members will be on site at the Dog Haus from 11:00am - 1:00pm and again that evening from 6:00pm - 8:00pm.

For directions via google maps, click here. Convenient parking is located 1 block west on Green St

Stop by the Dog Haus Bier Garten in Old Pasadena this Saturday April 20th any time all day between 11:00am and 1:30am (yep, that is A.M.). Have some great food, and meet members of the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team.

The Dog Haus will donate 15% of your food and drink order to the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team. When ordering, present a copy of the event flyer or mention Altadena Mountain Rescue Team.

Team members will be on site at the Dog Haus from 11:00am - 1:00pm and again that evening from 6:00pm - 8:00pm.

For directions via google maps, click here. Convenient parking is located 1 block west on Green St. 

The Dog Haus Bier Garten located at 93 E. Green St. in Old Pasadena will be hosting a fundraiser day for the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team on Saturday April 20th, beginning at 11:00am and continuing until they close at 1:30am.

Stop by any time that day, and when ordering either present a copy of the downloadable flyer or mention Altadena Mountain Rescue Team and 15% of your food & drink purchase will be donated to the team.

The call for an injured mountainbiker came in at approximately 4:20pm on Saturday April 6th. The injured individual was located about 1/2 mile up El Prieto Canyon. AMRT was first on scene with County and Forestry Fire not far behind.

The biker had sustained an ankle injury, and it was determined the best plan of action was to load him into the litter and wheel him out out of the canyon. Members of AMRT took up their respective position as haul and brake crew while members from Fire assisted with the patient and litter.

Once safely out of the canyon the patient was transferred to a waiting ambulance where he was transported to the hospital for treatment.

The 5 hikers reported missing have been found my AMRT and are being walked out of Eaton Canyon. The group had made the decision to say overnight in the canyon and failed to inform anyone of their plans. They had food and water in their possession and were prepared for an overnight stay.

A call was received just before 7am for 5 missing hikers, 4 males and 1 female, who began hiking yesterday morning at 6am and haven't returned.

Team members have responded. Updates will be provided as they become available.

This Saturday, personnel from the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team joined the Los Angeles County Sheriff's VIDA (Vital Intervention and Directional Alternatives) program participants from the Altadena and Temple stations for a hike in our local Altadena mountains. The Altadena station's VIDA program had taken program participants hiking in the past and was elated that the Temple station VIDA program was participating on this outing. AMRT, VIDA deputies, along with several volunteers led 24 at risk youth VIDA students on a hike into Rubio Canyon to teach the students forest safety, the importance of a hiking plan, and what to expect while hiking, including commonly seen wildlife. The students spent almost 3 hours hiking into the first waterfall. Several students have never been out of the city or have ventured into the forest before. Many of the students were concerned about the recent death in Eaton Canyon. The students saw first-hand how treacherous, steep, and crumbly the mountain is just off trail. This is the third successful trek with the VIDA program participants and as always, we wished the students the best of luck with completion of the VIDA program and in their future endeavors.

For more information on the Sheriff's VIDA program visit: http://www.vida.la

A 17-year-old female was killed and an 18-year-old male was injured after falling while hiking in Eaton Canyon above the waterfall.

The male was airlifted to the hospital in unknown condition. The female hiker did not survive the fall and was pronounced at the scene. 

Two other individuals, ages 17 and 18, hiking with the victims were unhurt.

Team members responding to a call for injured hikers above Eaton Canyon falls. Updates will be posted as they become available

A call came in shortly after 8pm for two hikers lost on Echo Mountain off the trail. The informants were the actual victims themselves and were able to provide a rough description of their location to the team.

Because of their position off the trail, a team was sent up to Inspiration Point; from there they would hike approximately 1 mile down a ridgeline to a position above the stranded hikers.Once located, it was determined they were approximately 200 feet below the rescuers and roughly 1500 feet above the canyon bottom; because of their position, the best option was to raise the victims up to the ridgeline. A team member was lowered down to the victims, who were safely extricated from their position on the mountainside. They were then escorted by the team safely back down the mountain.

The operation completed just after 2am.

While on their way to the Winter Reaccreditation exercise being held at June Lake Ski Resort on Saturday March 2nd, members of the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team put their Sheriff's training to good use.

Five members of the team stopped off at a local market on their way to the exercise at June Lake Ski Resort from the hotel. It was at this market where members were approached by a female in the parking lot. She was obviously distraught and showed signs of abuse. Although shaken, the victim was able to convey to members of the team a rough description of the suspect. Moments later the suspect was spotted in the trees behind the building. Two sworn members of the team were able to detain the suspect until units from the Mono County Sheriff's Department arrived to take him into custody.

With the suspect in the custody of local law enforcement and the victim in good hands, the five members of AMRT joined the rest of the team at the winter reaccreditation exercise, where they collectively earned a nearly perfect score for the day.

With a nearly perfect score, the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team completed the 2013 Mountain Rescue Association Snow & Ice Reaccreditation. AMRT, along with more than 20 teams from throughout California, gathered in June Lake to complete the reaccreditation they had been training for these past months. The exercise consited of two parts, locating an injured victim and extracting them from the mountain along with a beacon search designed to simulate the search for an individual burried after an avalance. To see images from the exercise, click here.

"The Mountain Rescue Association (MRA) is a national volunteer organization dedicated to saving lives through rescue and mountain safety education. The California Region of the Mountain Rescue Association consists of over 20 rescue teams from thoughout the state of California. Majority of the members are unpaid volunteers who are highly trained. Accredited teams must meet the high standards of the MRA and must be re-evaluated every five years in each of the three search and rescue skills: Search and Tracking, Technical Rock, and Snow and Ice. California MRA teams not only respond to search and rescue operations in the unit's area of responsibility, but will also respond to mutual aid calls anywhere in the state to assist other agencies."

Images from the Mountain Rescue Association 2013 Snow & Ice Reaccreditation held this past weekend in June Lake, California have been added to the gallery. Click here to see all of the images.

At approximately 5:30pm on Monday February 18th, a call came in for a 14 year old male stuck 400' above canyon bottom in Eaton Canyon. The Altadena Mountain Rescue Team responded and after assessing the situation determined the best option, based on the victims position and lack of injuries, would be to raise him to the ridge above. Members of the team made their way up the mountain and to a position roughly 300' above the victim. Once a lowering system was rigged, a member of the team was sent down to the victim. Once on scene, the rescuer placed the young male into a rescue harness and began the 300' ascent to the ridgelline above. Now safely with the team members above, the victim was walked out and reuinted with his mother, who had initially called in the request for aid. The operation concluded at 10:30pm.