Rescue beacons prove to be lifesavers

Two lost hikers.

One had a personal locator beacon. One didn't.

One was rescued. One is presumed dead.

Rescuers reached Nate Freund, 27, near California's Mount Baldy in the San Gabriel Mountains last week , a day after he activated his satellite-aided beacon with an internal Global Positioning System. Freund's cell phone and his separate handheld GPS also aided rescuers.

Meanwhile, Dean Christy, 62, who got lost hiking Jan. 4 near Big Bear Lake, carried only a cell phone. He hasn't been found.

"Thank God this other hiker had that," said Joan Christy, Dean's wife, of Freund's locator beacon. "Because his fate could have been the same without it."

Locator beacons, long used by pilots and boaters, were legalized for hikers in 2003. Rescues attributed to beacons more than tripled from 23 in 2003 to 88 in 2007.

However, mountain rescue teams throughout the country opposed a bill in Oregon last year that would have required some hikers to carry locator beacons. They feared it would give inexperienced hikers and mountain climbers a false sense of security.

There hasn't been an effort to pass similar legislation in California. Inland search-and-rescue officials said locator beacons are valuable tools but that it's more important that hikers and climbers tell someone where they are going, check the weather before leaving and carry essential tools, such as a knife and a map.

After a seven-year pilot program in Alaska, the Federal Communications Commission legalized personal locator beacons in July 2003.

On average, the beacons, which are about the size of a digital camera, cost about $600. After buying one, the customer must register it with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Search and Rescue Satellite-aided Tracking program.

About 31,000 personal locator beacons are registered in the United States, including about 13,000 that were registered in 2007, said Lt. Jeffrey Shoup, program support officer. Eight people, including Freund, have been rescued in California with the help of the beacons, he said.

When activated, the locator beacon sends a signal to satellites monitored by the tracking program. The satellites pinpoint the person's location, which is relayed to search-and-rescue officials.

More than 85 percent of locator beacons also have internal GPSs, which pinpoint a person's location, said Chris Wahler, marketing director of ACR Electronics, which manufactured 60 percent of the personal locator beacons registered in the United States, including Freund's.

The internal GPS doesn't always help rescuers, though.

In Freund's case, search-and-rescue officials did not get his location from the beacon's GPS, possibly because of clouds and snow, said San Bernardino County sheriff's Deputy Dave Pichotta, who coordinates the county's 22 search-and-rescue teams.

However, Wahler said the global positioning system in Freund's locator beacon did transmit his location. He said search and rescue officials might not have received Freund's location because he turned the locator beacon on and off several times.

On Jan. 20, Freund left the Icehouse Canyon trailhead near Mount Baldy at 9 a.m. He planned to camp for one night and return home Jan. 21.

He reached Bighorn Peak, at an elevation of 8,441 feet, about 2 p.m. Jan. 20 and decided to camp there.

He woke about 6 a.m. the next morning and set out for the 8,693-foot Ontario Peak. After reaching the peak at about 10 a.m., he made his way back to Bighorn Peak and headed down the mountain toward his car.

However, the weather changed. Snow covered his tracks. Clouds and fog cut visibility to 20 feet.

He retraced his steps to Bighorn Peak. He used his cell phone to send text messages to his roommate and sister: "I'm lost. I'm at Bighorn Peak near Ice House Saddle. Call Authorities."

Fifteen minutes later, about 3 p.m., with his heart pounding, he pushed the buttons to activate the locator beacon.

"I just decided I was defeated," Freund said. "Mother Nature came in and did her work."

With helicopters limited by clouds and rescuers slowed by waist-deep snow, no one reached Freund until about 1 p.m. Jan. 22, more than 48 hours after he left for the hike. About five hours later, they guided him down to his car.

Rescuers said they found Freund because of his cell phone calls, text messages, coordinates he text messaged from his handheld GPS and coordinates his locator beacon sent to satellites.

E-mail Sean Nealon at snealon(at)PE.com

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)