Mountain Views News          Saturday, May 17, 2014

Mountain Views-News Saturday, May 17, 2014 4 Mountain Views-News Saturday, May 17, 2014 4 
“FOR ALL THAT YOU HAVE AND WILL ACHIEVE” 

Sierra Madre Civic Club Presents Education Awards 


Pictured from left to right are: Isaac Garcia, 
Emma Martinez, Thomas Bent, Savannah 
Woods, Michael Carter, and Aliya Crochetiere 

The Sierra Madre Civic Club proudly presented its 
annual Education Awards to six local high school 
seniors at its May 8, 2014 meeting. Education 
Awards are given to graduating seniors chosen for 
academic excellence, school activity involvement, 
and community service. The honorees are: Isaac 
Garcia, who is graduating from Duarte High 
School and will be attending Cal State LA; Emma 
Martinez, who is graduating from LaSalle High 
School and will be attending the University of 
Portland; Thomas Bent, who is also graduating 
from LaSalle High School and will be attending 
UC Santa Cruz; Savannah Woods, who is 
graduating from Pasadena High school and will 
be attending UC Davis; Michael Carter, who is 
graduating from Maranatha High School and will 
be attending Johns Hopkins University; and Aliya 

Crochetiere, who is graduating from Pasadena 
Polytechnic High School and will be attending 
UC Berkeley. 

Civic Club was able to award a total of $4,500 
among these worthy students. Members of the 
Civic Club Education Awards committee, chaired 
by Ellen O’Leary and Gwen Robertson, presented 
the awards individually to each of the recipients 
stating that the award represented “for all that you 
have and will achieve.” Congratulations to these 
fine young students! 

The Sierra Madre Civic Club is comprised of about 
100 local and area women who come together to 
promote unity and good fellowship, and to strive 
toward civic, philanthropic, and youth welfare 
advancement. During the year, Civic Club raises 
monies which, in late Spring of each year, are 
donated to local philanthropic causes and are also 
awarded in the form of grants to local exceptional 
high school seniors. 

148 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. 
Sierra Madre, CA 91024 
626-355-1800 
NOW OPEN! 
Sierra Madre Search & Rescue 


The ongoing mild weather conditions continue 
to bring many people to our local mountains. 
With all of the visitors accidents happen and 
Sierra Madre Search and Rescue (SMSR) 
continues to have an above average spring with 
eight SAR calls in April. 

Two incidents are described in more detail 
below. 

Stranded Hikers, Big Santa Anita Canyon/
Chantry Flat: SMSR was paged at 3:10 p.m. 
on April 6th, to respond for a rescue of hikers 
stranded in steep terrain off of the First Water 
Trail. Responding rescuers established a 
command post on the road near the parking lot 
and dispatched crews down the trail equipped 
for a cliff rescue. Rescuers arrived on scene 
and determined that 2 male and 1 female hiker 
were stranded approximately 120’ over the side 
of the trail above Cabin 17. The steep terrain 
prevented the hikers from safely ascending or 
descending. After rappelling to the subjects 
and determining that they were uninjured, 
rescuers set-up for a high angle stranded hiker 
rescue and lowered all 3 hikers safely to the 
canyon bottom. This type of rescue scenario is 
not uncommon. It is often very easy to get into 
an off-trail area and find that it is not possible 
to safely ascend or descend. Avoid placing 
yourself in this situation by staying on the trail 
and not relying on old ropes you may find left 
in some locations. Ropes may be old, damaged 
or end high above the canyon bottom. The 
rescue was secured after all personnel were out 
of the field at 6:20 p.m. 
Missing Hiker, Echo Mountain area: SMSR 
was paged at 12:07 a.m on Monday, April 28thto assist Altadena Mountain Rescue (AMRT)
in the search for a missing hiker near Echo 
Mountain above Altadena. AMRT had been 
dispatched on the search just before 9 p.m.
on Sunday, April 27th as a result of a 911 call.
Rescuers were able to briefly connect with thehiker and obtain limited information about 
his location before the phone’s battery power 

was too low to establish a connection. Crews 
from SMSR, AMRT and Montrose Search and 
Rescue were assigned to cover the local trailsin an attempt to locate the hiker. High windslimited the ability of helicopters to assist in thesearch during the evening.
At approximately 4:30 a.m. a SMSR crew made 
voice contact with the missing hiker in an off-
trail area. Due to the extremely rugged terrain, 
pinpointing his exact location proved to be 
difficult, but crews were able to spot faint light 
coming from the hiker’s cell phone. Using map 
and compass, rescuers were able to determine 
a compass bearing to the hiker’s location. This 
information was relayed to the command post 
and at first light, LA County Sheriff ’s rescue 
helicopter, Air 5, determined his exact location 
and performed a hoist extraction. The subject 
was uninjured and was flown to Farnsworth 
Park in Altadena. Rescuers hiked out and the 
operation was secured at 9:45 a.m. While 
not always obvious during the “Breaking 
News” segments on our local news, this type 
of operation highlights the close coordination 
between the ground SAR teams, other 
emergency responders and helicopter crews 
that is necessary to safely conduct mountain 
rescues. 

For over 60 years the all-volunteer Sierra Madre 
Search and Rescue team has been responding 
to calls for help in the local mountains and 
beyond. Funded entirely by private donations, 
SMSR provides a range of public programs on 
wilderness safety in addition to its search and 
rescue activities. The Team never charges for 
any of its services. 

For more information, including how to 
arrange a wilderness safety demonstration for 
your school or group, visit www.smsr.org.