The parents of a 19-year-old hiker who fell to his death near Mt. Baldy last month shared their story of agony and pain Monday, warning other families that even an experienced hiker could be faced with perilous conditions on the icy trails of the San Gabriel Mountains.
Ken and Fabiola Muench Casanova exclusively told NBC Los Angeles that they want other families to know that steep terrain near Mount Baldy could be much more dangerous than people think, even for prepared hiked like their son, Marcus.
The grieving father said, moments before plunging down the slopes, his son had called to describe how beautiful Mt. Baldy was.
“(He said) it was super fun. ‘We are stopping for lunch. Everything seemed fine,’” Ken Casanova described his conversation with his son. “In fact, they made it through what seemed to be the sketchy part.”
Sometime shortly after that, Casanova got the call that no parent could ever be prepared for.
“The worst possible news you could get,” Casanova described. “(My wife) was gardening. I walked outside. I said, ‘Marcus fell.’ Crying. She screamed, and we jumped in the car. We drove out there.”
Rescuers tried to find Marcus, who had fallen 500 feet from the Devil’s Backbone Trail to death.
“After a certain date, Mt. Baldy stops being a hike. It’s no longer a hike,” Ken Casanova said, adding his son’s death was “entirely preventable.”
“It becomes a mountaineer route. The difference between a hike and a mountaineering route is the difference between life and death,” he said.
Since Marcus Casanova died, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department received 15 search-and-rescue calls on Mt. Baldy, including two other deaths and four hiker injuries.
The sheriff’s department said it’s consistently sharing information on social media about the dangers of hiking the area while planning a safety workshop.
Marcus Casanova’s parents want authorities to do more and implement a permit system for those wanting to hike Mt. Baldy in the winter months.
“That’s it you need for Mt. Baldy. Do you have your permit? If not, you must watch this two-and-a-half minute video, answer this quick quiz and print it out. That’s it,” Ken Casanova recommended.
The parents now have their son’s named tattooed as a “desperate attempt” to feel closer to him.
“The depth of our pain is unimaginable,” the father said. “We will survive, but it feels unsurvivable at the moment. If we can do anything to save somebody else, this is a horrible to be in, and I don’t any other parent to be there.”
The family said they are raising money to provide scholarships to underserved youth so they can experience the outdoors.
Marcus Casanova, an outdoor enthusiast, was the graduate of Los Alamitos High School and was attending Santa Clara University enjoyed being surrounded by nature, whether on land or sea. His family also described him to be an “avid sailor and outdoorsman.”
Casanova worked as a sailing instructor for the past three years at Leeway Sailing Center in Long Beach, his father said.
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