Mountaineer injured in fall

Veteran mountaineer R.J. Secor, author of the Sierra climbing bible “The High Sierra: Peaks, Passes, and Trails,” was seriously injured April 16 when he slid more than 1,000 feet down a snow-covered slope in a backcountry area of Mt. Baldy, officials say.

Secor, 48, of Pasadena, was taken by helicopter to a local hospital in critical condition with head and chest injuries. He was transferred to Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Los Angeles, where a hospital spokesperson said Monday that he was in serious condition.

Secor apparently lost control during a seated glissade -- a maneuver that mountaineers use to descend a steep or icy slope -- in a snow chute from the top of Baldy Bowl, says a witness, Kathy Wing of Redlands. She said he struck rocks jutting through snow and tumbled to the bottom about 1,200 feet below.

-- Scott Doggett