by Steven Felschundneff | steven@claremont-courier.com

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department confirmed Tuesday that a body found in the Mt. Baldy wilderness Saturday morning is that of British actor Julian Sands.

Hikers discovered Sands’ body at 10 a.m. Saturday morning and Fontana station deputies, along with the Sheriff’s Department’s Emergency Operations Division, responded to the scene. Sands’ body was transported to the coroner’s office. The cause of death is still under investigation pending further test results, according to a sheriff’s news release.

With snow levels dramatically reduced, about 80 emergency personnel from multiple agencies conducted a coordinated search for Sands on June 17, but those efforts were unsuccessful.

“We are deeply grateful to the search teams and coordinators who have worked tirelessly to find Julian,” his family said on June 21, their first statement since Sands disappeared. “We continue to hold Julian in our hearts with bright memories of him as a wonderful father, husband, explorer, lover of the natural world and the arts, and as an original and collaborative performer.”

“We would like to extend our gratitude to all the volunteers that worked tirelessly to locate Mr. Sands.” S.B. Sheriff officials said in a statement.

Sands, 65, was reported missing by his family on January 13 when he failed to return home from a hiking expedition. For more than a week, search and rescue crews looked for Sands while battling treacherous terrain and weather conditions including high winds and avalanches.

“Due to the severe weather and alpine conditions, the search has been difficult, and the use of air resources was limited over the weekend,” S.B. Sheriff’s officials said in a statement in January.

Thirteen days after his disappearance officials switched the search efforts to “by air only.”

A second hiker, Jin Chung, 75, of Los Angeles, who went missing in the same area a few days after Sands, was found one day after he failed to return from his hike.

Sands, who lived in North Hollywood, was the star of the 1985 movie, “A Room with a View” and has more than 150 film and television credits.

By all accounts it was a brutal winter in Southern California. San Bernardino County Sheriff’s search and rescue teams responded to 14 emergency calls in and around Mt. Baldy in the month leading up to Sands’ disappearance. Two people fell to their deaths in the “Baldy Bowl” area during the winter.