Los Angeles - (AFP) - British actor Julian Sands went missing about a week ago in a snow-covered mountain range in the US state of California, according to authorities who indicated that weather conditions were hampering their search for him.

The spokeswoman for the local police chief's office in San Bernardino County, Mara Rodriguez, told AFP that the 65-year-old actor, who was featured especially in the films "Room with a View" and "Warlock", "lost (...) on Mount Baldy" on the day last friday.

This mountain, also called Mount San Antonio, with a height of 3068 meters, is the highest peak in the San Gabriel mountain range near Los Angeles. The area is a popular destination for outdoor enthusiasts, but the series of storms that recently hit California has dumped large amounts of snow, making it dangerous.

Rescue teams launched search operations on the ground on Friday, but had to suspend them on Saturday evening due to the risk of avalanches. The spokeswoman explained, "The search operations are continuing, and helicopters and drones are used when weather conditions allow."

"We will launch new ground searches when the weather improves and when we can ensure the safety of our teams," she added.

Born in Yorkshire, northern England, Julian Sands resides in the US state of California, and is an amateur mountaineer.

One of Sands' most prominent achievements in this field was his climbing of the Andes mountain range in the early nineties of the twentieth century, when he found himself stuck in it in the middle of a storm at an altitude of more than six thousand meters. And in 2020, he told the British newspaper "The Guardian" that he finds happiness "near the top of a mountain on a beautiful cold morning."

And the San Bernardino County authorities predicted severe weather conditions last week, via Twitter, and warned on Wednesday of the danger of hiking on Mount Baldy during this period, even for the experienced, due to strong winds and ice.

In recent weeks, rescue units have carried out about 12 rescue operations in the region. At least two people died in accidents, including a woman who fell from a height of more than 200 meters due to her slipping on the ice.