Identity of Body Found in Snow a Mystery : Inquiry: The man, wearing jogger’s clothes, was discovered in Angeles National Forest.

ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST — Investigators on Thursday were trying to identify the body of a man possibly killed while jogging or hiking near a ravine in Angeles National Forest, southeast of Palmdale.

The corpse was sighted early this week by members of a volunteer ski patrol team in a mountainous area off Angeles Forest Highway west of Wrightwood, where wintry conditions still exist. The man was not carrying a wallet or other identification, authorities said.

To recover the body, the Los Angeles County sheriff’s search and rescue unit and the coroner’s office Wednesday sent a team into the remote area, where the snow is still 12 feet deep in some places.

The cold weather made it difficult to estimate the time of death, but investigators speculated that the body had been in the snow for two or three days.

The death appeared to be accidental, possibly resulting from a fall while the man was jogging or hiking, authorities said. Sheriff’s homicide detectives said they are anxious to notify his family.

“We just need to know who the man was,” Sheriff’s Investigator George Roberts said.

The body was near a rugged slope sometimes used by people seeking a challenging hike or workout, the investigator said.

The body was on its back, resting on hard-packed snow in an open area where the man may have landed after a fall, coroner’s spokesman Scott Carrier said. “He was clad in jogging clothes, which was not appropriate for the terrain, much less the environment,” Carrier said.

Investigators described the man as white, about 30 years old, 210 pounds, 6 feet tall, with brown hair and brown eyes. They said he appeared to be in good physical condition.

He had small scars on the left side of his face, on his left wrist and on his right shoulder. The man was wearing gray sweat pants, a bluish-green T-shirt and Nike tennis shoes, size 10 1/2.

Authorities urged anyone who may know the man’s identity to call Roberts or Sgt. Barry Wish at the sheriff’s homicide bureau, (213) 890-5500, or the coroner’s identification staff at (213) 343-0754.