Julian Sands opened up about the ‘hypernatural’ experience of confronting human remains while mountain climbing, in an interview shortly before searches for the British actor concluded in a similar manner.
The sad news of his death was confirmed last week after human remains were found in the Mount Baldy area of the San Gabriel mountains in southern California.
Sands, 65, had been missing for more than five months after failing to return from a hike in January.
The latest edition of the Radio Times includes an interview with Sands which took place months before his death.
Reflecting on his experience of hiking, he told the magazine: ‘Pals I used to climb with have stopped going to the mountains, partly because they find, with climate change, the rock faces have become much more unstable, partly, it’s age.
‘If you don’t really have the desire, the focus for climbing a route, if you’re not absolutely committed, it becomes much more dangerous…’
The A Room With A View actor went on: ‘I’ve found spooky things on mountains, when you know you’re in a place where many people have lost their lives, whether it be on the Eiger or in the Andes.
‘You may be confronted with human remains and that can be chilling. It’s not necessarily supernatural, it’s possibly all too natural – what I would call hypernatural.
‘You’re in the presence of big nature and big nature is revealing itself in all its power. It can take us over a threshold of hypersensitivity into a realm of natural forces.’
Efforts to find Sands alive by local authorities had been unsuccessful, with poor weather conditions hampering efforts since March until his remains were found by civilian hikers last month.
He was best known for his breakout role in the 1985 romantic period drama A Room With A View, in which he starred alongside Helena Bonham Carter.
Sands later moved to the horror genre, with appearances in films including Gothic, Warlock, and Arachnophobia.
The actor was also a keen climber and described the activity as ‘solace and a sort of existentialist self-negation, but equally a self-affirmation’.
‘If you can deal with dangerous mountains, you can certainly deal with life as an actor – the two are quite complementary,’ he added.
In the interview, Sands dismissed the suggestion that he was too old to climb but said that friends who used to join him had stopped in part due to age.
He also noted that climate change had made certain rock faces more unstable.
Sands said: ‘If you don’t really have the desire, the focus for climbing a route, if you’re not absolutely committed, it becomes much more dangerous and it’s a much more deflating experience.
‘Finding folk whose company I enjoy in such stressful and intimate conditions is not easy.
‘The thing about climbing is, you’re always making plans and looking at routes – maybe you end up getting to 5% of all the things you plan to do.’
Sands was considered an experienced and competent mountaineer by his friends, with his hiking partner and fellow actor Kevin Ryan previously telling the PA news agency that he was ‘the most advanced hiker I know’.
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