High Mountain Rangers/Jesse Hawkes

1 9 8 8 (USA)
12 x 60 minute episodes
1 9 8 9 (USA)
6 x 60 minute episodes

Premiering in January 1988, this CBS series followed the adventures of the High Mountain Rangers, an elite mountain patrol based in the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Lake Tahoe.

Jesse Hawkes (Robert Conrad) founded the Rangers to rescue people who became trapped in perilous situations while in the region.

Jesse was assisted by his sons, Matt and Cody (played by Robert Conrad’s real-life sons, 23-year-old Christian and 16-year-old Shane),  Jesse has a dog named Ding.

“Frostbite” was the radio code for the Rangers headquarters. Jesse’s sled was “Top Gun”, Cody’s snowmobile was “White Eagle”, and Ranger TJ (Toni Towles) Cousins rode a sled called “Black Magic”.  “Snow Babe” was the sled of Ranger Robin Carstairs (Swedish beauty P.A. Christian).

The pilot for the series was broadcast as a two-hour made-for-TV movie in April 1987. While the critics were not kind, it rated handsomely, and the series – filmed on location in Hope Valley near Lake Tahoe – was commissioned.

The Conrad men returned in 1989 in a six-episode spinoff titled Jesse Hawkes. Jesse and his two sons were now based in San Francisco, where they fought crime with theIr high mountain experience.

Robert Conrad resurfaced in a very similar role as Griffin “Tooter” Campbell in High Sierra Search and Rescue in 1995. He died from heart failure on 8 February 2020. He was 84.

Jesse Hawkes
Robert Conrad
Matt Hawkes
Christian Conrad
Cody Hawkes
Shane Conrad
Frank Avila
Tony Acierto
Robin ‘Frostbite’ Kelly
Pa Neumüller
Cutler
Russell Todd
Izzy ‘The Pocatello Kid’ Flowers
Timothy ‘Toes’ Erwin
Tim ‘Black Magic’ Hart
Eugene Williams
TJ Cousins
Toni Towles
Robin Carstairs
P.A. Christian