A 71-year-old motorcyclist from Richmond succumbed to his injuries after hitting a pole along the Callaghan Road just before noon on July 13.
According to police, he was rounding a right corner about two kilometres from the Whistler Olympic Park when he went off-road, lost traction on the gravel and hit a pole.
He was attended by doctors and nurses at the Believe Freedom Festival before being evacuated by air ambulance and taken to a hospital in the Lower Mainland, were he passed away. He has not been identified.
Speed is believed to be a factor.
Missing person, drug calls at Believe
Participants in the first annual Believe Freedom Festival at Whistler Olympic Park were for the most part well behaved, but RCMP did respond to a few calls over the weekend at the festival site at Whistler Olympic Park.
On July 12 at 6 p.m., RCMP investigated three individuals with 14 grams of hashish and other drugs. They have not been charged yet, but are reportedly foreign nationals living in Calgary. Canadian Citizenship and Immigration have been contacted.
On July 13 at 5 a.m., the RCMP intercepted a male who appeared to be trying to sneak into the festival through a wooded area. He claimed to be looking for a girlfriend, but police determined that he made up the story and arrested him for public intoxication.
On July 14 at 1:30 a.m., the RCMP received a missing person call after a woman failed to turn up after leaving the Believe Festival. She returned home three hours later.
At 3 a.m., the RCMP received a report of another missing person who was under the influence of drugs and disappeared. About three hours later, security noticed a male standing on one of the ski jump towers, and police were told that he was threatening to kill himself. The male fled into the forest, and the police responded with active members, a police dog team and an RCMP helicopter as well. The male was never located, but walked out of the forest at 4:30 p.m. that afternoon in good condition.
Strange calls keep officers busy
The week's RCMP blotter has a number of strange calls, starting with a call regarding a stolen iPhone on July 9 at 8:30 p.m. The male who lost the phone used a tracking application to pinpoint the phone's location to Montebello, and called the RCMP to assist with getting it back. After attending the house it was revealed that one of the male's friends had taken the phone after the male had left it at a restaurant. The friend was trying to contact the phone's owner to let him know, but without a cell phone he was unreachable.
At 1 p.m. on July 10, the police responded to a call regarding a break and enter at Casabella. According to the owner, the thief took some screens from the window and left some alternative screens painted differently nearby. After talking to the caller the RCMP determined that the screen had been repaired in recent weeks, and believe there was a miscommunication with the installers.
Driving your very drunk friend home while over the limit yourself is never a good idea, with the police getting a call on July 12 at 3 a.m. regarding someone throwing up out the window of a moving car on Highway 99, just south of the village. The police located the vehicle at Whistler Road, and noticed the driver had signs of impairment as did his passenger. The driver, a 23-year-old Whistler resident, tested in the warn range and was given a three-day driving prohibition and vehicle impound.
On July 13 at 11 a.m., the RCMP got a call regarding a vehicle that was taken without the owner's consent.
The RCMP attended and found the owner of a truck was discussing the sale of the vehicle with some prospective buyers, and had gone into the house to get something. When he came back outside the vehicle was gone.
After 45 minutes passed the owner of the vehicle called the police, although the truck was returned by the time police arrived and an argument ensued over what length of time constitutes a test drive.
Paraglider survives 1,000-ft. fall
On July 13 at 1:30 p.m. the RCMP received a report of a paraglider crashing in the Ryan Creek area after his chute deflated at roughly 1,000 feet. The police attended, and learned on arrival that the person had managed to land safely despite his malfunctioning paraglider.
