Squamish Search and Rescue (SAR) had a busy long weekend with nine calls over three days, several of which were serious, including one fatality.
After two mid-week calls — one for a fractured ankle on the Four Lakes Trail and another for a group of hikers who went off-trail hiking the Sea to Summit Trail to the Sea to Sky Gondola — on Friday, Sept. 4, SAR crews were called to assist BC Ambulance at Crooked Falls where a hiker fell in.
SAR located the woman and she was picked up by helicopter long-line, then turned over to BC Air Ambulance and transported to hospital in Vancouver.
“Although she was suffering from serious injuries and hypothermia, she will make a full recovery,” said B.J. Chute, rescue manager for Squamish SAR. “She’s a very, very lucky person. She survived what is generally an unsurvivable fall — not just the fall, the moving water. It was a very good outcome to what likely would’ve been a tragic fatality.”
Also that day, rescuers attended an incident at Electric Avenue in the Cheakamus Canyon where a climber had broken his ankle.
Then, on Saturday, Sept. 5, they were called to Serratus Mountain where a climber was rappelling off a bolted route when a rock dislodged and he fell approximately 40 metres.
“His partners were able to continue the descent to the glacier where we were able to locate him, fly in, stabilize him, and fly him back to Squamish where he was handed over to BC Ambulance,” Chute said.
The man is also expected to recover.
The next day, however, saw tragedy. Around 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 6, SAR crews were called to Sigurd Peak to assist BC Ambulance, BC Air Ambulance, and an RCMP helicopter to respond to a call for a Vancouver woman in her 30s who fell down a rock field and cliff face while hiking Sigurd Peak.
RCMP said the woman and her hiking partner were on a steep technical portion when she slipped on the rocks and fell a considerable distance.
“Unfortunately, this person did not survive the fall,” Chute said. “She was recovered and turned over to RCMP for an investigation.”
As SAR was heading down from that call, they received a request from RCMP to assist with an InReach device activation on Ossa Peak, not far from Sigurd Peak. “Given the fact that the RCMP helicopter was in the air and has the ability to fly at night, they ended up taking the call,” Chute said.
It turned out to be an accidental device activation.
Earlier that day, around 1 p.m., BC Ambulance asked SAR to assist on a call for a 63-year-old woman who had been hiking up Mount Habrich, lost her footing, and fell. She suffered a lower leg fracture.
“A bystander was able to run down, find cell service, and call 911,” Chute said.
She was rescued by a helicopter long-line and brought back to Squamish for medical care.
Then, around 7 p.m., SAR was called to the Watersprite trail where a man had suffered a knee injury. “We had no accurate location, so we sent a team in a helicopter to fly the area,” Chute said. “That team ran out of daylight and had to return to the base before locating the injured party.”
The man ended up making his way out with some help from friends and driving to Squamish Hospital.
On Monday, Sept. 7, crews were called to a dirt bike crash above Powerhouse Springs Road where a rider had dislocated their shoulder. SAR was able to find the man and put him on a stretcher to carry him out to BC Ambulance.
Then, around 8:30 p.m., RCMP called SAR teams to help find a woman who had tried to hike up Mount Crumpit, but got disoriented and called 911.
“SAR was able to locate that person and walk her out safely,” Chute said.
Squamish Fire Rescue was also putting in time as well. That day, firefighters had to bring a person to an ambulance following an incident five minutes up the Stawamus Chief trail, deputy fire chief Aaron Foote said. No other details on that incident were available.
With the Labour Day long weekend over, Chute is hoping that incidents will decrease.
“It’s been a busy summer for volunteers,” he said. “The better prepared people are, and the less likely they are to need to call search and rescue, the more time our search and rescue volunteers can have with their families — and get out and recreate themselves.”
The summer has been particularly busy in areas around Squamish Valley Road and Watersprite Lake, he added. “People are being pushed out to the outer limits of the Squamish area — likely due to the fact that the Chief [had been] closed. We’re seeing more people go to places like Crooked Falls, Watersprite, anywhere else in the Squamish Valley … We’re always going to be prepared to respond, but we’re hoping to see a reduction in our calls.”
This article was originally published by the Squamish Chief.
