A snowboarder was rescued from Fitzsimmons Creek by helicopter last week, only a few minutes before dusk. While snowboarding Feb. 2, on Blackcomb Mountain, 21 year-old Junichi Mizuno went out of bounds off the 7th Heaven ski run. He called 911 from his cell phone and explained to RCMP dispatch Darcy Hamilton that he wasn’t sure where he was. Cst. Joe Leeson was able to extract enough information from the call to determine the possible location of Mizuno. They instructed him to turn off his cell phone to conserve the battery, and return to what was believed to be Fitzsimmons Creek. Search and Rescue member Brad Sills responded quickly and determined that a snowmobile could not reach the lost boarder due to heavy terrain. It was snowing heavily and there were only minutes of daylight remaining. Blackcomb Helicopter and pilot Dave Weir responded to the call and immediately departed with Sills on a search pattern of Fitzsimmons Creek. With only minutes of flight time remaining and in dangerous conditions, Weir and Sills located Mizuno and managed to land the helicopter. Mizuno was then evacuated safely off the mountain.
