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After 3 rescues in 2 days, North Shore Rescue busy season begins

Team pushes education to stay safe
NSR

The sun is shining. The trails are opening and North Shore Rescue volunteers are cancelling their weekend plans so they can rescue lost and injured souls from the backcountry.

“For sure, this is the start of our summer busy season,” said Doug Pope, NSR search manager, after the team carried out three rescues in two days. “People are starting to go outdoors and hike the North Shore Mountains more. We get busier because people get into trouble back there.”

The team completed two successful rescue missions on Friday evening, starting with a call from Lions Bay Search and Rescue who needed to long-line rescue two hikers stranded near the Lions.

“We suspected they were in Harvey Creek drainage, which is a nasty creek gully that drains below the Lions. People who have gotten off the Lions trail had wandered into that area before and we’d had one recent fatality in that area,” Pope said.

Rescuers in a Talon helicopter spotted the pair, frightened but uninjured, and long-lined them out one at a time.

Before the second subject was even deposited back to the rescue site, West Vancouver police alerted them to a hiker on the Howe Sound Crest Trail with severe muscle cramps and unable to get out on his own. He was part of a group of six Surrey teens who were all in over their heads.

“After interviewing them a bit more, I learned how ill-prepared they were. Their phones were all about to go dead. They didn’t have a flashlight between them and they were all in light hikers and not a lot of warm clothing,” Pope said. “Things were going to be going from bad to worse for that group so we ended up evacuating all six by long-line rescue,” he said.

The day before, members airlifted a local teen after he became separated from a friend while hiking the BCMC trail on Grouse.

“The one that knew the trail left his friend behind. That’s never a good idea. Staying together is a lot safer on a trail,” Pope said.

On Tuesday night, District of North Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services members performed a high-angle rescue for a man who had fallen near the base of Quarry Rock.

The victim was packaged into a basket stretcher and handed off to the waiting Vancouver fireboat. Alcohol was a factor, according to DNV assistant fire chief Mike Cairns.

More than rescuing people in peril, North Shore Rescue tries to educate the hiking public on what they should be doing to avoid getting into trouble (and written up in the North Shore News) in the first place.

Backcountry adventurers should do thorough research on their trip in order to make sure they are physically prepared, let someone know where they’re going and when they’ll be back and allow for extra time, according to North Shore Rescue.

The team also preaches carrying the “10 essentials” anytime you are going into the backcountry: a light, a signalling device like a whistle or flare, something to start a fire, extra clothes, a pocket knife, shelter, food and water, a first aid kit, navigation tools including a map, compass and GPS as well as a cellphone or radio able to call for help.

“When you’re going out on a hike, rather than bringing everything you think you’re going to need if everything goes well, you’ve got to think what will I need if something goes wrong?” Pope said.

— with files from Chris Slater