A massive search for five missing hikers on Mount Harvey, in Lions Bay, turned tragic Sunday when their bodies were recovered by rescuers.
The hikers were believed to be part of two groups of experienced hikers who went missing in a snow slide Saturday.
Multiple agencies, including Squamish Search and Rescue were involved in the search and rescue effort, according to Martin Colwell of Lions Bay Search and Rescue, who spoke to The Chief Sunday afternoon.
Four bodies were recovered by noon and the search continued for the fifth person whose body was also recovered later in the day on Sunday.
The snow slide reportedly happened when the hikers were crossing a snowy overhang at the peak of Mount Harvey, one of the taller of the North Shore Mountains.
The cornice, or overhang, gave way and the group fell about 500 metres.
“The trouble with a cornice is it looks like a smooth sweep of snow on a mountain, but you can’t see where the edge is, so you can go over it, or it can collapse beneath you and break away from the edge,” Colwell said in an interview with The Vancouver Sun.
Squamish RCMP Corp. Sascha Banks said the search and recovery was a "large-scale rescue effort with multiple agencies working together to find the hikers."
Colwell said he was grateful for the skilled rescuers sent by Squamish SAR.
- With files from Brandon Barrett, Pique Newsmagazine
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