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Man rescued from remote area of Black Mountain

The trail is dark and full of terrors - or at least full of snow. A wayward hiker on Black Mountain was spared a night in the cold Sunday after North Shore Rescue members tracked him down in the darkness.
snow

The trail is dark and full of terrors - or at least full of snow.

A wayward hiker on Black Mountain was spared a night in the cold Sunday after North Shore Rescue members tracked him down in the darkness.

West Vancouver police received a call for help just before sundown from a man who’d gotten disoriented trying to make it to Eagle Bluff, southwest of the mountain’s summit.

The 63-year-old Surrey man hikes the trail often in the summertime, but with snow covering the path as well as many of the wayfinding signs, he quickly got disoriented and started travelling in the wrong direction, according to Doug Pope, search manager with North Shore Rescue.

The hiker had a cellphone, which he used to call 911, but no data plan, meaning all the usual ways rescue technicians use to get a person’s GPS co-ordinates wouldn’t work.

Instead, the man was using instant messaging service WhatsApp to communicate with rescuers and with friends. It was a contact of his in Newfoundland who was able to determine his location and pass the critical info on to North Shore Rescue. They found him about 900 metres down Black Mountain, southeast of his intended destination.

“It might have saved his life. Because if we didn’t get that location, we’d probably still be looking for him today,” Pope said. “It’s really in an area we would not expect. In my 10 years on the team, we’ve only done one other rescue there. … That would have been an area where we would have looked almost last.”

The man had barely any of the supplies he’d need to make it out on his own or even increase his chances of making it through the night, Pope said.

All year round, NSR recommends people carry the “10 essentials” – food and water, extra clothing, a flashlight, signalling device, matches or a lighter, a shelter or tarp, first aid kit, a GPS system, and some way of communicating like a cellphone or satellite beacon.

“With the shorter days and the colder temperatures, the stakes are up significantly as far as how dangerous it can be and how quickly things can go bad. You need to be carrying those extra supplies. You need to think about how those trails are difficult to navigate because of the snow,” he said. “You have to be that much more prepared.”

While volunteers were preparing for the rescue, a second similar call for help came in from a mountain biker who was also caught in the dark on lower Mount Seymour. She too was draining her smartphone’s batteries by using it as a flashlight, although with the help of a trail runner, she was able to get out without rescuers’ help.