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Missing snowboarder found dead after going out of bounds near Cypress

A 40-year-old Surrey man has died after snowboarding out of bounds at Cypress Mountain ski area Friday afternoon. The body of the missing snowboarder was recovered by North Shore Rescue Saturday in the Montizambert drainage area.
NSR

A 40-year-old Surrey man has died after snowboarding out of bounds at Cypress Mountain ski area Friday afternoon.

The body of the missing snowboarder was recovered by North Shore Rescue Saturday in the Montizambert drainage area.

“This is a really, really tragic ending. Not what we anticipate on these calls but I think it really shows the consequences that can happen,” North Shore Rescue team leader Mike Danks told the North Shore News.

The man was snowboarding with a female friend Friday afternoon when they went out of bounds on Upper Mount Strachan around noon. The pair decided to separate, said Danks, and planned to meet up again at 2:30 p.m.

It took the female snowboarder 90 minutes to get out of the trail and return to the ski area, and “the male, for whatever reason, continued down,” explained Danks.

When the snowboarder didn’t show up by 6 p.m., the friend called Cypress patrol.

Cypress Mountain spokesman Joffrey Koeman stated in a press release that the pair had crossed a double rope line boundary marking. A boundary search was subsequently conducted by Cypress Ski Patrol, and the location of a snowboard track exiting down a steep slope beyond the boundary was confirmed. The patrol contacted West Vancouver police, who contacted North Shore Rescue.

"We got on it right away," noted Danks, adding there was considerable avalanche danger at that time so they were concerned about the snowboarder's safety. "We did find his tracks. Crews followed them."

At least 20 members were involved in the search in four teams, with some members working their way up from the Sea to Sky highway below to see if they could cut the snowboarder off.

The search continued into the night until around 2 a.m. Saturday when teams came to a spot where it appeared the man had gone over a cliff band.

“So at that point it was not safe for them to continue without the use of ropes,” said Danks. “We pulled everybody out of the field. The plan was to get an aircraft up at first light, which we did.”

The subject was spotted at the base of the cliff band in the creek area Saturday morning during a quick reconnaissance of the area.

“We made an attempt to get three rescuers in on longlines and, unfortunately, as they were being inserted the weather changed for the worse very quickly so we had to abort that,” said Danks.

They waited a couple of hours for the weather to clear, and then they were able to get back in at about noon.

“We were able to confirm, unfortunately, that the subject was deceased,” said Danks. “Our condolences go out to the family. I feel our response was very quick and we mitigated many risks and I just want to thank all of our members that were out last night and all day today.”

The snowboarder’s body has been recovered and his family has been notified.

"This is very sad for all of us at Cypress Mountain and we offer our sincere condolences to the family and friends," stated Koeman in the release. "We thank North Shore Search and Rescue for their perseverence in carrying on this extended search in hopes of a better outcome." 

He added that the Cypress Mountain website, on-mountain signs, and education programs all urge skiers and snowboarders to never cross marked ski area boundaries into uncontrolled areas at any time.

“All the local mountains here do an excellent job of marking their boundaries. You have to physically lift the ropes to go beyond the boundary, and it’s just such an unfortunate circumstance that happened,” said Danks. “And that’s why we stress to everyone to please stay in bounds where the avalanche danger is controlled and you’re in an area that is swept at night to ensure that everybody is safe in that area.”

Rosalind Duane can be reached via email at rduane@nsnews.com