Inexperienced hikers who got lost on trails in the North Shore backcountry resulted in three helicopter rescues and an overnight stay in a remote shelter recently.
On Monday evening, three members of a Burnaby family were plucked from a steep slope on the east side of Mount Fromme after getting lost on the Big Cedar Trail.
A 29-year-old woman was hiking with her parents, both 59, heading to Kennedy Falls when “they got to a junction where they lost the trail,” said Mike Danks, North Shore Rescue team leader. “They thought it would be best to head straight up the mountain.” After over two hours of uphill bushwhacking, by about 2 p.m. the group found themselves stuck on a steep slope and called for help on their cellphone.
A team of North Shore Rescue members and Metro Vancouver park rangers hiked in to the group and decided it would be simplest to haul the group out with a helicopter longline. The trio, who Danks described as inexperienced hikers who “bit off more than they could chew,” were hauled to safety by 6 p.m. The rescue Monday afternoon followed rescues of two other groups of hikers over the weekend.
Around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, a call came in from two hikers in their 20s who’d taken a wrong turn after making it to Crown Pass north of Grouse Mountain. While the trail to Crown Mountain heads northwest, “they headed off to the east,” said Danks. “They got themselves into quite a precarious area” with drop-offs from steep cliffs on either side.
Danks said an initial plan to hike the pair out was scrapped in favour of a helicopter rescue when team members got a look at the terrain they were in. “It wasn’t worth the risk for our members or for them,” he said.
As that call wrapped up around 8 p.m., a second call came in with a report of two women overdue from a hike to the First Pump Peak on Mount Seymour. The pair had made it to the First Pump summit, said Danks, but became disoriented at a key junction in the trail while descending. Instead of heading back to the parking lot, the two hikers headed off “in the complete opposite direction” along the Elsay Lake Trail. “They went a fair distance in the wrong direction.”
When the women didn’t return as darkness fell, a boyfriend of one of the hikers – who had spoken to them earlier by cell – called RCMP.
North Shore Rescue sent in two teams on foot – one from Mount Seymour and one from the Coldwell Creek area. The first group of rescuers reached the Elsay Lake shelter around 2:30 a.m., where they found the two hikers unharmed, said Danks. Both hikers and rescue team members stayed overnight in the shelter and were taken out by helicopter the next morning.
The calls over the past few days bring the number of backcountry rescues so far this year to 93, said Danks. The yearly average for the team is between 90 and 100 rescues, with most of those in summer months.
Most of those rescued are well-meaning, said Danks, but “a lot of these people are just not really well prepared.” Many have minimal supplies. In one case hikers had a map but it was outdated with few details. Carrying a cellphone is a good start, but batteries often run down quickly in the backcountry. Danks recommends hikers carry a satellite phone, especially when heading into more remote areas.
