Don't go climbing waterfalls. Please stick to the trails and hiking paths that you're used to.
That's lyrical advice from North Shore Rescue after being called out to airlift an injured hiker from Grouse Mountain after he went off trail and slipped down a waterfall, suffering a broken arm.
North Vancouver RC MP paged rescue volunteers around 2 p.m. Sunday after receiving a 9-1-1 call from two North Vancouver brothers in their early 20s who ran into trouble while trying to find a new route to the top.
"They were regular hikers of the Grouse Grind and they were looking for something more adventurous than the grind," said Doug Pope, search manager.
"They quickly got a lot more than they bargained for. ... They were bushwhacking off trail, well west of the grind and they got into Grouse Creek."
When they encountered a steep, mossy slope with water trickling down it, the brothers tried to climb. One, however, lost his grip and tumbled about 30 feet down the slope, Pope said.
Knowing the area was difficult terrain, North Shore Rescue called a helicopter with 200-foot longline to dangle rescuers down into the precarious spot.
Rescuers quickly splinted the injured man's arm and airlifted him and his brother back to the NSR station.
Pope said despite their experience and pre-planning, the men shouldn't have gone off trail.
"They had done some pre-planning that they wanted to go off trail but obviously not enough. They were not in a good spot. That's not a reasonable place to climb in, no matter what your experience level is," he said.
