POLICE say it is "miraculous" that a man survived, almost without injury, after falling 45 metres down the steep banks of the Capilano River.
The 24-year-old victim had ventured off the pathway that runs along the North Vancouver canyon near Capilano Park Road Aug. 8 when he inched up to the edge for a better look and lost his footing, according to the North Vancouver RCMP. The Vancouver man shot down the canyon wall all the way to the water.
"He slid down, feet-first, on his stomach, grappling for whatever he could to slow him down, but at that height, with that speed, he just kept falling and falling," said Cpl. Richard De Jong, a spokesman for the North Vancouver detachment. "Miraculously, he survived, when you think of the potential."
Not everyone who has fallen down the Capilano River bank has been so lucky, De Jong said, as the man escaped with only scrapes and bruises,
"We have been involved with rescues where people have been injured extensively or it becomes a body removal because they die," he said.
When District of North Vancouver firefighters picked him up at the river's edge, they offered to take him to the hospital, but the man declined. "He basically, said 'No I'm OK'. . . and he got on the bus and went home," said De Jong.
The incident underscores the importance of staying on marked trails when hiking in the North Shore's wilderness, he said.
"There are hazards at every turn."
