Two teenagers were spared from a cold night lost in the West Vancouver backcountry thanks to the speedy work of North Shore Rescue volunteers.
North Shore Rescue responded to a call involving two 19-year-old males who had gotten lost while returning from St. Mark’s Summit along the Howe Sound Crest Trail on Monday evening.
“When they realized it was getting too dark and they were lost, they stopped and called 911, which was the right thing to do,” said Don Jardine, a search manager with North Shore Rescue.
The rescue team received a call from the West Vancouver Police Department just before 10:15 p.m. Monday. Both of the hikers had low batteries on their cellphones but police were able to identify their location and relay it to the rescue team before the devices shut down.
Six members of North Shore Rescue headed to the trail in response to the call.
“We were able to go along the Howe Sound Crest Trail and drop down to the drainage and we located them at the given position,” said Jardine. “It was pretty straightforward, and they made it a lot easier by staying put.”
On the St. Mark’s Summit route there are two switchbacks, also known as zig-zag trails. “We’ve had a few people that get lost in the switchback and they head straight down instead of going to Strachan Meadows and taking a proper trail, and that’s what happened to them,” Jardine explained about how the two males got lost.
Although the way to St. Mark’s Summit is a common path, it is still important for hikers to pay attention to where they’re going.
“You should know when you leave the trail, and when you find that you’ve left it, it’s for the better to go back, retrace your steps, and try and get back on the trail instead of just plowing on downhill,” said Jardine, who also explained that many fatalities and injuries which occur on the North Shore happen because people continue straight downhill when they have gotten off a trail.
Jardine advised that hikers pay attention to blaze marks on the trail.
“If you get off the trail and you don’t see a blaze mark, go back to the last one you saw, rather than thinking that if you just keep going forward, you’re going to end up back on the trail.”
Zain Alragheb is a student intern reporting for the North Shore News. She can be reached at [email protected].
