A hiker who went into medical distress near the summit of Coliseum Mountain was plucked from the backcountry by a team from North Shore Rescue Sunday.
A 58-year-old man and his daughter were about five hours into a hike on the Coliseum Mountain Trail and were walking along the ridge leading to the summit when the man, who had a medical history, began to experience severe leg cramps, said North Shore Rescue team leader Mike Danks.
The man’s daughter was able to call for help on her cellphone and was put in touch with a search manager and team physician from North Shore Rescue. Based on her description of his symptoms and medical history, the doctor advised the man should not be walking out.
North Shore Rescue mustered a Talon helicopter to take a two-person team as high as possible into Lynn Headwaters. Luckily for the hikers, cloud cover cleared at just the right moment and the team was able to get very close to their location. The helicopter picked up father and daughter and flew them back to North Shore Rescue’s Bone Creek station. The man then went to Lions Gate Hospital for medical assessment.
Danks said the daughter’s decision to call for help when she did was the right one. ”It was a good judgment call,” he said.
Had the pair decided to press on, the father might have collapsed and been unable to continue. Cellphone service is spotty at best in the backcountry, Danks added.
He urged anyone going on a longer backcountry hike to take a satellite phone for use in emergencies where cellphone service may not be available.
Danks pointed to an incident in May in which a 28-year-old Delta man died after suffering a heart attack when he slipped and hit his head near Norvan Falls. The man’s hiking partner had to run for seven kilometres before being able to summon help because there was no cellphone signal, said Danks.
“That’s a significant delay in that scenario,” he said.
