A backcountry skier found himself in deep, deep trouble Sunday. Chest-deep, specifically. North Shore Rescue volunteers airlifted him from the wilderness with just minutes of daylight left.
The man first called for help before 2 p.m. after getting himself lost in avalanche terrain.
“We called him and we determined quite quickly he was having a very bad day,” said Doug Pope, search manager. “He was in a steep creek gully on a cliff face. He had lost both his skis and one of his poles. He didn’t really have an idea of where we was. He wasn’t able to go up or down in the terrain he was in without his skis and he was in chest-deep snow. He was cold. He wasn’t prepared. He had no (avalanche) gear.”
Making matters worse, the 39-year-old Vancouverite’s phone battery life was at 15 per cent and falling.
Search managers were able get the man to retrieve his GPS co-ordinates from the phone, which placed him on the edge of Nickey Creek canyon, due east of Hollyburn Mountain.
Searchers called in a Talon helicopter and sent a team in on foot from Cypress Mountain Resort but the man’s bad day was about to get worse, with heavy snow and a low cloud deck making an air rescue unsafe.
The rescue team on foot also ran into trouble, due to high avalanche risk in the area preventing them from getting any closer. The man’s phone also died in the interceding time, cutting him off from his would-be rescuers.
With no ability to rescue the man by air or on foot and no way to contact the rescue subject, the team was about to regroup when the man caught his first lucky break of the day.
“Just before sunset, the sky broke,” Pope said. “We were surprised because it didn’t look like that was going to happen.”
North Shore Rescue sent their long-line team in to hook the man into a harness and fly him back to the Capilano Gate search and rescue station.
“He was cold but he was uninjured and just really grateful because he knew he was in a bad situation,” Pope said.
The ski-less skier made the common mistake of continuing downhill after he’d gotten lost, which often ends in fatalities, Pope said.
“The North Shore Mountains end up in waterfalls and cliffs pretty reliably at that elevation,” Pope said.
Anyone venturing into the backcountry this time of year should travel with a friend and carry an avalanche beacon, a probe and shovel. As well, they should check Avalanche Canada’s danger forecast at avalanche.ca before heading out, Pope said.
“People should be enjoying the snow in-bounds within avalanche-controlled safe areas, in the ski resorts,” Pope said. “On a day like that, you’re better off not going out at all.”
