An injured woman needed a rope rescue from firefighters after falling down a steep slope near Capilano River, Sunday morning.
District of North Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services received a call just before 8:30 a.m. after two women in their 30s had traversed down a 150-foot steep slope in the Capilano Cresent area near the river.
As they were both climbing down, one fell, injuring her head, rib and leg. The friend was able to call for help, said assistant chief Ryan Stewart.
When the rope rescue team arrived, members were lowered down with medical equipment and a blanket.
“At that point, we were looking for the safest route to get the person back up the cliff,” Stewart said. “That location had rocks that were coming down. The hill is quite unstable.”
Finding a better access point a little downstream, the team set up a “high-angle rope system” to bring the two subjects up.
Once they got down, crews got the injured woman into a basket stretcher and lifted her back up to safe ground. They then repeated the same task for the friend.
The injured hiker was handed over to the B.C. Ambulance Service to be treated for minor injuries, Stewart said.
Steep slopes can be extremely dangerous, assistant chief warns
After Sunday’s rope rescue, the assistant chief cautions people to stay on marked trails as steep slopes, like the one the hikers went down, can be fatal.
“What many people don’t realize is when you’re scaling down, it can dislodge rocks which start to fall down,” Stewart said. “When you have two people going down it, the person above can actually trigger a bunch of rocks coming down to hit the person below, which can create a fall and at that height, those have the potential for fatality.”
Stewart also advises people to wear proper footwear to prevent falls.
“What we’re seeing this year is a lot of injuries on the trail systems that could have been mitigated by having proper shoes and just being properly prepared for being out in nature,” he said.
Abby Luciano is the Indigenous and civic affairs reporter for the North Shore News. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
https://bsky.app/profile/abbyluciano.bsky.social
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