Man’s best friend led him into some big trouble this weekend after a snowshoer spent a cold night wading through deep snow in a notoriously dangerous area of the North Shore backcountry, searching for his lost dog.
The man, an experienced local hiker in his 30s, went off the trail on Cypress and into Tony Baker Gully, an area of steep terrain and avalanche risk south of Strachan Creek, after his dog bolted into the deep gully.
Fortunately for both the snowshoer and his canine companion, the man was equipped with survival gear that allowed both to make it through their night on the mountain and walk out under their own steam unharmed.
About 20 members of North Shore Rescue were called out around 8 p.m. Saturday night after the snowshoer failed to return on time from a planned hike starting at the Howe Sound Crest Trail.
The man had planned to hike to the peak of Mount Strachan, and then descend back to his car on trails through the Hollyburn area of the mountain.
According to North Shore Rescue, the hiker left a detailed trip plan with his wife before setting out and called her on his cellphone around 5 p.m. to say he was on his way back.
Shortly after that phone call, however, his dog – a husky/German shepherd cross named Sookie - ran off down into a gully south of Strachan Creek and the man went after it, following the dog’s tracks all the way down into the Capilano watershed.
Unlike most hikers, the snowshoer was equipped with essential survival gear, North Shore Rescue team member Curtis Jones wrote in a blog post, including extra clothes, shelter, a map, compass and sleeping bag. But his cellphone battery quickly ran down once it was out of range in the cold, making it impossible for him to call for help.
When the man didn’t return as planned, his wife called for help.
North Shore Rescue search team manager Doug Pope said 20 searchers, including two ski teams and three snowshoe teams, searched from about 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday morning.
Pope said the mountain search in the dark was hampered by high winds and blowing snow, which obscured the man’s tracks. Crews were also hindered by increasing avalanche danger.
Meanwhile, the snowshoer had located his wayward pooch once he reached the Capilano watershed, and put the dog back on a leash. The snowshoer then decided to walk back up the mountain via the Hollyburn branch of a forest service road. After a long and arduous night hiking in deep snow, the man made his way back out on to Cypress, near the Nordic ski area.
Jones said the man probably travelled 25 kilometres overnight, including a full descent from the mountaintop to the valley floor and an ascent back up again. Had he stayed where he was with the dog in the watershed, search and rescue crews would have found him by morning, wrote Jones, noting the man had flares and both helicopter and ground crews were being dispatched to that area.
Pope said the man was very lucky. “He was out all night and he was in very dangerous terrain,” he said.
Tony Baker Gully is named after a teenager who died in the gully in 1987 after taking a wrong turn in winter conditions. There have been a number of deaths in the gully over the past three decades.
Jones said the fact the snowshoer made it out unharmed is a good example of the difference proper preparation can make, even a person in the backcountry runs into trouble.
He urged all backcountry hikers to carry essential equipment, including a satellite phone or an external cellphone charger.
Travelling by yourself in an avalanche area is also very risky, even if you are equipped and experienced, wrote Jones.
He said if you do get lost, the best course of action is to stay put.
Finally, Jones urged dog owners to keep their dogs on leashes, noting North Shore Rescue crews have been called out many times over people who wander into dangerous areas, looking for their dogs that have bolted.
In one of the more public dog rescue cases, in December 2012, North Shore Rescue was called in to search for a Bernese mountain dog named Ohly who had been missing on Mount Seymour for more than 10 days. The rescue team got involved after concerns spread that volunteers might follow the dog into treacherous terrain known as Suicide Gully.
