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Injured hiker rescued on Hanes Valley Trail

North Shore Rescue members airlifted an injured hiker from deep in the Hanes Valley Saturday afternoon. Two hikers were on a trail crossing Lynn Creek when one of them fell into the creek and injured both of her ankles, leaving her unable to walk.
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North Shore Rescue members airlifted an injured hiker from deep in the Hanes Valley Saturday afternoon.

Two hikers were on a trail crossing Lynn Creek when one of them fell into the creek and injured both of her ankles, leaving her unable to walk.

The Hanes Valley Trail is a long, difficult day hike starting from Lynn Headwaters Regional Park and looping to the top of Grouse Mountain. Most of the trail does not have cellphone service.

The woman’s partner, a trained search and rescue volunteer, jotted down their GPS co-ordinates and some notes about woman’s injuries and asked a passing hiker to call for help as soon as they reached cell service.

BC Ambulance Service  was the first to be notified and made the decision it was a search and rescue situation.

Once NSR was aware of the situation they pinpointed the location from the notes taken and deployed the Talon rescue helicopter. Once they spotted their subjects, they returned with a long-line helicopter rescue team.

“The Hanes Valley route is going to be closed soon because they’re anticipating snowfall back there, the water levels are getting higher and that creek crossing is problematic,” said North Shore Rescue team leader, Mike Danks. “We’ve had a number of deaths back there because people have not been able to call for help with no cell signal.”

Another two hikers were rescued from Unnecessary Mountain Trail Sunday night after getting lost just east of Lions Bay.

Two couples were hiking back to the trailhead when their group split up. The men reached the parking lot but when their partners never showed up, they knocked on a nearby resident’s door and asked to call 911.

The two were found unharmed but it still took around an hour of moving through uneven, tricky terrain to get back to the main trail.