After 3 rescues in 2 days, North Shore Rescue busy season begins

The volunteer team carried out three highly technical rescues from Crown Mountain in the North Shore backcountry in three days.

The drama started unfolding around 2 p.m. Saturday when B.C. Ambulance Service alerted the team to an injured hiker near the summit of Crown Mountain. Some North Shore Rescue members happened to be hiking on Grouse at the time and started making their way towards the Crown summit while search managers called in a helicopter. When they arrived they found a 61-year-old Richmond man who had slipped on a patch of snow and slid into a tree.

“He was on his way to a 1,000-foot drop and the last thing that saved him was that tree,” said Doug Pope, search manager. “He sustained an arm injury from hitting the tree but the tree saved his life.”

The team was pressed into service again at 9 p.m. Sunday when police alerted them to two backcountry adventurers who were overdue from an attempt to climb Crown’s northeast couloir.

“They couldn’t go up any further. They were off route and stuck on this ledge about 100 metres below the summit. There wasn’t much our ground team could do in the dark, safely, to assist, but they were secure on the rock,” Pope said.

At first light Monday, North Shore Rescue members arranged for a Talon helicopter and long-line team to pluck the cold but uninjured hikers off the ledge, one at a time.
“It was about -5 C and the winds were gusting so they weren’t well prepared for spending the night out on the rock,” Pope said.