Being prepared means staying safe on the mountains: North Shore Rescue

Tales of life-threatening danger, impossible odds, survival and rescue are like ghost stories. We swap them at dinner parties, recount them to our kids, and click on the story links. And every fall, when the weather shifts, those stories become someone’s reality.

Hopefully, not ours.

Stories of rescue and survival hold important lessons for everyone who wants to hike or enjoy winter activities.

“We can learn from these events,” said North Shore Rescue search manager Dave Barnett, who has participated in hundreds of search and rescue operations in his 15 years as a volunteer.

“Understanding what happened can help others to not end up in the same situation.”

He remembers them all. Sebastien Boucher, a snowboarder who survived three days and two nights after going out of bounds at Cypress made a common mistake. He kept moving.

“We crossed his tracks several times,” said Barnett.

Rescuers finally found Boucher standing up, between two trees, his arms iced to the trunks. He had to be lifted out on a helicopter longline.

The lesson from that memorable 2012 rescue? If you get lost, stay put, said Barnett.

On Oct. 28, North Shore Rescue helped two hikers who got into trouble on what they thought would be an easy day-hike from Horseshoe Bay to Cypress on the Baden Powell Trail.

“They had no idea of the conditions,” said Barnett. “It’s a long, tiring, aggressive hike with significant elevation, and there had been snow. They didn’t have the warm gear, micro spikes, or poles. In those conditions, they never would have made it.”

They hikers, who were from Calgary, got stuck in a steep section of boulders that are slippery, and potentially deadly, when it snows.

“They could not physically continue up the slope, and they realized they were going to slip if they tried to go down.”

Barnett credits the young men for making the right decision to call for help, and call early. A daytime rescue is less risky.

The team got to the hikers before dark, bringing extra harnesses, ropes, a stove, warm drinks, and extra warm outer layers.

The men were wet, cold and very grateful, said Barnett.

“No one expects it to happen to them,” said Barnett. But it could happen to anyone.

“This time of year, winter catches people by surprise. It feels warm in the city, but in the mountains there are cooler temperatures,” said Barnett. “It can snow unexpectedly at elevation, and ice up on rocks, making slippery trails. It gets darker earlier and there can be significant risks, including avalanches.”

Conditions at a trailhead could be warm and sunny, but change drastically and quickly with elevation. Temperatures typically drop by about 6.5 C for every 1,000 feet of elevation.