North Shore Rescue volunteers pulled three hikers from a precarious clifftop on Mount Seymour, Thursday night.
The group had reached the top of Pump Peak and, returning after sunset, mistakenly followed someone else’s footprints in the snow away from the established trail and straight into trouble.
“I confirmed that they were in a very steep location. They were scared and worried that they were going to fall,” said Stan Sovdat, North Shore Rescue search manager. “So we mobilized our troops.”
Finding the group – two women and a man in their 20s – wasn’t difficult, thanks to the GPS co-ordinates on their phones, but they had dwindling battery life left and cell coverage was spotty, Sovdat said.
To get the subjects back on safe footing, the team had to individually get them into harnesses, anchor ropes to trees and gradually lower them down to a safer area below.
“They were still on very steep, steep terrain, but at least they wouldn’t fall,” Sovdat said.
From there, the team was able to walk the group back to the Mount Seymour parking lot.
Speaking to the group, Sovdat found they were very poorly equipped for being in the alpine, with no headlamps, little food or water and no boots. All three were wearing microspikes on their shoes but at those elevations and in those conditions, only crampons will do, Sovdat said.
Past a certain point in the mountains, a standard smartphone may not be enough to call for help when it’s needed, Sovdat warned, adding that satellite communication devices can be a life saver.
And, Sovdat stressed, hikers should always stick to the well marked routes.
“I tell people often, the trail is where it is for a very good reason,” he said. “When you deviate from the trails, you have to know what you’re in for.”
[email protected]
twitter.com/brentrichter
brentrichter.bsky.social
