North Shore Rescue pulled five lost and freezing hikers out of nasty conditions in the North Shore backcountry overnight, including two by helicopter.
The group of five men in their 20s from Port Coquitlam had set out to hike to Lynn Peak but they got turned around on their way back and wound up heading further north, said Mike Danks, North Shore Rescue team leader.
The group didn’t have any of the proper gear, lights, food, water or dry clothing when they called for help around 10 p.m. Monday and, making matters worse, two of them had splintered off in an attempt to find the trail again.
Fearing the groups may end up trying to self-rescue and go in opposite directions, search managers deployed two ground teams to make the long trek in via Lynn Peak Trail from Lynn Headwaters and Fisherman’s Trail along the Seymour River.
By midnight, search managers talked the lost hikers into regrouping but learned two of the men were in no condition make it out on foot, so they opted to bring in a helicopter to hoist them out, Danks said.
“They were hypothermic. They were dehydrated. They had no food or water. They were very, very cold,” he said. “They were just not going to be able to make it out on their own power.”
With gusting winds and sleeting snow, conditions were “spicy” for a night-hoist rescue, Danks said, but they were able to safely get the subjects out. The other men benefited from some warm, dry clothes and provisions hiked into them by the ground teams who then escorted them back down the trail.
It wasn’t until 4 a.m. that everyone made it out of the woods, Danks said.
Apart from the need to be better prepared for hikes of that nature, Danks stressed that groups should not separate when rescuers are searching for them as it makes the situation more dangerous for everyone.
“You stay together, you stay put, you work together to stay warm,” he said. “Huddle up and hunker down.”
Danks added he was proud of the team members who carried out an old-school ground-and-pound rescue through difficult conditions deep in the backcountry.
“That’s like going back in time when we had multiple teams through very poor weather, in darkness, slogging through really complex terrain, and they did a fantastic job,” he said. “They’re to be commended for that.”
