North Shore hikers rescued, poor weather prompts preparedness reminder

Two people who got lost while hiking on a North Shore trail have been helped to safety, and its prompting a reminder to everyone about dangerous conditions in the mountains this time of year.

North Shore Rescue says the women were one their way back down the Skyline Trail in the Mosquito Creek area when they lost their way Thursday afternoon.

“They got off to the east side of that trail in rather steep terrain,” explained search manager Dave Barnett.

He says the pair did the right thing by calling for help when they realized they didn’t know the way back.

Related articles: 

• B.C. search and rescue groups caution against using new locator app

• North Shore rescue outlines exactly what to do when in need of help: SAR

A couple of teams were sent in on foot. The women were brought out to the top of the trail about an hour and a half later.

However, conditions did challenge crews.

“The weather was very poor. It was raining extremely hard and the trails are slick. Where these two were, there may have been a need to put in some ropes and hand lines. If they had descended any farther they would have been in a real steep drainage area,” Barnett explained.

Preparing for quickly changing conditions

It was also dark by the time crews set off, he notes. While the hikers hit the trail when it was still light out, Barnett says many people fail to remember it gets dark quickly and earlier this time of year, and temperatures also drop significantly.

“They were left in the dark. They were prepared in a sense: they knew the area, they let someone know where they were going, they hiked together,” he explained.

And while the women were “reasonably well dressed for the hike,” they were not prepared for plunging temperatures.

“What they need to do in the future is carry extra, warm clothing — it got awfully cold while they were sitting there waiting for us,” he told CityNews, adding carrying a headlamp, having a fully charged phone, and having a GPS device that doesn’t rely on your phone battery are also recommended.

“[Hikers] are not always prepared to be stopped in winter temperatures for any length of time. So, as long as everything went well, they were very well prepared. But if you have to stop, someone gets hurt, people need to bring extra, large jackets because it can get very cold when you’re not moving and you’re wet.”

Barnett says with the temperature continuing to plummet, hikers are reminded to also prepare for snow as you hike up to higher elevation.