Search ends for Vancouver hiker in Lions Bay
Posted June 9, 2023 3:12 pm.
Last Updated June 9, 2023 3:13 pm.
A hiker from Vancouver who went missing while on a solo trek on Mount Harvey has been found dead, police confirm.
Michael Tu was the subject of a missing persons report from the Sea to Sky RCMP and Lions Bay Search and Rescue, issued Thursday.
On Friday, Mounties confirmed a hiker was found dead on Mount Harvey, adding it is believed he died accidentally.
Lions Bay Search and Rescue has been scouting the mountain and surrounding area for signs of missing hiker Michael Tu since early Thursday morning. (Courtesy Facebook/Lions Bay Search and Rescue)
Martin Colwell, search manager with Lions Bay Search and Rescue, says crews from the North Shore, Coquitlam, Squamish, and the Sunshine Coast spent virtually the whole day Thursday combing the mountain for Tu.
“They were really working hard on this,” he told CityNews on Friday.
The search manager explains crews were checking points on a trail that Tu could have deviated from. After three possible avenues, Colwell says teams found a backpack, then the body of a hiker a few minutes later.
“Unfortunately, in the thick woods, you really couldn’t see this cliff that was there, and I think he just stepped over this cliff,” Colwell said. “If you deviate very far off the trail on the upper half, you can very quickly run into some dangerous cliffs.”
Colwell calls Mount Harvey “deceptively dangerous,” noting a handful of people have died on it in recent years.
