Woman rescued after being buried by avalanche on Mount Seymour
Posted March 10, 2024 6:55 pm.
Last Updated March 10, 2024 9:44 pm.
A woman is lucky to be alive after being completely buried by an avalanche on Mount Seymour for several minutes Sunday morning, North Shore Rescue tells CityNews.
Search manager Dave Barnett says they were called around 11:30 by a man who was out snowshoeing with his wife. As they were descending from Pump Peak, the pair was hit by a small avalanche.
“It knocked him over, and when he got up and looked around, his wife couldn’t be seen,” Barnett said.
“He spent a little while looking for her and wasn’t able to find her. Eventually we got to be able to talk to him and obviously he was pretty distraught and said he couldn’t look because he didn’t have shovel and probe and proper equipment.”
Barnett said he encouraged the man to search through the debris and look for a clue such as a glove, a pole, or a snowshoe. Meanwhile, the rescue service prepared to head over to assist.
“We had two teams responding, but we were going to be a little ways from him,” he said. “If she was buried, he was probably the best chance she had.”
The man was eventually able to find and uncover her, after she had been completely buried for 15 to 20 minutes.
“She had a lower state of responsiveness, and it was pretty cold but but she was responding,” Barnett said.
The rescue team then arrived and was able to provide her with some medical care and some warming. She was then transported down the mountain.
Barnett says he isn’t sure how she is doing now, but he said the woman declined an ambulance, meaning other than being cold, she is likely recovering.
North Shore Rescue says these type of calls happen only once of twice a year and says many of them end of up as fatalities
“This woman is very, very fortunate,” Barnett said.
He says the service is grateful to the Seymour Ski Patrol, who helped provide transport and support.
“They did a great job,” he said.
Barnett points out that avalanche risk is currently ranked as “high” in the North Shore mountains.
“People should just stay away from the mountainous terrain and stick to lower elevations.”
