North Shore Rescue volunteers have notched their first two missions of 2024, including one that began just minutes into the new year.
The team got a call for help 10 minutes after midnight on Jan. 1 after a group of hikers who’d gone to celebrate the end of 2023 with a hike on Mount Seymour ran into trouble.
“It was the first rescue in the entire province for 2024,” said Paul Markey, search manager. “Whilst returning, [one man] slipped on frozen ground…. The call that came through to us from BC Ambulance was for a broken lower leg.”
Over the phone, Markey provided advice to the 31-year-old North Shore man’s friends on how to keep him comfortable and warm while rescuers made their way to the site.
It so happened that one of North Shore Rescue’s volunteers was also celebrating New Year’s Eve with a hike atop Seymour. He was the first to arrive and provide further help, Markey said.
Normally, at this time of year, a ground team headed up Seymour would arrive via snowshoes or snowmobile. With scant snow on the mountains, however, they were able to drive straight up the ski runs in a North Shore Rescue Jeep.
“I’ve been on the team for close to 30 years and I can’t remember another winter like this,” Markey said. “It’s rare.”
The ground team splinted the subject’s leg and gave him some basic pain meds before loading him into the Jeep and driving him to a waiting ambulance in the parking lot.
The group was fairly well equipped for the night hike, Markey said, however the man who fell was wearing Blundstone-like boots without any crampons or microspikes.
Even though there isn’t enough snow to break your leg skiing on Mount Seymour currently, there is enough ice and frozen ground to do the job.
“It was footwear that caused the problem,” Markey said. “Microspikes are actually pretty useful on frozen ground and frozen logs. They provide really good traction…. Microspikes are the way to go at the moment. You should always carry those,”
The team was paged again on New Year’s Day after a group of hikers called 911 to report one member of their group fell ill on the Howe Sound Crest Trail on their way home from St. Mark’s Summit.
“She just felt she couldn’t continue. She felt dizzy. She felt nauseous and just wanted help,” said search manager Stan Sovdat.
It took some effort to retrieve an accurate location from their phones, Sovdat said, but when they did, they found the group was very close to the Cypress Mountain Resort boundary.
Sovdat linked in one of the team’s doctors over the phone, who was able to provide some advice to the woman. The hiker then pressed on with the help of her friends.
A team doctor met them at the parking lot to treat the woman for dehydration and nausea. The woman’s pulse returned to normal and a friend brought her home.
Sovdat said they don’t know why the hiker became so sick. It could have been a norovirus, food poisoning or a little too much revelry on New Year’s Eve, Sovdat said, although the woman said she didn’t believe it was a hangover.
Sovdat said he followed up with the subject on Tuesday.
“And she is feeling better,” he said.
