Safety conditions are really taking a slide on one particularly slippery section of trail in West Vancouver.
North Shore Rescue responded to a call of a man fracturing his leg sliding down Hollyburn Mountain Trail early Monday afternoon – marking the second such call the search and rescue team has seen in two days. They believe the man to be around 70 years old.
“It sounds like exactly the same incident [that] happened on Saturday,” said Don Jardine, North Shore Rescue search manager. “[It’s] quite surprising because the odds of that are relatively low.”
North Shore Rescue responded to a similar call Saturday afternoon on the West Vancouver mountain after a woman did a 'bum slide' down the trail and broke her left ankle.
The search and rescue team are unsure if the hiker injured on Monday had intentionally done a 'bum slide' or slipped and fell down the trail. But during the slide down, his crampons dug into the ground, causing his leg to get stuck in place while his body carried forward.
But there was some luck on the hiker’s side. A few bystanders stayed with the hiker after seeing the injury – one being the wife of a North Shore Rescue search manager – and a call was quickly made to get NSR on the scene.
“He was lucky that there were people there to assist him, it is a pretty popular hiking trail. So there normally are a number of people going up and down at any given time,” Jardine said.
Shortly after, North Shore Rescue crews went up to the trail and put the hiker on a toboggan. Crews then carried the hiker down and transferred him into an off-road vehicle, bringing him down to the first aid hut where he was sent to Lions Gate Hospital by ambulance.
Paramedics provided emergency medical treatment to the patient who was then transported to hospital in stable condition, said BC Emergency Health Services public information officer Rachelle Bown in an email statement.
North Shore Rescue finished the call around 3:45 p.m. Monday.
“He seemed well prepared, his pack was quite heavy, which may have helped contribute to some of his injuries unfortunately,” Jardine said.
These types of incidents usually happen only once or twice every winter season, he said, so it was surprising to see them so close together. The search and rescue team is cautioning people to be careful on the trail at Hollyburn Mountain due to the lack of snow, even with having the proper gear.
“Because of the lack of snow, there’s unexpected holes, bushes and shrubs on the hiking trail, which is basically up a ski run,” Jardine said, adding that the colder temperatures will turn the wet snow into ice, making it extremely slippery on the trail.
Having solid footwear and traction devices like crampons is important, but are sometimes not necessarily enough, North Shore Rescue said in a Facebook post about Monday’s incident.
The group said careful foot placement, choosing your path wisely and extra balance or traction assistance tools like poles or ice axes can go a long way to ensure safe travels.
“Hopefully that’s the last of the two for that area,” Jardine said. “I wish him a speedy recovery.”
Abby Luciano is the Indigenous and civic affairs reporter for the North Shore News. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
