On Saturday (July 5), a 26-year-old man fell to his death on a popular scrambling route near Squamish.
Vancouver resident Owen Phillip James Hosford was descending from the 6,645-foot summit of Sky Pilot Mountain, which is six kilometres southeast of the Sea to Sky Gondola’s boundaries. The weather took a turn for the worse and Hosford slipped down a snow chute and fell a considerable distance, the B.C. Coroners Service stated in a press release.
“He was deceased at the scene,” the release stated.
Gondola staff don’t know definitively whether the man used the lift, but the organization assumes he did, the Sea to Sky Gondola general manager Trevor Dunn said. Squamish RCMP, Squamish Search and Rescue and the B.C. Coroners Service were called to the site.
Sky Pilot is a popular climb. The mountain has drawn climbers up its steep sides since 1910. It’s not an easy route, said Dunn, who has climbed it himself. Some portions of the climb can require ice axes and snow anchors.
“It is for experts only,” he said. “It is very exposed.”
The gondola has several signs in place warning of backcountry risks before people leave the property, Dunn noted, adding there is further signage drawing attention to the early season conditions and marking the end of the official trail.
“It is very similar to the way that the ski hills are marked,” Dunn said.
The weather on Saturday was wet and cloudy. Visibility at the gondola summit was poor, Dunn said, adding that the Sea to Sky Gondola staff send their condolences to the man’s family.
The weekend’s weather hampered recovery efforts of the body, the RCMP’s regional duty officer Davy Lee said. Squamish RCMP recovered of the body by helicopter by the end of Monday (July 7).
