Three calls came in for Squamish Search and Rescue last weekend, just as temperatures heated up.
It was 29.9 C in Squamish on Monday, breaking our old daily temperature record for Sept. 26, which was 26.5 C in 1991.
Over 20 search and rescue calls have occurred over this unseasonably warm September in Squamish, but we still aren't where we were this time last year in terms of rescues.
With 110 calls logged on as of the afternoon of Sept. 27, the current year-to-date total is a little over what it was in 2020, which saw 108 calls at this time that year.
However, both year-to-date numbers lag behind 2021, the all-time record-breaking year. At this time of year, in 2021, the number of callouts was 133.
One of the calls this month was a mountain bike injury on Brown Mountain in Garibaldi Park, near Red Heather Hut, on Sept. 1. Then, on Sept. 7, there was a call for five people seeking to hike and scramble to the summit of Tricouni.
"Given the fact that they called late and the lack of daylight, we were only able to drop them some supplies for the night," said rescue manager B.J. Chute. "We sent a team up in a helicopter that was able to drop some survival supplies down to them, and then they made their way out the next morning."
SAR was also called out to the rockfall on Slhanay on Sept. 5. Luckily, they were able to determine that no one was in need of rescue.
"We did a flight of the area," said Chute. "And, ultimately, the RCMP were able to make contact with people that we knew were up in the area, and nobody was in the actual area of that rockslides."
On Sept. 24, there were three rescues.
Initially, there was a young female who had fallen mountain biking in Britannia Beach. She broke her arm, and rescuers sent a team of e-bikers who went in with the Britannia fire department.
An aircrew landed nearby and flew her back to Squamish.
At the same time, a person fell around a pool in Shannon Falls. He was longlined out by an aircrew.
Finally, there was simultaneously a call for a mountain bike crash on the Airplane Mode trail in the Diamond Head riding area. Luckily, in that case, bystanders could rescue the man, and SAR crews stood down.
Chute said that while the weather has been sunny, adventurers should get ready for things to change.
With daylight dwindling, folks will need to prepare for getting caught in the dark. That means recreationists should be carrying headlamps in case their adventures take longer than expected.
"We've lost so much daylight every day that we just want to make sure people are actually prepared for shorter days," Chute said.
