Considering the amount of people visiting and recreating in town, Squamish Search and Rescue responded to relatively few calls this week.
Rescue manager B.J. Chute said that crews were still working throughout the week and on the weekend, but there weren’t any days where an overwhelming amount of calls flooded the lines as there was the previous week when a total of 13 calls came in between Aug. 5 and Aug. 10.
“It was a relatively slow weekend. Really, we were still activated each day, but it’s nice that people — given the number of people that were out recreating by the looks of it — it seemed like everyone was doing so within their limits and safely.
So it’s nice to see from our point of view,” said Chute.
“I’d like to think our Squamish Search and Rescue prevention team is out getting the message out there.”
On Aug. 12, crews came to the aid of BASE jumpers that were stranded on The Table at Garibaldi Park.
Chute said the athletes went up the mountain with the intention of launching, but weather conditions didn’t turn out to be favourable. As a result, they held off on their flight and called rescuers for help.
Crews flew in with a helicopter and airlifted them to safety.
Then came the weekend calls, starting on Friday, Aug. 14.
A climber took a fall at the Electric Avenue crag and required a rescue. In this case, the highway was blocked as air crews took her in and flew her to a Vancouver-area hospital.
The following day, a hiker needed help after experiencing fainting episodes at Watersprite.
She was descending the Watersprite trail when the episodes hit.
Rescue crews initiated a helicopter evacuation in this case.
On Aug. 16, there were three calls, though two of them didn’t require deployment.
The first was for overdue hikers from Tricouni, though that turned out to be a miscommunication between the hikers and their family. No rescue was needed.
Then, that afternoon crews had to respond to a call for a hiker who twisted his ankle coming down from Blanca Lake in the Elaho. Crews helicoptered in and flew him to safety.
Chute said limb injuries are more spread out this year, and he suspected it was because access to popular hikes like the Stawamus Chief or the Sea to Summit Trail has been more limited this season.
He said having proper footwear is required to navigate the challenging terrain in the area.
In the evening, a person had a mechanical issue with their vessel while around Anvil Island, but a fellow boater passing by was able to help them out before rescuers were needed on scene.
“Let’s hope that this slower weekend is the trend going forward for the rest of the summer to give our volunteers some much needed rest,” Chute said.
