It's official — with about two months remaining, 2020 has already become the busiest year for Squamish Search and Rescue on record.
As of Oct. 13, the organization has responded to 106 calls, pushing it over the 104-call record established in 2018.
"It's an interesting year, obviously," said search manager Landon James.
"That was sort of with COVID overlaid on top of that, where we didn't really do many responses for about two months. So when society reopened, people were looking for places to go and our calls this year have not been the usual fallen hiker on the Chief. They've been in places where people haven't typically been. [We've been] doing a lot of technical rescues this year."
James said that a massive search for a 49-year-old Vancouver man who has been missing since Sept. 24 pushed the call count to a new all-time high of 105.
Vancouver police issued a notice asking for people to be on the lookout for Darcy Wild, who is believed to be in the Squamish area.
On Oct. 3, Wild's vehicle was found in the Mamquam River Forest Service Road area by Powerhouse Springs. This prompted an official search from SAR that involved helicopters, dogs and a ground team.
Furthermore, swiftwater teams scoured the river, and the local Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue branch swept the waters of Howe Sound to find Wild.
However, as of Saturday evening, rescue crews have stood down and turned the matter back over to RCMP, as there were no areas left to search, James said.
In the meantime, a hiker with a leg injury on the second peak of the Stawamus Chief called for help on Oct. 6. Rescuers flew in with a helicopter to airlift the person out. This call pushed the count to 106.
James said that COVID-19 has certainly changed the pattern of rescue calls.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, people started to discover new places to recreate in Squamish, as popular parks like the Stawamus Chief were shut down for an extended period of time, he said.
As a result, James said, some new hotspots emerged — Crooked Falls, Watersprite Lake and Lake Lovely Water, among others, have all become popular locations for people who, in earlier times, may have just hiked the Chief.
Some, like Crooked Falls, have become new hotbeds for rescue calls, he said.
"People found places to recreate when the parks were still closed, and that kind of caught on, and so now we're seeing people explore areas where they haven't even thought [of] before," James said.
In the meantime, people are still being asked to keep an eye out for Darcy Wild.
He is white, 5'10" and has a slim build. He has greyish, blonde, short hair and was last seen wearing a black zip-up rain jacket with a grey shirt underneath, blue jeans, black boots, and a red face mask.
