|Wanderung| Newsletter - weekend rescues

To probably everyone's surprise, we've just had 3 days of glorious weather
that coincided with a long weekend - in winter! So it was of course no
surprise that many people ventured out into the local mountains to enjoy
the sunshine. And of course the armchair "experts" would undoubtedly say
that it's also no surprise that local SAR teams were called out on several
rescues as a result.

North Shore Rescue in particular had a very busy weekend with 8 calls on
Family Day alone! Three of these calls were for injured hikers (snowshoers
if you like) who had slipped and fallen on the icy snow.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/br ... re-rescue-1.4532670

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/series-of- ... y-weekend-1.3800526

One of the photos in particular shows very clearly why venturing to the
third peak of Mt Seymour is not recommended in winter:

https://www.facebook.com/NorthShoreRescue/posts/10155848775476351

A pair of climbers training for an expedition to Denali was rescued after
falling on the Widowmaker climbing route on Crown Mountain:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/br ... -mountain-1.4533164

But of course it wasn't just North Shore Rescue that had calls. Cowichan
SAR rescued a hiker who had fallen into a cave:

https://www.facebook.com/CowichanSaR/posts/1999185180297342

And on Saturday, Ridge Meadows SAR were called out to rescue a group of
three teenagers on Alouette Mountain who were significantly underprepared
for the conditions:

https://www.facebook.com/RMSAR/posts/2312643982094818

What's the lesson here? Is it just to point fingers? No - it's to promote
awareness of the kinds of things that *can* happen, to understand *why*
these incidents happened, and to learn that it takes preparation to travel
safely in the mountains. That preparation includes knowing the weather,
understanding the snow conditions, and being aware of your own limits and
those of your gear. If in doubt you should always stick to the marked trail
and not be tempted to venture away from it.

It may also be useful to reflect on these accidents and ask yourself
whether you could have ended up in the same situation, and what you would
have learned from that.

Remember that just because nothing went wrong this time it does not mean
that it can't ever go wrong. And just because someone has established a
trail in the snow does not mean it's safe to follow.

Pass these messages on. Be an advocate for safer backcountry travel.