Hope – Hope SAR Volunteer Search and Rescue was tasked out on a busy Saturday May 23 to assist a 70-year old woman who was experiencing a medical emergency on Serpent’s Back trail. The team hiked to their location and assessed the subject, where it was decided that a long line extraction was necessary.
Hope Volunteer Search and Rescue thank Chilliwack Search and Rescue CDFL team and to Valley Helicopters for assisting with the extraction.
“We understand emergencies can happen to anyone and a call to SAR is always free. Also, to anyone who thinks this looks like an exciting way to spend an afternoon, our application window is open for one more week. Please visit our website and fill out an application if you’d like to join our team! We’d love to hear from you.”
Then around 7:30PM, Hope SAR was tasked out to rescue three stranded hikers off the summit of Mount Grant. One hiker had sustained a sprained ankle and all three hikers were extracted by helicopter a half hour before sunset.
Mount Grant is a climb of over 2,000 meters and is still partially covered in snow. Past Eaton Lake, the trail is no longer marked and route finding is required. The hikers would not have been prepared for a night on an exposed summit with temperatures dropping near zero when factoring wind conditions. Their batteries were all approaching zero, and the majority of this trail is out of cell service.
As always, we encourage people to fully research hikes before venturing out. Less popular hikes like Grant can have minimal reviews and there’s no way of knowing the skill level of the reviewers. Always carry the essentials you would need to survive a night on the mountain.
Thankfully, this call was a quick, successful task and we are thankful for a positive outcome.
