Four hikers were rescued by helicopter this week after spending three nights atop a Vancouver-area mountain in blizzard-like conditions.
Volunteers with Ridge Meadows Search and Rescue say blowing snow and dangerous avalanche conditions prevented rescuers from reaching the hikers who were stranded in the alpine in Golden Ears Provincial Park.
The hikers summited one of the Golden Ears peaks in clear weather Saturday before a surprise storm rolled in, bringing whiteout conditions that prevented the group from descending.
Rescuers say the group made their way to an emergency shelter on nearby Panorama Ridge and were equipped to spend one night as they made an emergency call for help.
The SAR team was activated Saturday evening, but there was little they could do. “Weather was too poor to attempt a rescue by air and the avalanche danger was too high for ground teams to head in by foot,” the team said in a statement.
Over the phone, the rescuers provided the hikers with a code to unlock a cache of supplies—including sleeping bags, drinking water, a stove and food—stashed in the shelter.
With the hikers temporarily safe inside, the SAR team tried to reach the mountain by helicopter on Sunday morning.
The flight team got “within a few hundred metres” of the shelter but was forced to turn back due to the persistent danger, according to Brent Boulet, president of the Ridge Meadows Search and Rescue team.
“With avalanche conditions being as hazardous as they were, we were not going to get in by foot,” Boulet told CTV News.
“Another attempt was made Monday, but the weather was even worse,” he said, noting the helicopter “couldn’t fly anywhere near Golden Ears.”
By Monday evening, the stranded hikers were out of food and supplies, increasing the urgency of the rescue operation.
Boulet says a break in the weather Tuesday provided enough of a window for rescuers to get an aircraft into the site. “The clouds lifted very quickly and we flew directly into the emergency shelter where we were able to load up the group of four and get them out.”
The helicopter landed at the Pitt Meadows airport, where the hikers were checked over for injuries and then released to their waiting families. Boulet says the hikers were tired and hungry but otherwise uninjured.
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