Last Saturday was an Escape trail marking day. NSR has "escape" trails set-up on the North Shore mountains designed to help lost snowboarders, skiiers and hikers off the mountain. They are located in strategic spots and areas that traditionally have seen lost skiiers or snowboarders go into. They also assist search teams that are escorting lost subjects out of the field. These are not "trails" - more accurately they are marked bushwacking routes, and are not designed for the recreational hiker. They are also designed to be difficult to locate from any main trail so they do not mislead day hikers. As well, many of them go through watersheds closed to the public - so....to state the obvious please do not try to find them, or use them.

Saturday we were marking an escape trail off of the East side of Mt. Seymour. We were all surprised to find a few feet of snow at the top of Seymour, and snow in the parking lot. The first part of the day consisted of wading through thigh deep snow, and then as we descended we got into slush, sleet, mud and bushwacking. By the end of the day we had nailed up two hundred flashers, used 24 rolls of flagging tape, placed two sets of fixed ropes, and posted 4 Escape Trail signs.

We exited in the North Indian Arm area - where the only exit is by boat - and we were picked up by the Coast Guard Auxillary.

Overall a fun wet muddy day.

Late Sunday night my pager went off for two missing females in Lynn Headwaters Park.

We found them within a few hours and they were doing well.


News 1130 reported on the incident -

Monday, October 15 - 06:25:00 AM Kate Forman
NORTH VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - Two hikers are safe today after getting lost in the North Shore Mountains. The 22-year old women were following the Lynn Loop Trail in Lynn Headwaters when they got caught in the dark.
Don Jardine with North Shore Rescue says it can happen when sunshine draws people to the great outdoors. He says there has been a lot of people hiking in that area all weekend. He says if you do get caught overnight and you're lost, just stop, use your cell phone if you have one and wait for someone to get you.
Jardine says because it does get dark earlier, hikers should plan to be back at the parking lot before dark or take a flashlight with them. Both women are okay and not hypothermic.

Nice blog Guy -

http://guyzblog.blogspot.com/

A comment on the Ladysmith Rescue -

I was just doing some research on our local SAR group when I came across this article. The following link will take you to pictures of this incident and I must say there was quite a difference between the two helicopters ;-)http://www.flickr.com/photos/oceanviews/sets/72157600431833654/

Cheers
LenCanexus
Hazmat ERT

Recent article in the North Shore News -
Rescue biz is a family affair.

Worth reading just for Tim's comments - always a master of the sounds bites ;-).