Yesterday evening we received a page for an injured skiier on Grouse Mountain.
We responded to Capilano Gate SAR Station and launched an HFRS operation in an attempt to quickly extract the subject before dark. Unfortunately the subject was in a heavily treed gully and HFRS was not possible. However, two members were inserted via HFRS and accessed him quickly.
Concurrently members were descending from the base of the Cut on Grouse and arrived at the subject not long after with a Cascade Strecher.
A conventional rope rescue operation was launched, and our Rope Rescue kit was brought down to the subject along with two 300 foot ropes. Coquitlam SAR and Lions Bay SAR were also brought in to help.
The subject was packaged and brought out to the base of the Eagle Chair using 3 to 1 pulley systems, counter balance and direct pulling. It was quite exhausting for all involved, but we managed to get the subject to the base of the chair by midnight.
The reason for the call was that the subject, a male in his 30's, went out of bounds at the base of the Cut and skiied down the old chairlift line. He veered off to the right into a gully, descended a few hundred feet, hit a tree and broke his leg. The subject stated he had consumed a number of alchoholic drinks and some mild sedatives either prior to or after the accident. This appeared to be a factor in this accident, as well as creating a situation where it was very difficult to understand the subject over the cell phone.
We were able to get a helicopter up to pin point his location, otherwise it would have been very difficult to locate him. His description of where he was put him in a drainage further to the East.
Special thanks to Grouse Resorts, Metro Vancouver, Coquitlam SAR, and Lions Bay SAR for providing fantastic operational support and man power.
Labels: Grouse Mountain, Helicopter Flight Rescue System, HFRS, Rescue, Task
