VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – North Shore Rescue is abandoning efforts to recover gear used during the rescue of a snowboarder Tuesday.
Crews launched an air operation to try and retrieve the $30,000 worth of gear that was dropped during the December 18 rescue of Sebastien Boucher, but were unable to complete the mission.
Tim Jones with North Shore Rescue says weather conditions weren’t cooperating.
“The safety parametres we put on this are far greater than on a real task because this is only gear, we’re not going after a person or saving a life. This is very essential gear, gear we need to reconstitute for one of our helicopter flight rescue kits, but it’s not going to stop our team from conducting another SAR operation,” he explains.
“It’s a combination of our helicopter flight rescue gear, hypothermia gear, survival gear, rope rescue gear, plus personal packs that were left at a different site, that’s where we were winched out on Tuesday night because it was too dangerous for the SAR techs to go back down and get our gear, it was a very tight situation on Tuesday night just getting us out,” Jones describes.
He says the gear is in two locations on Black Mountain. One location is at 3000 feet where SAR crews were first inserted by long line. The second location is at 1000 feet in a ravine where they found the 33-year-old snowboarder.
Jones says this call required “taking the kitchen sink in.”
“We weren’t sure where the guy was when we spotted the tracks, we didn’t know if he was high up or low down. We anticipated we may have to stay with him overnight, if not for two or three days, because of the snow conditions. We weren’t taking anything for granted on this task,” he says.
Jones doesn’t know when they can make another attempt at trying to grab the gear.
Home Improvement Profiles
News1130 Apps
Tell us what you think!
News1130 Business Profile
Makes no sense, $30,000 worth of equipment, and this same North Shore Rescue outfit, said they would not accept the $10,000 Cypress Mountain said they would fine the lost snowboarder, and which Cypress said they would generously donate to NS Rescue……..
@ Bill: North Shore SAR is opposed to any billing of rescue victims, period.
So, please tell the class how your “idea” would be workable.
Or just admit that you really don’t know what you’re talking about.
Pick one.
Well said, Bill, “…add the costs to that idiot’s invoice”
The idiot chose to ignore warning signs. He is responsible for the consequences of that decision.
Ditto to Bill’s comment.
That is a lot of rescue equipment and I can understand why it needs to be left there. What troubles me the most is that whether we charge people for rescues or not, it seems to me they have been taken for granted. Has there been a thank you, saying I am wrong. Really a good friend dies and you weren’t thinking. My condolences and there are many people who’ve lost people, but it doesn’t give you the right to act reckless and endanger the lives of others. Perhaps you should join the NSR, volunteer your time and return any gifts for money to pass onto this team and people. You owe them your life.
In his video comments, the snowboarder definitely said thank you and that he & his friends will be raising money to donate and he intends to volunteer his time (filmed before mention of a fine).
(80% of communication is nonverbal, so watching the footage on cbc gave a fuller picture than reading about it here)
Just add the costs to that idiot’s invoice.