Crews may have made contact with two missing hikers on Cypress
Posted December 27, 2016 9:32 am.
Last Updated December 27, 2016 4:20 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
WEST VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Three men. Two missions. That was the daunting task facing members of North Shore Rescue this morning as members went into treacherous conditions in the backcountry to find the trio..
Right now in Cypress Mountain…@NEWS1130 pic.twitter.com/fePxLF7qY3
— James Cybulski (@cballnews) December 27, 2016
Just after 9 a.m. a snowboarder, who had been stranded on Cypress Mountain since Boxing Day was located and brought down. Crews say he went out of bounds and was stuck in a steep gully with a frozen waterfall below. The silver lining in that case is members of NSR were able to contact him. The 20-year-old from Kazakhstan is in the Lower Mainland to visit friends for the holidays and admits the experience was scary.
However, the search continues for two men who are believed to be on the same mountain and who vanished on Christmas Day. Early yesterday morning, West Vancouver Police joined efforts with North Shore Rescue after an abandoned vehicle was found in the parking lot at Cypress Mountain.
This afternoon, crews made contact with the pair. “We were able to get voice contact. We’re not sure if it’s with our snowshoe subjects or possibly an out of bounds snowboarder or skier. But the clouds have descended in that area and the weather has been a challenge for us. We’re trying to get crews in that area to see if we can re-establish voice contact but, at this point, we haven’t been able to get that back,” says North Shore Rescue Team Leader Mike Danks.
He admits this has been their only lead to find the pair and the weather and avalanche risk is not helping. “We don’t know exactly what equipment they have with them and it’s concerning for us.”
Last year, North Shore Rescue set a record for the number of calls-out at 139 — this year they are at 130.
