North Shore Rescue (NSR) had a busy start to the weekend with three calls for help in the past two days.
Search manager Jim Loree says their first call came early Thursday evening.
“We had a call at around 5:20 p.m. yesterday afternoon for a lady and her partner who were hiking up to St. Mark’s, and as they were getting near the summit, she ended up slipping, falling, twisting her ankle, and she was unable to wait there or walk on it, and she reached out to us for help,” Loree told CityNews.
NSR sent a helicopter to the area and lowered rescuers down to hoist out the two hikers.
Just as they were wrapping up the call, they were sent out to Hanes Valley to help three hikers who had underestimated the terrain and were exhausted, but otherwise uninjured.
A view of Hanes Valley showing the location of the three hikers who had underestimated the terrain. (North Shore Rescue Image)
“Hanes Valley is a fairly long, committed hike, and they had been hiking for nine hours at that point, and had bitten off a bit more than they could chew, but realized that they were not going to get out until long after dark,” Loree said.
“They didn’t have extra equipment, lights or anything, and they were kind of struggling even getting to where they were. So we were able to, again, get a helicopter for that and flew in and located them, lowered some rescuers down by hoist, and also hoisted them out.”
Crews were also called back to St. Mark’s Summit late Friday afternoon for another twisted ankle and helicoptered that hiker out as well.
Loree reminds hikers to make sure they are equipped with appropriate gear before heading out on the trails.
“Headlamp is an absolute must, but also other items like extra clothing, food, water, proper footwear,” he said.
It’s important for people to understand their fitness levels before heading out on the trails, Loree says.
“It can be quite exhausting going on longer hikes, especially when there’s quite a bit of elevation gain,” he said.
“So start off small before embarking on really long, grueling hikes, and be aware of the time of day and how long it’s going to potentially take.”