Squamish Search and Rescue crews are up in the air and on the ground Thursday morning searching for the trio of missing mountaineers.
Search manager BJ Chute tells CityNews that favourable weather conditions have allowed ground crews to move in.
“We spent all of yesterday trying to search, [but] yesterday we were still hampered by weather high up in the alpine that limited our searchability. So, the team came back at first light this morning, and we’re currently searching from the air as well as some areas on the ground,” he said.
“This has been our first real opportunity to get in due to the limited weather and Avalanche conditions that we’ve been seeing. So we’re trying to take advantage of the short weather window that we have at this time,” Chute added.
The climbers were going up Atwell Peak, on the south side of Mount Garibaldi. They were set to return on Friday evening but never did.
“We are hopeful that the weather’s gonna hold today, but the weather, particularly in the Alpine, is extremely unpredictable. So, we have a weather window this morning that we’re gonna take full advantage of,” Chute explained.
While on the ground at sea level, the weather might feel like we’re coming into summer, Chute explains that it is very much winter-like conditions near Atwell Peak.
“It’s 2,600 metres or so, so this is still winter high up. I think it’s really important that people understand, that although it’s June and sunny down in the city, it’s still winter high in the mountains.
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–With files from Sonia Aslam