North Shore Rescue says an early morning call out to Mount Seymour should serve as a warning that winter has arrived in the backcountry.
Hiker Victor Zaman told Global News he headed up to First Peak Wednesday afternoon, with the plan to camp overnight.
The forecast had called for 10 to 15 centimetres of snow, so he packed warm clothes and microspikes for his boots, but didn’t bring snowshoes.
He said deeper than expected snow made the hiker harder than he was anticipating. He arrived successfully at his destination, made camp, ate and had some hot tea — but had trouble properly inflating his sleeping pad.
Overnight, he said he developed a serious migraine.
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By 6 a.m. he said the headache had gotten worse and the temperature outside had fallen to -6 C, and he decided to call 911 for help.
“The psychological part of it is so tough, 90 per cent of me was not wanting to call because I was thinking of the people involved, maybe a bit of guilt, because if I don’t call I am going to freeze here,” he told Global News.
“I wasn’t cold, but if the migraine was getting worse I cannot get out my bag and start moving.”
North Shore Rescue search manager Dave Barnett said it started gearing up after speaking up with Zaman, who had woken up feeling terrible, dehydrated, with a headache and worried he couldn’t hike out.
“He was really well prepared, he had a large pack, lots of warm clothing, obviously prepared to stay the night,” he said.
“I think he just overdid it.”
As the team was deploying, a pair of early morning hikers came upon Zaman, gave him some Ibuprofen and offered to stay with him until he was ready to start moving.
Barnett said the duo helped Zaman get down the mountain to where he could meet up with the team to walk him out.
He added that the case shows that even an experienced and well-prepared hiker can run into trouble in the mountains during shoulder season.
“The big message is it’s winter now on the North Shore, there is snow on the mountains and people need to be prepared. Proper foot gear, warm clothing and definitely any other winter gear that makes sense to bring,” he said.
“It goes below freezing up here now, it was -6 C last night and it just took this hiker by surprise.”