Two climbers have been taken to hospital with serious injuries after a rockfall on the sheer walls of the Stawamus Chief in Squamish, B.C., on Thursday.
Search-and-rescue crews were called to the scene after the climbers, a man and a woman, were struck by falling rocks while ascending a route known as “liquid gold” on a part of the rockface called “the Bulletheads.”
“It appears they were struck by a falling rock while they were climbing,” said Squamish Search and Rescue search manager Mike Teske.
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Crews said the male climber went to hang onto a rock that broke away, throwing him into the rockface 40 feet below. The rock then crushed the female climber’s leg.
The climbers were roped up and anchored to the wall, necessitating a highly technical rescue from the cliff face, using a BC Wildfire service helicopter.
“This is as technical as it gets, it’s on the face of the Chief … with significant hazard in the area for rockfall,” Teske said.
The pair were flown to Squamish and then taken to hospital by air ambulance.
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