A simple step onto the wrong rock landed a Kelowna woman into icy rapids earlier this month.
She was rescued and it was caught on tape.
But that video then thrust the woman into the scalding hot water of social media.
“It’s crazy!” the 22-year-old said. “I didn’t realize how easy it is to drown.”
The woman, who wants to remain anonymous because of scathing internet judgement, was visiting Two Mile Falls on Sicamous Creek in the Shuswap with her boyfriend June 11.
“I happened to go down the path by myself and I just misstepped off a rock and fell backwards into the creek,” she said.
The water was rushing fast and high.
“The water just forces itself into your mouth and in your nose.”
She travelled quite a distance in the frigid rapids before grasping a boulder and scrambling to safety.
“She went down two 10-foot waterfalls, then another 40 or 50 feet where she ended up on the rock,” said Sicamous Fire Chief Brett Ogino, who was first on the scene.
The woman’s boyfriend had gone back to the car when she had fallen into the creek. When he returned, he only found her cellphone on the rocks and then quickly scanned the water.
Finding her on the rocks, cold and shivering in the middle of the creek, he called 9-1-1.
“As we were going down the trail, we could hear her screaming at the top of her lungs,” Ogino said.
While Sicamous firefighters are trained for swift-water rescue, they found the circumstances too dangerous, prompting a call to the Eagle Valley Rescue Society who are trained in rope rescue.
“We were concerned if she fell off, she was going to be in really, really serious trouble.”
Rescuers began filming their attempt for future training purposes, capturing the entire ordeal as it unfolded.
“They just did a phenomenal job,” the woman said. “Once I saw them there I knew I was going to be fine.”
She was taken to hospital and treated for hypothermia and is very thankful rescuers arrived quickly.
“There’s no words to say how grateful I am to them.”
But after the rescue video was shared publicly, the internet lit up with attacks on the victim.
“We had some trouble with the video we posted and some of the comments assigning blame to the young lady,” Ogino said. “Rude and unnecessary.”
“I don’t see why people would blame me or blame anyone for it,” the woman said. “Accidents happen.”
The thought of claiming her degree during upcoming commencements kept her fighting for her life.
“I was like, I’m not dying now!”
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