District of North Vancouver fire crews completed 18 technical rescues at Lynn Canyon last year, most of them being cliff jumpers in the summer months.
LISTEN: North Vancouver District Assistant Fire Chief Brian Hutchinson
Assistant Fire Chief Brian Hutchinson says people put themselves in danger because they don’t know what’s ahead.
“The challenge with Lynn Canyon is that once you’ve made that initial jump, you’re actually stuck down in the canyon until you do the subsequent jumps. You can’t be climbing out of there. The cliffs are very steep and unstable.”
Hutchinson says some firefighters walked through the area this weekend, but didn’t spot anyone cliff jumping.
“Given the recent spate of hot weather, it’ll probably become more of an issue as we progress into the summer. Right now, we’re still pretty good.”
He says other than the obvious, the water in Lynn Creek is still cold and very fast, and that puts jumpers at risk of hypothermia.
Hutchinson says there have been 30 deaths in Lynn Canyon over the past 24 years.