Sunday search for missing Grouse hiker Carl Couture called off amid rough weather

North Shore Rescue called off a planned search for missing hiker Carl Couture on Grouse Mountain due to low clouds and heavy rain on Sunday.

The rescue organization had planned to step up its efforts to find the hiker who went up the mountain unprepared in sweatpants and running shoes on Halloween.

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But a low cloud ceiling would have made it difficult to fly over the area where crews planned on searching for him, so the effort was cancelled, said Mike Danks, team leader with North Shore Rescue.

Couture, who had recently moved from Eastern Canada, is believed to have gone up Grouse via the Grind or the BCMC trail.

He was seen leaving the Grouse Mountain chalet at about 12:30 p.m. and heading in the direction of the Hanes Valley Trail, which is known as difficult terrain.

READ MORE: Missing hiker went up Grouse Mountain in sweatpants, running shoes, and was ‘not prepared’: NSR

Metro Vancouver saw extreme weather in the days after he was last spotted there, with as much as 24 centimetres of snow falling on Grouse Mountain alone.