A British tourist tells Global News he was petrified when he had to spend Monday night on a ledge on Crown Mountain, above Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver.
Thirty-seven-year-old Mike Buckingham was safely airlifted off the mountain Tuesday morning by North Shore Rescue, after an initial attempt to get him off by helicopter Monday night failed due to the weather.
He called for help around 4 p.m. Monday.
“Basically, I just thought I was going to die, for 15 hours until the guys turned up,” Buckingham said. “And they got there and they couldn’t get down until 4 am, a guy came down with supplies and they were amazing, so amazing.”
The weather overnight was dry but cold as temperatures dipped.
Other than being cold and scared, Buckingham was not hurt.
Search manager Simon Jackson said Buckingham was stranded on a trail called Crown Buttress Trail, that comes off the southwest of Crown Mountain just above Grouse Mountain.
Buckingham became stuck as he was coming down the mountain and was actually stranded on a ledge.
“Initially we got a helicopter up there to try and get a field team in as close to him as possible but unfortunately because of the weather conditions the helicopter wasn’t able to get in,” Jackson said.