It was a long, cold night for a lost group of hikers ended with a rescue Sunday morning from the summit of Eagle Mountain near Coquitlam, B.C.
Coquitlam Search and Rescue say the five hikers left on snowshoes Saturday morning for Swan Falls near Buntzen Lake, but got stranded on the mountain that evening.
Members were able to talk to the group by phone and locate them, but the high avalanche risk in the area made it dangerous to reach them.
Search manager Raymond Nordstrand said crews eventually made their way up to the summit around 2 a.m. and had to carefully walk the hikers off the mountain.
“At this point, we don’t have any information that there are any injuries, other than that they’re cold and wet,” he said.
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“We were concerned about their hypothermia, so we treated them with warm clothing and food and fluids once we reached them, and then they were able to hike out.”
Nordstrand said the route the group was taking would normally take about 10 hours in the summertime.
“In the wintertime, with snow and avalanche conditions and being on snowshoes, you can imagine it would be significantly longer,” he said. “It would have been difficult to complete it in the daylight.”
Nordstrand said the group was made up of three women and two men, all in their 20s.
Avalanche Canada said a mixture of a heavy snowpack, wind, rising temperatures and a transition from snow to rain this weekend has brought a “considerable” avalanche risk to the South Coast.
Nordstrand said anyone travelling to the backcountry right now should check those conditions first before setting out for a hike.
“There’s concerns about being out there, period,” he said, adding hikers should also equip themselves with the proper gear in the event of an avalanche.
“Have the 10 essentials, but in addition to that, if you are going to be in an avalanche terrain, have a transceiver, shovels and all the gear that could be required.”
The 10 essentials for hikers are a light, signalling device, fire starter, warm clothes, pocketknife, portable shelter, water and food, first-aid kit, navigation device like a compass, and a cell phone.