Two backcountry skiers have been rescued without injury after getting lost on Mount Seymour on Thursday night.
Around eight North Shore Rescue members carried out the operation. Search manager Stan Sovdat said the two young women were hoping to reach Brockton Point, but after exiting the chairlift, unintentionally wound up out of bounds on the east side of the mountain near the perimeter trail.
“They got through the worst of the terrain and then realized they were lost. They didn’t have a headlamp or avalanche gear with them,” Sovdat told Global News.
“They didn’t expect to end up in the terrain they were in.”
The skiers called 911, which then contacted North Shore Rescue, Sovdat said. He said once he explained to the women where they were on the mountain, they offered to ski the rest of the way down, but he told them to stay put, as a precaution.
“They would have used their phones to light their way and use up precious battery power. If we were to lose contact with them because their phones died, it would be difficult to relocate them, if we didn’t find their tracks, that is.”
Sovdat reminded all recreationalists to bring extra food, water, headlamps, and avalanche gear into the backcountry, even though it may feel like summer is on the horizon. It’s still winter up in the mountains, North Shore Rescue said in a Thursday Facebook post.
“The snow is getting really soft, you can sink up to your waist without snowshoes or skis on in the backcountry,” Sovdat said.
“It can get really unstable, especially in the afternoon as the day heats up, and it can be very dangerous, resulting in very large avalanches, potentially.”
A special avalanche warning is currently in effect on the North Shore Mountains, with Avalanche Canada noting that a very high freezing level is destabilizing the snowpack. It is urging recreationalists to avoid being on or below cornices, and exposure to steep slopes when the snow is soggy.