For the second day in a row, crews with the District of North Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services were called to Lynn Canyon to conduct a rescue.
Capt. Kit Little said Tuesday’s incident occurred at a box canyon area known as the “30-foot pool,” where a group of people were swimming.
“One of their friends wanted to keep an eye on them so they felt it would be a good idea to climb along the banks beside it. Unfortunately that triggered a little bit of a rockslide,” he said.
“A bunch of rock and shale came down and hit the two people in the water.”
One of the swimmers suffered what Little described as “fairly significant” cuts on her back, while the person on the cliff above nearly fell into the canyon himself.
“The patient was lucky, if they would have got hit in the head, given the size of the wound on her back, this would have been a very different story, and probably very, very serious consequences,” Little said.
Following the rescue, Little once again stressed the dangerous conditions in the canyon, which have claimed numerous lives over the years.
He said anyone visiting the park should obey the fences and signs, which are there to protect people from hazards they likely don’t understand.
“The canyon is a dangerous place, and you have to be very, very careful and know what you’re doing,” he said.
“There’s a lot of places people shouldn’t be going, but once again they’re ignoring the signs, they’re ignoring the fences. They’re there for a reason, they’re there for your safety.”
On Monday, fire and rescue crews were called to the Twin Falls area of Lynn Canyon where a cliff jumper dislocated their arm and required a full rope rescue.