*** Snowboarder Found Deceased after 7-day Search Delay ***

9th February 1997
Search teams were notified late Saturday night, February 8th '97, that a
24-year old British tourist, Simon Whitehurst, had been missing from his
temporary residence at a Vancouver, B.C. youth hostel, for the last seven
days. Apparently the hostel notified the police after three days absence,
but it was four more days before investigations indicated that the tourist
may have gone to the local ski hills with the snowboard he owned.

As there are three local ski mountains, Cypress Bowl, Grouse Mountain and
Mount Seymour, all within an hours drive of downtown Vancouver and the
world-famous Whistler and Blackcomb ski resorts only two hours drive north
of Vancouver, the decision on where to focus the search effort was
difficult. Eventually it was decided to initially concentrate the search
on the nearby Cypress Bowl ski hill, the closest ski mountain that is most
popular with snowboarders.

Searchers from the North Shore Rescue and Lions Bay SAR met at the Cypress
Bowl downhill ski area at 0730 hours on February 9th. Teams were deployed
to approximately 15 assignments, alongside and between the ski runs,
sign-cutting above known high-risk gullies and along recognised trails and
travel routes. an RCM Police helicopter was deployed to sweep the
cliffbands and many avalanche-prone gullies East of Mount Strachan.

By 1030hrs intermittent tracks were noticed by the helicopter team, down
the infamous Tony Baker Gully. The tracks appeared to stop at the first of
three ice-bound waterfalls, but it was not possible to confirm if the
tracks reversed themselves back to the top of the gully. A ground-team was
sent to investigate and determined that the tracks did not appear to
return out of the top of the gully. An additional ground team and another,
smaller, helicopter were assigned to more closely investigate this findings.

The second helicopter search moved in closer to the waterfalls, in the
confines of the steep and avalanche-prone gully. At the foot of the second
waterfall, where the water ran under the snowbridged creek, the subject's
body was spotted. Ground teams were guided to the site by the helicopter
crew and set-up an anchor system before beginning the body recovery.

By 3pm the police ident team had filmed the scene from the air and the
body was air-lifted back to North Vancouver. The gully team indicated that
personal effects were found on the snowbridged creek between the two
waterfalls. There were clear indications that the subject had either
avoided or survived the first waterfall before succumbing to a fall down
the second waterfall.

The remaining search and radio-relay teams were evacuated by air from the
top of the gully and from a makeshift landing pad constructed in the
gentler lower regions of Tony Baker Gully.

The Tony Baker gully was named after the first person to die in this steep
Mt. Strachan gully. Many out-of-bounds skiers and snowboarders have
ignored the ropelines and large warning signs on the Cypress Bowl ski hill,
which has resulted in a spate of serious injuries and a number of
fatalities in these dangerous gully systems.

Martin Colwell.
Lions Bay Search & Rescue
sarinfo@mindlink.bc.ca

PEP Task # 97-4009

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