*** Christmas Day Search for two Overdue Hikers ***

From: Martin Colwell


December 25, 1995:- Lynn Valley Headwaters, North Vancouver, BC.

25 year-old Shannon LeBlanc and 26 year-old David Bampoe set out at 1pm on
Christmas Day for a half-day hike up the Lynn Valley Headwaters trail in
North Vancouver, BC. By nightfall they had not returned home.
The North Vancouver police requested that the North Shore Rescue initiate a
search, which they conducted in below-freezing temperatures throughout the
night. A modified Sound Sweep, using whistles and a loud hailer, were used
to increase the search area coverage.

By 6am the subjects had still not been found, despite the fact that most of
the main trails had been searched. Lions Bay Search & Rescue were then
called in to provide assistance and the RCMP and private helicopters
requested to be ready for search overflights at dawn.

Fresh hasty teams were despatched at dawn, mostly below the snowline, which
is where the lightly-equipped hikers were expected to remain. 

The helicopter crews were instructed to perform repeated sweeps back and
forth along the main trails and drainage systems, in order to encourage the
hikers to come out of any tree cover, to where they could be spotted.
By 10 am two hikers were spotted from the air and the 'copter landed to
investigate.

The hikers were determined to be the missing couple and were immediately
examined for hypothermia. Following this assesment they were flown back to
rescue headquarters and the arms of their waiting families.

Apparently the couple were returning along the main trail when they were
overtaken by darkness. They inadvertently left the trail and headed uphill
into the forest, where they spent the night huddled in a narrow ditch,
wearing only light nylon windbreakers and a small beach blanket.

At dawn they wandered through the forest before stumbling across the Lynn
Valley trail. While hiking down the trail they were spotted by the spotters
in the helicopter.

It is suspected that running water near the hikers may have obliterated the
calls and whistles of the night-time search teams.
The rescued hikers, their families and the searchers soon happily returned
to their Boxing Day festivities ...

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

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