*** Mt. Slesse Hiker Found Deceased after Multi-Day Search ***

Mount Slesse, British Columbia
13th July 1998


4th July 1998 - Saturday
At the conclusion of the family camping holiday 41 year-old Alan Hiltz
decided to hike the steep mountain trail to 7970ft Mt. Slesse, British
Columbia, a dramatic peak, close to the US border. Alan was revisiting
The trail he had previously attempted, before returning from vacation
to his home in Surrey, B.C.. It was a cloudy day with the cloud ceiling
low on the mountain. His daughter decided not to accept her father's
offer to join him on the hike so Alan started off by himself, around
noon on Saturday. Alan intended to be out for approximnately 10 hours
but did not return home that night. Early next morning his wife notified
the police of his absence.

5th July 1998 - Sunday
At noon Sunday Chilliwack RCM Police notified Chilliwack Search &
Rescue that a hiker was missing and to standby until the vehicle was
located. At approximately 1330hrs, Alan's truck was found and CSAR was
commenced a search of the Mount Slesse trail with one search team. An
RCMP helicopter responded to search the area to transport teams. As this
remained impossible due to low cloud ceiling, two additional teams were
sent up the 3+hour trail to the meadow at the base of the climb.
Other than an uphill boot-track on the trail and some recent sign in the
meadow, there was still no sign of Alan Hiltz on or near the trail or
access road. Mutual aid was then requested from the neighboring SAR
teams.

During the evening a profile of the subject was developed, which
included the possibility that he may have attempted alpine travel. He
had also expressed curiosity about the site of 1956 airliner crash on
the east side of Mount Slesse (which not accessible from the hiking
trail).

6th July 1998 - Monday
Approximately twelve searchers from Ridge Meadows, Kent-Harrison and
Central Fraser Valley SAR joined the Chilliwack SAR team in a search of
drainages and exit routes off the main Mt Slesse hiking trail. Higher on
the mountain the RCMP helicopter searched the talus slopes, meadows and
the high alpine region of Mount Slesse. No positive signs of the subject
were found although a few footprints of indeterminate age were noticed
on the snowfield leading up to the standard climbing route on Mount
Slesse.

7th July 1998 - Tuesday
The RCMP helicopter became available in late morning to transport search
teams to technical assignments, primarily the gully system on the west
side of the mountain. Non-technical ground teams searched other trails
in the vicinity and possible exit routes from the mountain.
 
By approximately noon Chilliwack SAR decided to step up the operation
further and called for overhead management support for this increasingly
difficult operation. Martin Colwell, Tim Jones and George Zilahi, from
Lions Bay SAR and North Shore Rescue, drove from Vancouver, B.C. to the
scene and were briefed on the situation. This was followed by an
overflight of the trail, gullies and alpine regions of Mount Slesse, a
sobering experience.

That evening a strategy was developed which included approximately 33
technically-capable searchers, 6 non-technical searchers an overhead
management group and a logistic support group. The SAR Resource Kit
and Base Camp Kit were ordered in from Vancouver and the entire Lower
Mainland region's SAR teams were paged for the technically-capable
searchers. Within a few hours it was determined that only half of the
specialized manpower resources required could be obtained from the Lower
Mainland Region. A request was sent out to expand the collection area
for the additional technical-terrain searchers.

Back on the mountain, one gully search team became benighted - for the
second time in three days. They were in a very narrow canyon and had
damaged one radio, consumed most of their protection and sacrificed half
of their climbing rope working their way down the gully. They were told
to bivouac for the night in the most convenient place while we worked on
an extrication plan for the morning.

The Operations Base was transferred from a Mobile Command Post to a
building within a Dept. of Defence firing range, at the base of the
access valley to Mount Slesse.

8th July 1998 - Wednesday
By 0100hrs the SAR Resource Kit and Base Camp Kit arrived and were
installed in and around the building.

At 0130hrs the supposedly stationary gully team radioed in that they
Had found the subject, deceased, approximately 30 metres below them.
They had found his body as they continued to move down the gully,
looking for a reasonable bivouac site. At this point their failing
battery finally died and no further communication with the gully team
was possible.

The operation quickly switched from search mode to technical rescue
mode. Most of the requested SAR teams were stood down and a plan was
developed to extricate first the stranded searchers and then the body
from the gully. By 3am the searchers at Operations Base slept for 2 to
3 hours before initiating the morning's rescue-recovery operation.

At dawn a helicopter team were sent to assess the situation in the gully.
The location of the stranded searchers and the body was very confined;
one wall of the gully was at 90 degrees, the opposite wall at 70 degrees,
with a melt water creek taking up most of the narrow bed of the
high-angled gully. Steep loose hillsides rose for hundreds of feet
immediately above the gully walls. It was felt that, given the
narrowness and  looseness of the gully, the Heli-Flight Rescue System
would provide the safest means of extrication. The relatively small but
powerful HFRS ASTAR helicopter had smaller blade-span, reduced downwash,
a shorter tether line and excellent maneuverability, compared to the
other rotary-wing alternatives.

The extrication of both stranded searchers and the deceased went very
smoothly and quickly using the HFRS system. Within a couple of hours
the extrication was complete and all SAR members were safely returned
to the Operations Base. Representatives of the RCMP and the Coroners
Office then performed their duties and the media were briefed on the
details of the incident. By mid-afternoon the Operations Base was
dismantled and all SAR personnel returned home for some well-earned
sleep.


CONCLUSION
Early in the search, an approximate time line of Alan's travel was
constructed. This would have placed him returning to the meadow in
darkness. This route is also supported by a trail of sign. Our
conclusion is that Alan ascended the trail, passed through the meadow
and approached (or actually started) the technical portion of the climb
(snowfield evidence). On his return, he turned left and downhill
slightly short of the trail and descended a steep wooded hillside
between two impassable gullies. This route ended in near-vertical
cliffs, from which he fell to his death. 

The tragic outcome of this incident only serves to reinforce the need
for caution and planning when hiking in BC.'s mountains. We extend our
sympathy to Alan's family.

Prepared by,

Martin Colwell.		Jim Vickerson
Lions Bay SAR		Chilliwack SAR    PEP Task # 991352
sarinfo@istar.ca