*** Heat Wave Strikes West-Coast Hikers ***

North Shore Mountains, British Columbia
1st August 1998

A west coast heatwave broke all-time records in British Columbia - and caught many hikers off-guard. Within one week a male hiker was air-lifted off Mount Seymour, requiring 9 litres of fluids to rehydrate. Later the same week a female hiker was found by park wardens lying across the Howe Sound Crest Trail, and again had to be air-lifted out to Vancouver.

July 28th
Late on the night of the 28th July a 911 cell-phone call from 54 year-old Barry McLeod and his 19 year-old daughter, Jeneanne, was passed on to Lions Bay Search & Rescue. The two had hiked all day from Cypress Bowl and were somewhere on the Howe Sound Crest Trail's (HSCT) ridgeline, apparently north of the West Lion. The whole trail follows a long ridge and is often devoid of water. The two reported that they were tired, dehydrated and that Barry was suffering from muscle cramps.

Lions Bay SAR despatched three search teams up the primary trails by approximately 2230 hours, with instructions to sweep the steep, rocky sections of the Howe Sound Crest Trail in the region of the West Lions, a prominent rocky peak. Once in the open alpine region one team spotted a small campfire on the ridgeline and by 0330 hours were at the subject's location, providing them with much needed fluids and a little food.

By 0530 hours a Bell 206 helicopter was despatched to retrieve the subjects but the narrow, rocky ridgeline did not provide a safe place to land the chopper. The subjects and rescue team had to move down rocky slopes and across open talus fields to a safer landing site, where the helicopter could power down. Traversing this distance took almost an hour, as the subjects were quite exhausted and could only move very slowly.

By 0900 hours the subjects and all search teams were safely flown back down to Lions Bay, where large quantities of beverages and hot food soon softened the memories of clouds of mosquitoes and the dawn of another baking hot day.

Prepared by Martin Colwell Lions Bay Search & Rescue  PEP Task # 99-1736
sarinfo@istar.ca