** Injured Hiker Found using the Sound Sweep Search Technique **

SAR teams from Lions Bay and North Shore Rescue, near Vancouver, BC searched
for a 30 year old male reported missing from a day hike along the Howe Sound
Crest Trail, near Vancouver, BC. Initial information was sketchy but it
appeared that he had accidentally separated from a large group of 37 hikers
hiking to Unnecessary Mountain.

Teams were deployed at 2300 hrs along all the major tails and drainages, and
the Sound Sweep utilized to increase their nightime search effectiveness.
By 0300 hrs one team reported an active sound response, with a male voice
calling "Help Me" from what appeared to be high on an opposite ridgeline.
Through the remainder of the night four more teams were deployed to the
surrounding steep ridges and drainages, to assist, unsuccesfully, in
pinpointing the calls for help.

At first light a helicopter team located the subject, injured and lying on
his back, at the top of a steep and loose talus slope. Attempts by ground
teams to reach the subject were unsuccesful, due to the surrounding cliff
bands and the steep and unstable rock-filled gullies.

A paramedic was transported to the subject by helicopter, utilizing a
'toe-in' landing, he determined that the subject was suffering from
lacerations and a knee injury and would have to be stretcher evacuated by
helicopter. As 442 Squadron from Comox, BC were already tasked the subject
was stabilized for one hour until the long-line winch operation could be
undertaken.

After assessing the ground situation and local weather conditions the
subject was sucessfully winched into the Labrador twin-blade helicopter and
transported to medical care. After treatment for his injuries he was later
released, injured but ambulatory.

The field teams were also evacuated by helicopter, as the steepness and
looseness of the terrain would have made it very difficult for the teams
to climb back up to the safety of the ridgeline. At 1600 hours all the field
teams were safely off the mountain and were reporting their first success
in this region using the newly developed Sound Sweep search technique.

Martin Colwell
Lions Bay Search & Rescue, BC.



Wed Jun 28 01:29:43 1995
Message : #28030481    From: Search & Rescue Info [9076]
Group   : Community.Rescue
Subject : Rescue in North Shore Mountains

Search on St. Marks Mountain, Howe Sound Crest Trail
----------------------------------------------------
At 11:00 PM on Sunday, June 25, Lions Bay Search And
Rescue was requested to assist North Shore Rescue in a
search for a missing hiker. The subject was a member of
a group of 37 hikers who had taken a day hike from
Cypress Bowl to Unnecessary Mountain and back. One
member of the group who had fallen behind, did not
arrive back at Cypress Bowl.  By midnight the first two
of five Lions Bay SAR teams were briefed and dispatched
up the Unnecessary Mtn. trail, and up Newman creek. At
3:00AM,  voice contact was established with a male
subject by the team in the Newman Creek drainage who
had been using a sound-sweep search technique developed
by Lions Bay SAR. Prevented from approaching the
subject by a steep canyon, this team held position and
maintained voice contact while trying to pinpoint the
subject's exact location. By 4:00AM one Lions Bay SAR
team had reached the top of the Unnecessary Mtn. ridge
with additional teams approaching from the same trail
and the Lions trail. The first team rendezvoused with
a North Shore Rescue team and together proceeded down
the south face of Unnecessary Mtn., checking for signs
of footprints leaving the trail.

Shortly after sunrise a helicopter was dispatched to
deliver rescuers to the location determined by the team
in Newman creek. The subject was quickly spotted on a
rock slide on the west side of St. Marks Mtn. at
approximately 450m elevation, conscious but apparently
injured. A North Shore Rescue team, which included a
paramedic, was helicoptered in to a location nearby and
traveled on foot to the subject over dangerous terrain.
To evacuate the subject, who suffered from a knee
injury, a Canadian Forces Search And Rescue Labrador
helicopter was diverted from a SAR task near Campbell
River in order to winch the subject out.  The last
Lions Bay SAR team was picked-up by helicopter from the
upper portion of Newman Creek at 12:20PM Monday
afternoon and delivered back to Lions Bay.

Lions Bay SAR contributed 16 volunteer members to this
successful search.

Bob Manson
		-------------------------------