Yak Peak Rescue

Teams save stranded climbers in dangerous helicopter rescue

Photo of Yak Peak by Michael F Coyle.

A pair of climbers stranded on a cliff face near Hope were finally rescued on Wednesday after a number of attempts to pluck the pair off the cliffside on Tuesday night failed due to bad weather, wildfire smoke and darkness.

The pair were scaling the granite face of Yak Peak, near the Coquihalla summit, when one fell and suffered a head injury. Both climbers remained suspended by their ropes and harnesses on the cliff face, presenting an already-difficult challenge for rescuers, which was complicated by weather and darkness.

After repeated attempts to rescue the injured climber and his partner, the first flight crew was forced to stand down. The following morning, North Shore Search and Rescue (NSR) received a Mutual Aid request from Hope SAR, and a three-person team was dispatched.

The NSR hoist team, including a Lions Bay Search and Rescue (LBSAR) member, were flown to the site in a Talon helicopter. At the same time, a ground crew was dispatched to attempt a top-down rope rescue of the injured climber.

"The flight up the valley from North Vancouver to Yak Peak was a bit harrowing, flying below and around the low morning cloud banks," said the LBSAR member.

After arriving to find a small break in the weather, the chopper team found the climbers clinging to a bolted anchor station 100 meters or so below the peak of the enormous granite slab.

Two of the team members were lowered on the hoist system to the subjects, who to the rescue team's great relief, were in fairly good shape even after their overnight exposure and injury.  

The injured climber was extracted from the cliff using an evacuation harness and a special device called a Petzl Lezard. According to the LBSAR hoist specialist, this device "allows for an automatic release when the technicians transition from being connected to a hard anchor point on the mountain to being pulled up toward the helicopter in free flight".

Both climbers were successfully rescued from the cliff face, and long-lined down to the nearby Zopkios rest area, where they were delivered to paramedics and on to hospital.

The LBSAR member said the climbers "were very relieved to be freed from their unexpected overnight position on the sheer mountain face, and expressed much appreciation to the all the teams involved in the operation." These included Hope Search and Rescue as the local team in charge, with mutual aid resources from Chilliwack, Coquitlam and NSR for the ground teams, and NSR and LBSAR for the flight teams.

A reminder that all local Search and Rescue teams undertake these callouts without question or charge. The team relies on specialized technical equipment that needs to be replaced as it wears out. Donations to LBSAR can be made HERE. 

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