'some very serious calls': it's been a tough summer for some b.c. search and rescue teams
north shore and squamish search and rescue teams are responding to more calls, some with devastating outcomes.
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a distressing number of adventure seekers who ventured into the mountains or headed out on the water near vancouver this spring and summer haven’t made it home safely.
in each case, volunteers with local search teams responded. while most of their missions end successfully, in the last few months there have been some tragic outcomes.
“we’ve had some very, very serious calls with slips and falls in the spring, and then in the summer with head injuries, cardiac calls … and a fatal drowning,” said john blown, who has been with north shore rescue for 23 years.
“i don’t recall a time where, like in the last four months, we’ve had so many fatalities, whether through our team or through our mutual aid partners.”
his team’s call volume so far in 2025 isn’t necessarily higher than in previous years, but it feels like there have been more emergencies with extreme locations and casualties, he said.
north shore rescue responds to an injured skier who fell down a steep slope near cypress in april.
north shore rescue
in april, a 28-year-old camper on mount seymour slipped on the morning ice and fell to her death, and an 18-year-old skier was critically injured after tumbling down an icy slope on mount strachan near the cypress ski resort while trying to retrieve a friend’s lost ski.
in may, a 17-year-old hiker was killed after falling into a gully near lions bay, another young man, 18, died while hiking near shannon falls in squamish, and a 22-year-old woman perished while slacklining near squamish.
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in june, a 29-year-old man drowned in cabin lake near the cypress ski area, and one person is still missing after a car crashed into the squamish river and disappeared in the current.
in july, a 65-year-old man was swept away by whistler’s cheakamus river, a 20-year-old hiker vanished near shannon falls, and two 22-year-old campers died when their vehicle crashed on a backcountry road near mission.
north shore rescuers help the hope search and rescue team respond to a climber with a head injury, who fell on a steep slope on yak peak on aug. 6.
north shore rescue
in august, it took more than seven hours to rescue a rock climber with a head injury who fell on yak peak near hope, becoming stranded on a steep slope. and rescuers accompanied by a doctor hopped off a hovering helicopter onto mount brunswick near lions bay to help a hiker in “serious cardiac distress,” who then was attached to a line hanging from the helicopter to be flown to a waiting ambulance. both survived.
those are a few examples of the difficult calls handled this spring and summer by some of b.c.’s 78 search and rescue teams, which are staffed by 3,200 volunteers with first aid training.
one particularly heartbreaking case involved the camper on mount seymour who slipped on april 19 while trying to pick up a dropped phone, and fell 400 metres down an icy slope. the rescue helicopter was slightly delayed by cloud cover, but north shore volunteers were able to reach the site on the ground and follow her fall line down the mountain.
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“she was breathing when our team got there. unfortunately, she essentially arrested or stopped breathing in the arms of a couple of our team members who then started cpr,” blown said. but it was too late to save her.
“those kinds of calls really hit our team hard — a really, really sad outcome. … and we think about, ‘what else could we have done?'”
tyler duncan with squamish search and rescue.
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search and rescue volunteers, who typically have professions unrelated to emergency response, have access to counselling. still, its difficult when they can’t bring someone safely home to their grieving families and friends, said squamish search manager tyler duncan.
“any time we have a call that doesn’t have a positive outcome, it’s incredibly taxing on our teams. at the end of the day, these are people that are stepping outside of their normal life to try and help their community,” said duncan, who has volunteered with the squamish group for 11 years.
“and definitely we have seen the acuity of our calls increasing over the last number of years.”
he recalled squamish having 11 cases in 2024 in which the person needing rescue either died or couldn’t be found. halfway through 2025, there have been about six, leaving duncan concerned this year’s tally could be similar or worse.
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“we are on track to be one of our busiest years ever.”
he was in charge of the search for 20-year-old alex nguyen, who vanished on july 1 in shannon falls provincial park, such a popular destination that duncan felt sure they could find the lost hiker. but the young man hasn’t been seen since, despite more than 100 ground searchers combing the area, others rappelling down cliffs, cameras being dropped into the swirling waters, and several drones looking from the sky over three days — before the tough decision was made to suspend the search.
“that call has been sticking with me a little bit, to be honest. i am still in close contact with his family, almost weekly,” said duncan.
“i hiked that trail with my family on (aug. 4), and i was checking the search map and thinking about it the entire way up.”
north shore rescue team volunteers assist an injured hiker on aug. 2.
north shore and squamish are two of the busiest search teams in b.c. while they have recorded an increase in more serious calls this spring and summer, that was not the case across the province, according to the b.c. search and rescue association.
the association compiles data from the province’s 78 search and rescue teams. it compared call volumes for the three months from may 1 to july 31 and found the total number of requests for service, including dire ones, were lower in b.c. in 2025, compared to the same three months in 2024:
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• category 1 calls, those with someone facing potentially fatal risk and in need of urgent assistance: 121 in 2024 and 91 in 2025.
• category 2 calls, where someone is in serious or imminent danger and rescue teams should act quickly: 204 in 2024 and 186 in 2025.
• category 3 calls, where assistance is required but the person is not in distress: 304 in 2024 and 245 in 2025.
• category 4 calls, false alarms, hoaxes or unknown caller: 58 in 2024 and 39 in 2025.
how a call is categorized is based on the information provided by the person phoning to request help. if an incident ends in a fatality, it could have originated from any call category, but likely was in the top two most serious groups, said the association’s sandra riches.
in 2024, b.c.’s 78 teams had, combined, nearly 2,000 calls.
the north shore and squamish groups, though, are among the busiest with about 130 calls each last year, a number that’s climbed steadily over the past decade. when blown started volunteering on the north shore, he said, there were closer to 80 annual requests for help.
john blown is north shore rescue’s air operations coordinator.
photo courtesy john blown
call volumes are higher simply because more people are now hiking, biking and skiing in the mountains. some are advanced outdoor enthusiasts who have accidents, but blown believes his team has seen more serious injuries partly due to social media: people head into nature after seeing epic photos on instagram, without doing enough research into the time required to reach the destination, the difficulty of the terrain or the equipment needed.
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“we deal with a lot of people that are unfortunately a little bit over their heads, not used to the terrain that we have on the west coast, and they just don’t know what they’re getting into,” duncan added.
“the biggest thing about the west coast of b.c., whether it be the north shore or sea to sky or wherever, is you can be 10 minutes away from the parking lot and be completely out of contact and totally isolated.”
nearly one third of all rescue calls in b.c. are for people ages 20 to 29.
and almost all of them — 95 per cent — involve local residents, who may have “a false sense of security” that the abundance of easily accessible trails can’t be that hard if they are near a major road or suburban area. in reality, riches said, populous areas such as the north shore and squamish have the most calls for help.
“they have some of the highest search and rescue call volume regions in canada,” she said.
riches is executive director of b.c. adventure smart, an incident-prevention program for people pursuing outdoor recreational activities, created by the provincial search and rescue association.
most b.c. rescue calls stem from preventable incidents, with the leading causes being injuries, getting lost, and not having the skill to navigate the terrain.
b.c. adventure smart has tips to help you survive in the wilderness.
bc search and rescue association
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her organization’s website has tips to reduce those emergencies, starting with “the three ts“:
• trip planning to know your travel route, terrain and weather
• training to have the skills you need
• taking the essentials, including flashlights, map, whistle, food, matches and extra clothing
“those three keys can really pack a punch, and they can set you up for success and really help you reach your destination,” said riches, a former park ranger.
“and your destination is home. the summit, the peak, the viewpoint is only halfway.”
the search and rescue association website has more tips to keep outdoor enthusiasts safe, as well as a list of good trail and weather apps, she said.
the north shore rescue team opposes charging for rescues because they don’t want those in peril to hesitate to ask for help, and volunteers take pains not to shame people for making mistakes that lead to emergencies, blown said.
but there are some calls, he added, that can be a learning experience. one on july 29 involved three young hikers who reached the top of st. mark’s summit, near cypress, just before sunset and then had to call for help because it was too dark to hike out.
“you’d think that it would be fairly obvious that it gets very, very dark after sunset and you won’t be able to hike out unless you have a flashlight. and if you’re using your phone, then your phone’s going to die, and then you won’t be able to phone for help,” he said. “then you’re really in trouble.”
north shore rescuers respond to three young hikers on july 29 who reached st. mark’s summit, near cypress, around sunset, and then phoned for help when it was too dark to hike out.
north shore rescue
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while reflecting on the serious spring and summer rescues he has attended so far this year, blown said the severity of many incidents could be significantly reduced with planning and gear.
“if you can survive for 24 hours on your own, have enough clothing and food and water, and have a communication device, satellite device, that will make a huge difference in being able to assist you if you get into trouble.”
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