squamish hiker and her dog tumble down 18-metre rock face — and live to tell about it
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it was zion, a rescue dog, who slipped first on the tricouni peak trail in squamish. which paw lost its purchase, which stone rolled away, is hard to know.
zion isn’t talking.
margaux cohen, his person, instinctively grabbed his harness. his 36 kilogram body yanked her forward. over a cliff, head over heels, face smashing against rock ledges. cohen tumbled 18 metres down the rock face.
she let go of zion’s harness during the fall. when she opened her eyes, he was right beside her, giant smile, tail wagging.
zion was still living his best life. he leaned over and began to lick the blood from her face. when she couldn’t get up, he lay down next to her. it’s hard to say who saved whom.
zion stayed with her while cohen’s hiking partners, max stobbe and his cousin sawyer, called 911. they waited for north shore rescue in the blazing sun for several hours. the rescue was complicated. they were in a bowl, and there was nowhere for a helicopter to land.
cohen was pulled out of the gorge with a longline and taken to lions gate hospital.
handout photo margaux cohen’s rescue on tricouni peak
max stobbe
cohen said she was blown away by north shore rescue, and sends gratitude to everyone involved, and to her neighbour who is caring for zion while she is in hospital.
her recovery from the complicated fracture between the tibia and knee will be long and challenging. she’s had two surgeries, with 10 screws and two metal plates and unrelenting pain.
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it’s not the kind of adventure she expected when she set out to do the hike.
cohen, who moved to canada from france seven years ago, had never been into outdoor activity, but when she got sober in 2022 and was struggling with depression, she started hiking.
“it became my whole life,” said cohen.
“in the mountains it feels like there are no problems. it made me feel stronger mentally and physically, it became my antidepressant,” said cohen.
handout photo margaux cohen hiking
max stobbe
when she adopted zion, a pit-bull mix, two years ago, he became her most faithful companion on the trail. she doesn’t take him on technical hikes, where safety would be an issue, but he loves a good mudder, or bounding through a boulder field.
“when i get the backpack out, he goes crazy,” she said. “he runs around, he runs downstairs looking for the car, and then he whines the entire way to the trailhead.”
the trio set off on saturday, aug. 23, with zion, and camped overnight at a lake. on sunday, aug. 24, the group summited.
zion stuck close. the descent was challenging.
“there was another trail that we could see wasn’t as steep.”
to get to it, they would have to pass through a rock formation with a ledge. they knew they could do it.
“it didn’t look hard.”
unfortunately zion lost his footing.
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“it went so fast after i grabbed his harness,” said cohen. “i remember seeing myself tumble four times. i let go of the harness.”
cohen has barely been able to sleep since the accident, and now faces months of rehabilitation.
handout photo of margaux cohen in hospital.
emily kasal.
the future looks different. as a bartender, she doesn’t have extended medical benefits, and will be off work for several months. friends have started a gofundme to raise money for her rehabilitation, and for zion’s care. the pup needed x-rays and emergency medical attention after the accident.
cohen said she hasn’t processed what happened.
“the fall keeps replaying in my head all the time. i’m going to be ok, but it will take awhile.”
she is trying to stay focused on the silver lining, and hopes to pursue a dream she has long shied away from: starting a podcast touching on sobriety, mental health, and the healing power of the outdoors.
“i want to make something that is really raw, really honest. i don’t just want to talk about the good stuff, but also about the hard stuff, the things people don’t want to talk about. now is the time.”
when she is ready to talk about the hard stuff, she won’t be doing it alone. zion will be by her side.
even if he doesn’t talk, he probably has a lot to say.
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