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On Tuesday, September 15th, Coquitlam Search and Rescue was requested to locate four overdue male hikers who had been hiking near Buntzen Lake. The men were found uninjured and assisted down to Buntzen Lake by 4 AM Wednesday morning. At 9:00pm, just as Coquitlam SAR was wrapping up a recruitment information session, Coquitlam RCMP advised that the four young men had been hiking the Halvor Lunden Trail above the Polytrichum Lookout when they had been caught by darkness. Searchers mobilized at Buntzen Lake, while a team in our Argo began approached Eagle Ridge from Plateau Blvd.
The men were not prepared for darkness and had no lights or extra clothes. Fortunately, they were able to contact SAR command via cellphone and provide a their approximate location. Unfortunately, that location was off the trail, in extremely steep terrain above Buntzen Creek, which added significant difficulties for search teams. Searchers were able to locate the men at 1am and the group hiked out to Buntzen Lake around 3am. The search involved 21 team members, most of whom spent yet another night on the mountain. It is worth noting that North Shore Rescue was conducting a search for a missing hiker on Mount Seymour at the same time.
This search is one of many recent searches Coquitlam SAR has conducted where unprepared “day hikers” reluctantly became overnight campers. Coquitlam SAR recommends ALL hikers carry the 10 Essentials when they go on any hike, even so called “day hikes.” The days are becoming shorter and nights colder, increasing the consequences of not being prepared. We would also like to remind the public that cell phone coverage is not guaranteed, had these hikers been 100m lower on the trail they would not have been able to get a signal. This would likely have delayed the successful conclusion of the search until the following morning. |
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