CANMORE – A 74-year-old Canmore man fell 100 metres to his death while scrambling the Big Sister in Canmore on the weekend.
Kananaskis Emergency Services got the call on Sunday (Sept. 4) just after 4 p.m. and Kananaskis Country Public Safety (KCPS) responded within five minutes to the 2,936-metre peak – one of the picturesque Three Sisters overlooking Canmore.
“It’s a really sad situation,” said Jeremy Mackenzie, public safety specialist for the Kananaskis region.
“They didn’t actually fall off a 100-metre vertical cliff, it was more a tumbling fall down scree…unfortunately, they suffered quite a bit of trauma.”
The public safety team brought the scrambler, who had been doing the 5.6-km out-and-back challenging route, down from the local mountain in a helicopter to the staging area at the access road to West Spray Lakes Campground on the Smith-Dorrien Trail.
Despite the efforts of first responders, the scrambler succumbed to his injuries while being transferred to Emergency Medical Services.
“We were able to access the patient by heli-sling and put a team of three of us in there,” said Mackenzie.
“He was moved to the staging area where EMS and STARS had arrived; they had quite a few high standards medical professionals and they did their best.”
The day before, the KCPS team was also called to Big Sister to rescue a scrambler who had gone off-route and cliffed out, not being able to find a safe way to go up or down.
On both days, the helicopter pilots with Alpine Helicopters had to fly in windy and challenging conditions.
“It was incredible flying by the Alpine pilots, who had very windy conditions,” said Mackenzie.
“The talent they offer to help us get people help needs to be recognized.”
The two incidents on the weekend on the Big Sister highlight the challenges associated with scrambling.
Rescuers advise scramblers have all the proper equipment, such as helmets, and be competent in route finding.
“Scrambles should not be taken lightly; they are not hikes. Scrambling is very different than hiking,” said Mackenzie.
In the case of the man who was successfully rescued on Saturday, he got stranded when he could not go up or down on a cliff safely.
“That fellow definitely made some very big route finding errors and perhaps was not experienced enough to understand how to follow that type of terrain,” said Mackenzie.
Officials with Alberta Environment and Parks offered their condolences following the fatality.
“Our thoughts are with their family and loved ones during this time,” said Bridget Burgess, a spokesperson for Alberta Environment and Parks.
Over the busy September long weekend, Kananaskis rescuers responded to several incidents, including a stranded hiker and dog, a stranded scrambler, an overdue dirt biker, overdue boaters, a hiker in medical distress and an injured hiker.
