Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation staff responded to eight rescue calls this past long weekend, with one incident resulting in Alpine Helicopters and STARS Air Ambulance evacuating a climber who fell on Mt. Yamnuska.
According to public safety specialist Jeremy Mackenzie, a lead climber suffered a fractured leg after a 15-meter fall off the Bottleneck route located on Yamnuska just after 7 p.m. on Monday (July 2).
Specialists and Alpine Helicopters responded to the scene and heli-slung the injured climber out to where STARS then transferred him to Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary.
Mackenzie said the climber was lucky to only suffer a fractured leg and commended the highly skilled flying by Alpine and the teamwork demonstrated from all emergency services that responded to the incident.
Other calls received from Alberta Parks consisted of stranded scramblers, a motorbike accident at McLean Creek, a kayak that went missing on the Bow River and a number of overdue parties, he said.
Having many calls during a long weekend is normal, Mackenzie said, noting there were 11 incidents during the May long weekend. A big part of the number of accidents is the sheer volume of people present on the mountains and trails with some being less prepared than others.
Mackenzie warned that those looking to hit the mountains should always plan out their journey, carry maps and bring appropriate emergency equipment. He also suggested leaving a travel plan with a trusted family member who can activate emergency protocols if a party doesn’t return.
Since cell phone service is unreliable in the mountains, a good alternative communication device to use is a personal locator beacon such as a SPOT device, which uses orbiting commercial satellites.
