A fall of 300 metres on Ha Ling peak resulted in the death of a 22-year-old Canmore man, Saturday (Aug.2).
According to Public Safety Specialist Jeremy Mackenzie, both ground and air crews were called to assist with a search for an overdue hiker missing since early in the morning.
“He was found by an air crew,” he said, “but unfortunately, he was found deceased.” The man was found on the north side of Ha Ling, between a standard climbing and scrambling route.
Safety specialists recovered the body and removed it from the scene by about noon.
Canmore RCMP Sgt. Ryan Currie said the man was in one of two groups that headed up the mountain very early in the morning. One group of four or five people started up, then were joined en route by another pair.
“The deceased was in the second group that followed later, at about 5 a.m.,” said Currie. “On their way down, they became separated and when they got together, they realized the man was missing.
“They checked the Goat Creek parking lot for his vehicle and it was still there.”
At that time, about 10 a.m., the group called RCMP and Kananaskis Emergency Services.
“Alcohol could have been a factor,” said Currie, “but we’re still waiting for results from the medical examiner.”
Safety specialists were busy last weekend, as Mackenzie said crews, along with conservation officers and Alpine helicopters pilots, responded to seven incidents on Saturday and six on Sunday.
Also on a busy long weekend, Mackenzie said there were seven reports of overdue hikers, a number of mountain bike injuries at the Canmore Nordic Centre, a hiker with a broken ankle in the Baldy Pass area and a pair of incidents on the water.
On Sunday, paddlers overturned a canoe when they floated into a sweeper on the Bow River near Harvie Heights, said Mackenzie. They managed to get to an island, then crossed to a point where they were lifted off by helicopter.
In Kananaskis Country, anglers fishing on the Kananaskis River were trapped when the water level rose due to a release from the dam on the river. They were also extracted by helicopter.
