Parks Canada’s elite rescue team is busier than ever as more and more visitors head to the mountain national parks.
Parks Canada’s visitor safety team responded to 153 of a total of 368 calls in Banff, Yoho and Kootenay national parks from Nov. 1, 2013 to Oct. 31, 2014. These are the latest statistics available.
According to figures provided in the Parks Canada’s 2014 Report from the Field, the 153 responses include 92 minor injuries, 19 serious injuries and six fatalities, which included some suicides.
“Similar to years past, the majority of our responses were to hikers, followed by skiers-snowboarders, scramblers and mountain climbers,” wrote Brian Webster, Parks Canada’s visitor safety manager in the recently released 2014 Report from the Field document.
“We used the helicopter for approximately 40 per cent of the calls, of which 30 per cent involved a heli-sling rescue.”
When backcountry accidents occur, visitor safety specialists provide 24-hour, seven days a week professional search and rescue response.
The team includes six rescue specialists, three visitor safety technicians and an avalanche search and rescue dog and handler.
Parks Canada did not provide a spokesperson as no Parks Canada employees are being permitted to speak with the media during the federal election campaign.
Of the 153 responses in 2013-14, the visitor safety team requested Parks Canada dog handler Mike Henderson, along with rescue dog Kaz, on 33 different occasions, ranging in calls for missing people, suicide investigations and avalanche accidents.
Of the 33, 12 were for avalanches. In two separate accidents, the dog recovered the bodies of three people buried in slides who were not wearing avalanche transceivers.
Both the Banff and Jasper dog teams spent up to two weeks searching for an illegal wing-suit flyer on Mount Rundle in September 2014.
“The team continues to assist the RCMP and CARDA (Canadian Avalanche Rescue Dog Association) dog handlers in developing their search and rescue skills,” wrote Brewster in the report.
In 2012-13, the visitor safety team responded 115 times. The call-outs included 50 with minor injuries, five with serious injuries and five fatalities. The previous year, there were 158 responses, including 63 minor injuries, 14 serious injuries and four fatalities.
Another part of the mandate of the visitor safety program is avalanche danger forecasting and highways control.
In 2013-14, Parks completed 29 avalanche control missions to protect the Trans-Canada Highway, Highway 93 South and the Sunshine Village ski area access road, deploying 320 explosives.
That compares to 27 missions the year before, where 177 explosives were deployed.
The visitor safety team also does accident prevention work and outreach.
