Abrupt end to footprints showed where hikers fell from mountain
LIONS BAY — A hiker says he was shocked when he realized he was standing near a ledge where five people had just fallen to their deaths in the mountains near Vancouver.
Alastair Ferries said he had just passed a man on Saturday who mentioned his five friends were ahead of him on Mount Harvey, about 35 kilometres north of the city.
“I got to the summit and there was nobody there,” he said in an interview Monday. “There were some tracks leading over to the edge and it looked like it had broken off there.”
Ferries, 62, said that’s when he knew the entire group had fallen when a cornice, or snow ledge, had fallen from under them. Searchers found the bodies on Sunday, 500 metres below the mountain’s summit.
When the hiker he had just passed joined him, Ferris said the man’s demeanour immediately changed.
“I could see the astonishment on his face. That verified to me that, yeah, there actually were five people and they had fallen. I said: ‘I’m sorry, I think your friends have fallen.’ ”
Ferries, a North Vancouver resident, said he went to his vehicle to call for help.
Lions Bay Mayor Karl Buhr said he believes the hikers were from nearby Maple Ridge and were experienced, but they were not carrying avalanche beacons, making it harder to find them.
“They didn’t do anything wrong,” he said. “They were just at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
At least 60 search-and-rescue members volunteered their time to search with dogs for those who had fallen, Buhr said.
“It was a very big incident and the response was amazing. I’ve never seen people looking more tired.”
Buhr said recovery teams had to ensure it was safe to go into the mountains because of the potential for avalanches and they worked hard to retrieve the bodies on Sunday so families did not have to wait one more night.
“You need to have the person found and who knew if they could even go up today,” he said on Monday.
The Salvation Army provided food for the recovery teams, Buhr said, adding the massive operation was too much for the town to deal with on its own.
Lions Bay is considering whether to post signs to warn about avalanches and cornices.