Three hikers’ bodies recovered at Shannon Falls
SQUAMISH — Police say the bodies of three hikers who slipped and fell into one of the pools of a waterfall north of Vancouver were recovered from the area Wednesday evening.
The RCMP said in a statement that they have turned the case over to the B.C. coroner.
Squamish Search and Rescue spokesman John Willcox said a young woman was swept into one of the pools at about noon Tuesday and her boyfriend and another man tried to save her and all fell in.
He said their friends reported seeing them carried over the lip of one pool and into a second.
Willcox said crews are known to rescue people who have slipped in the area where hikers often fill their water bottles after spending a few hours traversing a strenuous trail. They end up by the striking granite that has been carved by the water over hundreds of years but the buildup of lichen makes the area slick, Willcox said, adding dogs and people have slipped into the water but have been helped out.
“This is the first time I’m aware that anybody has gone over the falls,” Willcox said, adding people should stay well away from the area.
Willcox said crews were using ropes to lower RCMP officers into the pool at Shannon Falls, a 335-metre waterfall about 60 kilometres north of Vancouver
“Getting the helicopter in to actually do an extraction out of there has its challenges,” he said.
The bodies of the woman and two men, all from British Columbia and in their 20s and early 30s, were discovered Tuesday.
One of the victims was identified as Ryker Gamble, a Vancouver travel and adventure vlogger.
Gamble was part of a globetrotting vlogging group called High on Life SundayFundayz who built an online following posting photos and videos from exotic and hard-to-get locations.
Gamble and two other group members, Alexey Lyakh and Justis Price Brown, were banned from U.S. federal lands after they participated in an out-of-bounds excursion on a sensitive hot spring in Yellowstone National Park in 2016. An investigation into the group’s travels revealed violations of park rules at Yellowstone, Zion, Death Valley and Mesa Verde national parks and Utah’s Corona Arch and Bonneville Salt Flats.
Willcox said the area near Squamish has become increasingly popular with the addition of a gondola that is drawing a lot of locals and tourists who often hike into risky terrain without knowing what’s involved.
RCMP Cpl. Sascha Banks of the Squamish detachment said the pools are not accessible by trails. “These pool systems, unless you have the right equipment with you, unless you understand the area, that you’re safe about doing it, you should not be up there.”
RCMP said the three were swimming in one of the icy pools that form part of Shannon Falls, a 335-metre waterfall about 60 kilometres north of Vancouver. Shannon Falls and trails leading to the pool system at the top of the falls were closed to the public on Wednesday.