Rescuers retrieve soggy, chilly junior high campers

CALGARY — A few dozen cold and sodden junior high school students and adult supervisors from Edmonton were evacuated Wednesday night from Kananaskis Country.

Paramedics, firefighters and provincial safety officers were called to the Big Elbow Campground at 6:45 p.m. after weather conditions deteriorated in the remote, backcountry area.

Faced with pelting rain and snow, a teacher from Mary Butterworth School, at 16315 109th St. in Castle Downs, hiked out of the area to phone for help before the situation worsened for the 29 students and their 10 chaperones.

Emergency responders said it was the right call to make.

“If they stayed overnight, it probably would have been a much bigger issue of cold exposure and a much harder evacuation,” said Calgary EMS spokesman Stuart Brideaux.

“It looked to us like they made a proactive decision to leave while they could.”

In total, it took rescuers nine trips using SUVs and quads to shuttle the drenched students and their gear from the backcountry site nine kilometres from the nearest major trail.

A few campers were treated for mild hypothermia and taken to a nearby ranger station before being transported by bus to a Cochrane hotel. They returned to Edmonton Thursday.

Edmonton Public Schools spokeswoman Dajana Fabjanovich said the school has offered an outdoor education camping trip to students for decades without incident.

The group was supposed to stay in Kananaskis for three days and was well-equipped with appropriate gear and clothing, she said.

Nobody expected such intense rainfall. “The kids were well-dressed, they were fine. But the weather changed so drastically and the teacher felt there was no point in proving to anyone they could do it.”

But some suggest the youths could have been better prepared for the region’s unpredictable mountain weather.

“Some of the girls were dressed in Lululemon yoga pants and tank tops,” said Rob Evans, a public information officer for the Redwood Meadows fire department. “They were miserable.” It’s unusual to evacuate such a large group but it does happen when nature throws well- intentioned campers a curve ball, said public safety specialist Mike Koppang.

With more rain and snow expected in K-Country over the next few days, he’s urging people to take every possible precaution, especially in the backcountry. “Make sure you check the weather. Hope for the best and plan for the worst,” Koppang said.

Heavy precipitation means creeks will begin to swell and rise, turning calm waters into raging rivers, he noted.