Outdoor safety urged after woman rescued at Comox Lake

Search-and-rescue personnel are warning about the dangers of heading into unknown areas after a Victoria woman had to be helped in darkness from a steep slope above Comox Lake near Cumberland on Saturday.

The woman was at a campground when she decided to follow a trail in the late afternoon, said Paul Berry, president of Comox Valley Ground Search and Rescue.

“She really went for a walk like someone going out the back door of their house, unprepared to be in a wilderness environment,” he said. “She had the coat on her back, running shoes and a cellphone, nothing else.”

The trail reaches considerable elevation.

“It goes uphill from the campsite toward a climbing area known as Devil’s Ladder,” Berry said.

“She continued on past that, where the trail really peters out to nothing, and became disoriented at that point.”

The woman moved around trying to figure out where she was, before deciding her best course of action would be to make her way down to the lake and go back along the shore to the campground.

But she wasn’t aware of how steep the terrain is, with a drop-off into the water, Berry said. “After a while she ended up taking a couple of pretty significant slides.”

It was 10:30 p.m. when she decided she couldn’t continue and called for help on her cellphone.

Berry said some of the rescuers were tasked to a boat so they could look for the woman from the lake. She used the light from her cellphone and the flash from her camera to signal where she was.

Ground crews were then directed to her, got her into a rescue harness and brought her to safety.

The woman wasn’t badly hurt, Berry said, with minor scrapes and bruises from sliding down the hill.

He said it’s important to follow basic safety measures — like being familiar with the area you choose to hike or partnering up with someone who does.

Layered clothing, proper footwear and water are also important, along with having a check-in person who knows your expected return time and the route you plan to take.

Berry recommended the website adventuresmart.ca for tips on staying safe in the outdoors. AdventureSmart is a national program aimed at reducing search-andrescue situations across the country.