Image Credit: FACEBOOK/OliverOsoyoosSAR
January 21, 2023 - 10:17 AM
A helicopter flew into the South Okanagan from Vancouver to save a lost skier.
Oliver-Osoyoos Search and Rescue were alerted to the situation yesterday, Jan. 20 during the late afternoon, according to a Facebook post by the rescue team. Members were in contact with the lost skier, he gave them his general location and was asked him to remain where he was.
A team of four took two snowmobiles and a tracked quad to the area.
“With the cold temperatures and knowing that we might be dealing with a number of trees down on our access route due to the recent heavy snowfalls, a request was made to Emergency Coordination Centre to see if the night vision and winch equipped helicopter from Vancouver was available,” the post reads.
Responding to the request was Talon Helicopters and members of North Shore Rescue.
“The air crew located the subject in the area of the coordinates we had received, and inserted a member by winch to extract the missing skier.”
Mount Baldy’s parking lot was used as a landing zone, where “the helicopter dropped a very cold but very thankful skier off to reunite with his friends.”
The SAR team commended the skier for responding properly to the emergency.
“…as soon as he realized he was lost he called 911. He also stayed in his location until he was rescued. His friends also did the right thing by reporting him missing to the ski hill as soon as they realized he was not with them.”
The team also thanked the North Shore Rescue, Talon Helicopters, Mount Baldy Ski Patrol, and the Baldy locals who offered to help.
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