A still shot of the March 20, 2017 rescue taken from a video by Chris Collard.
Image Credit: Chris Collard
March 21, 2017 - 10:42 AM
VERNON - Two teens out looking for the perfect vantage point for a photo wound up with an aerial view after a helicopter was called in to rescue them from a cliff face.
The pair of 16-year-olds had climbed up onto a rock face overlooking Kalamalka Lake, above the Okanagan rail trail, on Monday afternoon, March 20, and couldn’t get back down.
Vernon Search and Rescue was called by police to retrieve the teens at about 3:30 p.m.
Leigh Pearson, with Vernon Search and Rescue, says the boys were roughly 60 feet above the rail trail on a rock face.
“Apparently they were taking photos and thought it would be a really nice vantage point on the rock face,” Pearson says. “It didn’t quite work out that way.”
Search and Rescue opted for a helicopter winch rescue because there was nowhere to attach anchors for a rope rescue above the cliff.
While the rescue may seem like overkill, Pearson says it was a good thing search and rescue was called. It was a long way down, and the teens were inexperienced climbers.
“They got a bit freaked out, I guess,” Pearson says. “They didn’t have anything, no ropes, nothing.”
After being winched up into the helicopter, the boys were flown to the Vernon airport, where they were picked up.
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