Rescuers built snow caves in the back country of Strathcona Provincial Park overnight Sunday so they could stay with an injured snowboarder until she could be flown out. The injured woman was taken out by helicopter about 10:30 a.m. Monday and transported to a waiting ambulance.
Her male companion was not injured.
The rescue effort began when Comox Valley Search and Rescue was paged around 3:30 p.m. Sunday about a snowboarder who had been hurt on Mount Allan Brooks, near Lake Helen Mackenzie.
About 15 search and rescue team members worked through the afternoon Sunday in heavy snow, by snowmobile and by ski, to try to reach the couple, spokesperson Paul Berry said Monday from the rescue site.
A group of four rescuers finally got to the couple about 1:30 a.m. Monday, and built two snow caves to shelter overnight, Berry said.
“It’s not unusual to have to spend the night when conditions don’t allow you to do anything else.”
Other search and rescue team members had important tasks, including trying to break trails with their snowmobiles, he said.
The rescue was the second on the weekend for the Comox Valley rescue volunteers, who were also called out on Saturday afternoon to help an injured snowmobiler near Mount Washington, Berry said.
Due to a high avalanche-danger warning in the area, they had to get an assessment from an avalanche safety officer before proceeding.
Two males had been “high marking” — trying to get their snowmobiles as high up a slope as possible — when one fell and hurt his shoulder, Berry said.
High marking can be risky depending on conditions and where it is done, he said.
The victim was taken by helicopter to an ambulance waiting at the Courtenay Airpark.
