North Shore Rescue volunteers have pulled a man out of Lynn Canyon after he spent two nights in the elements.
North Vancouver RCMP requested the team’s help around 6:30 a.m. Thursday after a man called 911 to say he was somewhere on the banks of Lynn Creek. At the time, he had only one per cent battery life on his phone and rescuers lost contact before they could get his GPS co-ordinates.
“The weather was pretty bad. We really had no idea where in Lynn Creek he was,” said search manager Allan McMordie.
McMordie sent teams in on foot to begin searching Lynn Creek, which stretches many kilometres from the ocean up to Lynn Lake.
Around 10:30 a.m., a North Shore Rescue drone operator spotted the man standing shoeless at the base of a cliff about 250 metres south of the end of Ross Road.
North Shore Rescue’s drone is equipped with a speaker and microphone, which allowed rescuers to speak to the man.
“We got confirmation that this was the person we're looking for, that he was not able to move very well,” McMordie said.
Finding the man was one thing. Getting him out was another. Using ropes to get down the cliff would have taken many hours. Luckily the morning fog had cleared and the team was able to bring in a helicopter with a hoist.
But because of the depth of the canyon and the height of the trees alongside it, it took every foot of line from the helicopter’s winch to lower rescuers down to the subject, get him harnessed and get back out, McMordie said.
McMordie described the man has being “banged up but nothing broken.”
McMordie said the man had been visiting family on the North Shore and decided he wanted to spend a night by himself in the wilderness. He took a bus to Capilano University on Tuesday and walked to a secluded area.
“I think things went sideways probably sometime on Wednesday when he tried to cross the creek and lost his footwear … and then the weather turned bad and got wet,” he said. “He did have a very flimsy, light sleeping bag but nothing to protect him from the rain that came in.”
The drone work, which was done by a volunteer who was also part of the camera crew from the Search and Rescue: North Shore documentary series, was invaluable, McMordie said.
“It would have taken quite a while for us to find him, if we ever did. We could have been out all day and he would have spent another night. If it wasn't for the drone, this could have been a disaster,” he said.
It’s not the first time the team has found a missing person with a drone. The team has been using them since 2016 to search hard-to-reach areas. In November 2023, the team located a lost hiker on Mount Seymour with a drone’s thermal camera.
Things worked out OK for the man in Lynn Creek, McMordie said, but the incident underscores two safety messages North Shore Rescue is always pushing.
“Leave a trip plan. Let somebody know what your intentions are, where you're going,” he said. “And don't wait until you're down to one per cent battery on your cellphone to call for help.”
