A team of volunteers from Comox Valley Ground Search and Rescue helped a man who was stuck on a cliff ledge late Wednesday afternoon during a hike near Comox Lake.
Eighteen volunteers attended the scene, about a 10-minute walk from the Cumberland Campground.
“There’s a road that runs behind that area of Comox Lake,” said Marc Lyster, a rope team leader with CVGSAR. “He was on that road and then he got lost, so he cut through the bush towards the lake, not knowing there’s a bunch of cliffs along there. He came through the bush, and he slipped and slid down onto this ledge, which was 10 metres above the ground.”
It was too slippery for the man to clamber back up to where he was hiking.
So he yelled for help.
“Someone that was walking — I guess some tourists that were near the boat launch — heard him and called for help,” Lyster said. “Cumberland Fire went there, and then realized it was above their ability. They needed a rope team, and we are the rope team for the Valley.”
One of the SAR members climbed part way up and threw a rope to where the man was stuck, and passed gear to him. The team then helped him rappel to the ground.
The man, believed to be in his late-20s, was not hurt.
“He did the right thing by staying put and calling for help,” Lyster said. “It was good there was someone at the boat launch.”
