Volunteer search and rescue teams and firefighters brought rope rescue skills to the Nanaimo River to retrieve an injured rock climber on the weekend.
Rescuers responded to the area known as the Sunny Side, a popular rock climbing area on the Nanaimo River south of Nanaimo after a woman suffered a knee injury in a climbingaccident shortly before 5 p.m. Sunday.
“It was a 24-year-old rock climber,” said Carly Trobridge, president of Nanaimo Search and Rescue. “She’d been belaying her climbing partner and he took a fall, so she was shot forward into the rocks in front of her and suffered quite a severe knee injury.”
The woman’s climbing partner called 911, which dispatched B.C. Ambulance paramedics who in turn called for assistance from Nanaimo Search and Rescue. Members from Ladysmith and Arrowsmith search and rescue teams responded as well, along with Extension Volunteer Fire Department firefighters who have specialized rope rescue skill, totalling about 20 rescuers who responded.
The injured woman was in an area below the Sunny Side known among climbers as the Lower Deck.
“The terrain was too hazardous to complete a stretcher carry from the bottom of the area that she was located in, so we actually carried the stretcher down to her and then set up a dual rope system to haul her in the stretcher up to the top,” Trobridge said. “It was about a 200-foot rock face or cliff that she was hauled up in a stretcher.”
The total operation took about four and a half hours to complete, but Trobridge said the victim and her climbing partner were well prepared for an emergency with adequate clothing and supplies.
“She was warm and safe while they were waiting for us to access the area,” Trobridge said. “We don’t always see that. They were very well prepared, which was helpful to them and us in this case.”
Trobridge said Nanaimo Search and Rescue performs few such high-angle rescues. This is only the second or third performed in 2017, but it was the organization’s 40th callout this year, far exceeding the 25 calls for service the team receives on average annually.
Nanaimo Search and Rescue is raising money to help build a new hall for its operations and will host its inaugural Lost Soles Charity Fun Run Oct. 21, a Halloween-themed six kilometre run around Westwood Lake. The run features prizes sponsored by Westwood Lake Campground and the Running Room for the best male and female adult, senior and youth category run times. Register in advance at http://bit.ly/2yDJorC, or for more information, e-mail info@nanaimosar.bc.ca.
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