A triathlete training on Eagle Ridge, who had to be hauled out by helicopter after getting lost Sunday, has made a generous donation to Coquitlam Search and Rescue.
SAR search manager Ray Nordstrand said a 53-year-old man called RCMP from his cellphone during the noon hour saying he was lost. SAR was able to text the man to activate the phone’s GPS. Nordstrand said the man was almost a kilometre off the trail in an area near where a 16-year-old boy fell off a waterfall and died in June.
Some rescuers hiked in from different directions while a helicopter was also brought in to search for him. Nordstrand said rescuers were getting close when the battery in the man’s phone died at an inopportune time. It gave out when he tried to activate the flashlight on it to allow rescuers to spot him extending the time it took to finally spot him. Nordstrom said one of the essentials back country hikers should carry is a battery backup for their cellphones.
Coquitlam SAR used its Human External Cargo System to dangle a rope between the trees and pull him out about 4:30 p.m.
Nordstrand said the man was going north to south along the trail and thought he was near the Lindsay Loop part of the trail and could turn around, but he “wasn’t anywhere near the loop” when he turned off and was still far north of where the loop was. Nordstrand said by the time they got to him he was getting cold because of the sweat he’d built up on the hike and he’d been bitten by bugs.
Nordstrom told the Tri-City News on Tuesday he had just seen a donation had been made by the man to the Coquitlam SAR, but wouldn’t say how much.
“It’s a nice size of an amount. We’re quite appreciative of his generosity,” said Nordstrand.
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