It may seem obvious, but public safety specialists are reminding backcountry users that with October nearing, the sun is setting earlier each night.
Last weekend, a number of hikers were reported overdue and several reports were due to those people being out after sunset, said Kananaskis Public Safety Specialist Burke Duncan.
In all cases the hikers did turn up, said Duncan, but on Thursday (Sept. 22) a pair of climbers spent the night about halfway up Yamnuska’s face, due to en equipment malfunction and quickly falling darkness.
Duncan said the pair were able to call for help, but with the call coming at 7:40 p.m., sunset that night, safety specialists were unable to fly into the site to aid the pair.
“They were retreating off Bottleneck and rappelling down when their rope got stuck. It was too late for us to do anything, but we were in cellphone contact and knew they weren’t injured.
“But with their rope stuck, they couldn’t continue down, and they didn’t want to chance climbing up in the dark to see what their rope was stuck on.”
In the early morning, two pairs of specialists were slung in by helicopter to assist the climbers. The day was so windy, though, that flying had to be shut down, so four or five hiked up to the location. One at a time, safety specialists made it to the climbers and assisted the climbers to the bottom of the rock face.
The pair had suitable clothing to spend the night, said Duncan, and it helped that even at sunrise on Friday, the temperature was an unseasonable 18 C.
Because strong winds continued through the weekend, Duncan said the crews weren’t able to retrieve all their gear by helicopter until Tuesday (Sept. 27). “It was all there and no squirrels got into the rope bags to gnaw on them.”
In other safety specialist news, the search for missing hiker Kevin Kennedy, a 59-year-old Australian who went missing on Aug. 21 is in a ‘limited continuous search phase’, said Duncan.
Kennedy has been missing in the Highwood Pass area since his wife dropped him off on Aug. 21 for a solo hike in the Pocaterra Cirque/Grizzly Col area off Highway 40.
The search for Kennedy originally included many helicopter flights and rescue personnel, including conservation officers and search and rescue volunteers on foot.
A month later, though, said Duncan, searching has been reduced. A fairly recent tip, though, will have searchers heading back to the Mt. Tyrwhitt area.
“We know a lone person went up there,” said Duncan, “and there is a new scree deposit there. But again, it’s been too windy to fly in there.”
Mt. Tyrwhitt is in the general area where Kennedy disappeared.
“Short of flooding the area with people to look behind every single tree, all we can do is continue with a limited search,” said Duncan. “Nobody has the resources to do that.”
