BASE jumper rescued safely by Squamish SAR

The incident occurred in the evening on July 13 and saw a multi-jurisdictional response by Squamish Search and Rescue and North Shore Rescue.

Squamish Search and Rescue (SAR) responded to a callout for a stranded BASE jumper from Slhanay Mountain on Monday, July 13. Squamish SAR member Christy Allan told The Squamish Chief the call came in after two previous responses on the same day. “A late-night callout after two other calls yesterday had our team working high above Valleycliffe as a small team of rope rescue technicians was inserted by helicopter onto the Slhanay to rescue a stranded BASE jumper,” she wrote.

A crew of 25 members responded, plus mutual aid volunteers from North Shore Rescue, she said. “Using a helicopter hoist, North Shore Rescue inserted our technicians into steep terrain where they along with a team that hiked up were able to safely reach the subject, build a technical rope rescue system, and lower them to a location where they could be extracted.” The helicopter was spotted near the Stawamus Chief around 10:30 p.m. last night by nearby residents who contacted The Squamish Chief.

The rescue was complete by 2:30 a.m., and Squamish SAR says the stranded jumper was kept safe thanks to a friend on the scene who secured their parachute, aiding their safety as rescue crews worked to reach them. Allan said the subject luckily walked away with “only minor scratches” and didn’t need further medical aid. “Many Valleycliffe residents noticed the helicopter activity overnight.

While it may have looked unusual from below, the operation was unfolding exactly as planned as multiple agencies worked together to safely complete a highly technical rescue,” Allan wrote. “A huge thank you to North Shore Rescue and the flight crew for another outstanding partnership, and to everyone involved in bringing this rescue to a safe conclusion.” The Monday night rescue was the sixth response between Friday and Monday, according to Allan.