A skier who broke his leg on the Kootenay Pass on Saturday was lucky that a local search and rescue team happened to already be in the area.
South Columbia Search and Rescue president Mike Hudson says their winter response team was honing their skills and techniques for avalanche rescue and terrain navigation when the practice turned into a real rescue.
“They realized something was wrong when police and ambulance crews arrived,” Hudson said. “While asking if they could assist, we were also called on the situation from the emergency coordination centre. This on location resource proved to be a perfect asset to this response as other resources were arriving to help with the rescue.”
Creston, Nelson, Castlegar, and South Columbia Search and Rescue all responded with teams going in on sled, on foot, and by helicopter to locate and extract the injured man.
In a separate incident Friday afternoon, South Columbia Search was called to look for two men overdue from an ATV trip. However, they turned up safe while the search team was still gathering details.