{"id":475,"date":"2021-01-23T04:50:19","date_gmt":"2021-01-23T04:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/?p=475"},"modified":"2021-01-23T04:50:20","modified_gmt":"2021-01-23T04:50:20","slug":"north-shore-rescue-sees-a-busy-winter-season-with-a-record-breaking-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/2021\/01\/23\/north-shore-rescue-sees-a-busy-winter-season-with-a-record-breaking-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"North Shore Rescue sees a busy winter season with a record-breaking 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>North Shore Rescue (NSR) broke their record in 2020 with 151 calls\u2013and it looks like there&#8217;s no sign of slowing down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The North Vancouver-based search and rescue team&#8217;s previous record was 144 calls in 2018, according to NSR member Mike Danks in a<a href=\"https:\/\/vancouversun.com\/news\/rising-mountain-mishaps-fuelled-by-pandemic-and-social-media?utm_medium=Social&amp;utm_source=Facebook&amp;fbclid=IwAR2mCLfLNntLy2tT2CAJ5XGHfgQdBzsHcfD1FFgRXXtAL7MFARvlf6zaA-4#Echobox=1611189222\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> Vancouver Sun article<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As of Jan. 17, NSR has responded to five calls this year, according to<a href=\"https:\/\/www2.gov.bc.ca\/gov\/content\/safety\/emergency-preparedness-response-recovery\/emergency-response-and-recovery\/incident-summaries\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> weekly incident reports<\/a> produced by Emergency Management BC Emergency Coordination Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Jan. 14, a 21-year-old snowshoer named Nikki Donnelly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/british-columbia\/missing-snowshower-st-marks-north-shore-rescue-1.5874655\">died on Cypress Mountain<\/a> after getting lost on her way down from the popular St. Marks Summit trail the night before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NSR and six other local search teams responded to the call around 5 p.m., according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NorthShoreRescue\/posts\/10158627243691351\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NSR Facebook post<\/a>. The crews searched for Donnelly all night, but were unable to locate her using night-vision goggles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FNorthShoreRescue%2Fposts%2F10158628169306351&#038;width=500&#038;show_text=true&#038;height=702&#038;appId\" width=\"500\" height=\"702\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>In a <a href=\"http:\/\/bc.rcmp-grc.gc.ca\/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=2130&amp;languageId=1&amp;contentId=67932\">news release<\/a> on Donnelly&#8217;s death, Squamish RCMP Sgt. Sascha Banks wrote &#8220;We have seen far too much tragedy already in the Sea to Sky Corridor this year. Please know this: if you are in the backcountry and need help, stop and call 911, ourselves and our very experienced search teams will do everything we can to find you.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Banks urged those venturing to the mountains to &#8220;research your area, take all the equipment you need, know your skill level, follow weather patterns, know&nbsp;snow conditions,&nbsp;and have a trip plan.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Donnelly&#8217;s death highlights the NSR and other outdoor safety awareness group&#8217;s urges to be prepared and check conditions when venturing into the mountains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In late December, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/bc.ctvnews.ca\/your-life-is-not-worth-that-day-of-powder-skiing-officials-warn-of-severe-avalanche-risk-1.5251478\" target=\"_blank\">avalanche risk in Vancouver&#8217;s coastal mountains was high<\/a> in the alpine altitude, with frequent avalanches in the Whistler and Pemberton regions just north of Vancouver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/503565986\">Jan. 21 Avalanche Canada webinar<\/a> on avalanche safety, AJ Maheu, a volunteer with NSR said that assessing avalanche risk and making smart decisions is key in preventing avalanche rescues. Falling back onto SAR teams, he said, is &#8220;definitely not a good risk management strategy.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a difference between blissful ignorance and calculated risk,&#8221; said Maheu. &#8220;There&#8217;s really on so much SAR can do to to help the helpless.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.slices.co\/stories\/-MREbFgPerIqiq8F4oWS\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>North Shore Rescue (NSR) broke their record in 2020 with 151 calls\u2013and it looks like there&#8217;s no sign of slowing down. The North Vancouver-based search and rescue team&#8217;s previous record was 144 calls in 2018, according to NSR member Mike Danks in a Vancouver Sun article. As of Jan. 17, NSR has responded to five [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":263,"featured_media":477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/263"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}