Crews in North Vancouver, B.C., were able to rescue a German tourist on Grouse Mountain early Sunday, after the 68-year-old used a flashlight to attract a passing helicopter's attention.
The man was hiking the popular mountain on Saturday when he became lost.
Crews say a call for help came in just before 8 p.m., but they weren't able to pinpoint the hiker's location until a rescue helicopter spotted a light shining from the mountain.
"He had a light, which shone up, so that … we were able to get a GPS coordinate," North Shore Rescue Search Manager Peter Haigh said. "Otherwise we would have been looking all night for him."
Even after spotting the light, it took crews three hours to reach the man.
Rescuers rapelled down a 70-metre cliff and climbed up a waterfall to get to the tourist. And once they made contact, they had to get him out.
"They had to descend that waterfall and then they had two rope lengths to get up out of the canyon to get back on the trail," Haigh said.
When he finally reached safety early Sunday morning, Haigh said the tourist was "very exhausted."
North Shore Rescue volunteers had also rescued two other hikers on Saturday.
A woman hiking in West Vancouver, B.C., got stranded when her dog became injured. A volunteer had to carry the canine out of the woods on his back.
In a separate incident, a woman hiking in Lions Bay, B.C., injured her ankle. Crews flew her off the mountain using a helicopter.
With files from CTV Vancouver
