Injured trail runner rescued after spending night on Mount Harvey

Trail runner rescued from mountains near Lions Bay A man in his 20s was rescued from the mountains near Lions Bay, B.C. Monday after spending a cold night outside.

A man in his 20s was rescued from the mountains near Lions Bay, B.C. Monday after spending a cold night outside.

According to Lions Bay Search and Rescue, the man fell onto some sharp rocks while trail running on Mount Harvey with his girlfriend Sunday.

“He's had a bit of a rough night. He's got a leg injury, potential spinal injury and he had to stay out overnight,” said search manager Brent Calkin. “That's not super fun.”

Crews tried to use a long line to reach the man on Sunday evening, but ran out of daylight and couldn’t perform the rescue, leaving the runner stranded on the mountain.

Five rescuers set up camp and spent the night with the injured man.

The runner, who has not been identified, was only wearing light clothing and was suffering from hypothermia when crews reached him.

“We had five members go in with a camp kit and the hypothermia kits so we could stabilize him overnight and basically camp out overnight with him," Calkin said.

Members of the overnight crew were told to assess the man’s condition and decide if he was fit to spend the night outside. Lions Bay SAR was considering calling in extra support from the military, but decided to wait until Monday morning.

“He was in a fair bit of pain when we got to him and we stabilized him got and him warmed up,” Calkin said.

The complex rescue operation involved nearly a dozen volunteers from Lions Bay Search and Rescue and a long-line team from North Shore Rescue.

On Monday, NSR posted helmet camera footage of the dramatic rescue online that showed crew members landing in the woods, safely attaching the man to a long line and airlifting him away off the mountain.

Rescuers are using the incident as an opportunity to remind people that the weather is changing rapidly, especially in the mountains, and anyone heading into the backcountry should be prepared in case of an emergency.

"We're going to have our first snows in the mountains coming fairly soon and people who are out there trail running in shorts and T-shirts are not wearing enough,” Calkin said.

With files from CTV Vancouver’s Nafeesa Karim and Shannon Paterson