Crews with North Shore Rescue pulled five cold hikers to safety when they got lost in the mountains on Family Day.
The group of five men in their twenties had set out for Lynn Peak, about 1,000 metres elevation, on the cold, wet, and blustery day. They got turned around near the summit, according to search manager Dave Barnett.
They called for help around 7:30 pm, and two crews with North Shore Rescue started hiking up to them. By the time rescuers reached the group, two of the men had slid down a steep slope and were trapped — it was too steep to get up and too steep to go down.
All five hikers were cold, but two showed signs of hypothermia. That’s when NSR decided to call in a helicopter for help.
After the two stuck hikers were hoisted out of the steep drop with ropes, they were extracted with the helicopter. The remaining three hikers were given additional warm gear and hiked down with the nine rescuers.
A map of the South Needle route near Lynn Peak. (AllTrails)
By 4 am, all five hikers were down the mountain and safe.
“They were prepared for a short, couple-hour jaunt — which was maybe their intention. But going up later in the afternoon in winter conditions, people should be prepared to spend the night. And that’s a whole different game,” Barnett said.