Imagine a weekend mountain getaway with your friends. You spend two nights at an elevation of 9,500 feet soaking in the sunset, sunrise, and crisp mountain air. Sounds great, right?
Two climbers in Kananaskis Country had a similar experience, but it was anything but nice. The group were stranded on the northwest face of Mount Birdwood after their rope got stuck during their descent.
“They were rappelling, and during the rappel, their ropes became stuck. It was also getting fairly late at the time, so it was fairly dark, and the group just made the decision to sit tight,” Kananaskis Mountain Rescue specialist Mike Koppang told the Rocky Mountain Outlook.
The climbers’ unfortunate mishap happened over the weekend, which saw rain, lightning, extreme winds, snow, and freezing temperatures.
A weather station in nearby Bow Valley Provincial Park recorded 6.4 millimetres of precipitation and wind speeds as high as 20 kilometres per hour overnight.
The higher the elevation, the more intense the weather. Unfortunately for our climbers, they were stranded at more than double the elevation of the weather station, which is 4,200 feet.
Like birds on a wire, the pair were forced to brave the weather while still attached to their ropes. By a miracle, the climbers had one bar of cell service even though they were 9,500 feet in the mountain.
FUN FACT: the average person experiences altitude sickness around elevations above 8,000 feet. Altitude sickness happens when a person’s body has trouble adjusting to lower oxygen at high elevations. Symptoms of altitude sickness include headache, vomiting, insomnia, and reduced coordination.
With their limited service, the climbers alerted Kananaskis Mountain Rescue and notified their friends and family of what was happening.
Koppang responded to the alert with a rescue team on Saturday morning, but the rescue effort proved difficult due to bad weather.
The rescue team originally planned to airlift the climbers using a heli-sling method, in which rescuers use a sling to lift and extract stranded climbers.
The Alpine Helicopter rescue attempt was abandoned after strong winds and cloud cover made accessing and landing in the area too dangerous.
“We couldn’t see where the people were, but we knew what area they were in based on a GPS location off their phone. We weren’t able to access them, and because of the winds, we weren’t able to land close,” said Koppang.
Mountainside Walkabout
With a helicopter rescue out of the question, Koppang and his rescue team decided to climb on foot. They were dropped off via helicopter in the Burstall Pass region.
“We were able to ascend the ridge through technical terrain to reach the people that were still on their rope. That happened at about 4 o’clock with fairly strong winds and light snow while we were climbing,” explained Koppang.
When the rescue team arrived at the climbers, the pair were covered in snow, cold, and exhausted. The team lowered the climbers to a large ledge and treated them.
By the time the climbers were treated, the group realized they wouldn’t make it off the mountain before nightfall and would spend the night in a bothy bag.
Don’t worry. We didn’t misspell “body bag,” but it’s really called a bothy bag. A bothy bag is a lightweight, group emergency shelter that can be carried in a backpack and protects from the elements.
Four people, including the rescue team and the two climbers, spent the night in Mother Nature’s worst Airbnb.
“We did have a fairly good shelter that was able to get all four of us inside, and everyone sat on their backpacks. We had enough clothes to keep ourselves warm and extra clothes to give to the other people to get them to a more adequate temperature,“ said Koppang.
Koppang described the experience as unpleasant, but anyone else in his position would probably use more colourful language.
The next morning, the group was airlifted off the ridge and back towards Burstall Pass, where they were dropped off at the parking lot.
Alberta Health Services EMS checked the two climbers and ensured they were okay. Fortunately, everyone walked away from the incident unharmed, besides maybe a stiff back.
Scaling mountains isn’t the only dangerous outdoor activity. According to the RCMP, three people have died, and two more were injured hiking in Alberta this summer.
It doesn’t matter how experienced you are; it always pays to be prepared for the worst-case scenario like being stranded on a mountain for two nights.
