Under pounding rain and hail, Langford firefighters rescued a 73-year-old man who fell about five metres while hiking on Mt. Finlayson last Friday.
The man fell before noon on the rocky, exposed section of the main trail up the mountain. He suffered a cut head and broken bones, and was still recovering in hospital on Tuesday, firefighters said.
Langford Fire Rescue’s high-angle rescue crew entered the park through the first tee at the Bear Mountain golf course, and used ATVs to shuttle in supplies and personnel as close to the incident scene as possible.
B.C. Ambulance paramedics and firefighters used a basket stretcher to haul the man down the steep and difficult terrain under weather that started sunny, but turned bad.
“It was some of the worst weather I’d ever seen up there,” Aubrey said. “It started sunny, but then it was hailing and down pouring rain.”
Rescuers put sunglasses on the victim to protect his eyes from hail and were forced to use lines to lower the basket down slippery rocks. It took about two hours to get him off the mountain.