North Shore rescuers spend night on Crown Mountain after saving hiker

A team of North Shore Rescue membersspent the night on Crown Mountain after rescuing a solo hiker who was severely injured in a fall on Monday.

Thehiker tumbledat least five metres after he lost his grip on a rope near the summit, north of Grouse Mountain, around 7:30 p.m. PT.

Another hiker heard his call for help and phoned 911.

North Shore Rescue (NSR) leader MikeDankssaid a team of rescuers and two physiciansscrambled to get up the mountain.

Theyfound the 50-year-old hiker with "severe" injuries and decided he couldn't wait until first light for an airlift.

NSRdoesn't currently have a helicopter equipped for night flight, so the team called themilitary forhelp.

The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Comox sent its Cormorant helicopter and the hiker was hoisted off the mountain around 12:45 a.m. PT.

Crew spent night on mountain

Meanwhile, five NSR members settled in for a night on the mountain. An NSR helicopter airlifted the group back down at first light on Tuesday.

Dankssaid it's not often they call themilitary for help with a rescue, nor to have a team stayout overnight.

"It was quite a call," he said over the phone on Tuesday morning.

"We did everything we could just to optimize patient care and getting [the hiker] hoisted out last night was the right call."

Danks said the hiker was lucky someone came across him after he fell, and reiteratedthe importance of hiking with a partner.

"Would he have survived the night? Not likely. Would someone have found him this morning? Probably not," the team leadersaid.

"It comes down to making sure you're with someone, letting someone know where you're going ... these things do happen."

With files from Zahra Premji

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