A climber in serious trouble, balancing unroped and alone on a thin ledge at night, was rescued from the Stawamus Chief Mountain in Squamish, British Columbia, Canada, by an innovative method. Two cargo drones flew to him. One carried a rope that the climber used to descend, while a second lit the route for him.
The Squamish Search and Rescue (SAR) received an SOS call on Wednesday night from a climber who was stranded 77m above the ground on the Alaska Highway route, secured to an anchor but with no rope. Alaska Highway (5.11+) is 176m long, and its five pitches are usually described as an “imposing, strenuous system of overhanging corners, cracks, and chimneys,” according to the American Alpine Club. It also includes overhanging sections.
In the middle of the night, with a high risk of falling rocks, the rescue services used drones as a safer alternative for both rescuers and the stranded climber.
Two drones
The rescuers sent two drones. One lit up the wall with a powerful lamp, and filmed the climber at all times so the rescuers could follow his movements. A second drone carried both a jacket to keep the climber warm and a messenger line — a super lightweight cord that the stranded climber used to pull a proper climbing rope from the ground. Then he rappelled down by his own means.
The drone team has been part of Squamish SAR and has been training hard for this type of situation, but this was their first major rescue, and it was a total success.
The Stawamus Chief, usually known as The Chief, is one of the largest granite domes in the world. A true climbing mecca, it features hundreds of routes of all types of difficulty, style, and length, from bouldering problems to trad lines up to 700m long. Read more on MountainProject.
But why?
What reports don’t explain is why that guy was without a rope in the middle of the face. We do know that the stranded person was not solo climbing.
“The climber had a mishap with his climbing partner and ended up without a rope, stranded against the wall of The Chief,” SAR drone operator Dustin Wales told CTV News. (Check the video below.)
