This Emergency Rescuer in Canada Is Tired of Saving Dumb Hikers

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A emergency rescuer in British Columbia penned a blog post yesterday in which he called out ill-equipped hikers who keep getting stranded in frigid temperatures because they're dressed in summer clothing.

John Blown, a member of BC's North Shore Rescue team, wrote on the team's website about how hikers need to better prepare themselves before going hiking on a freezing mountain.

"OK Vancouver hikers—we need to have a talk—it is winter in the mountains, and apparently most people do not know this," reads the post, entitled "IT'S NOT SUMMER!"

"Last year at this time a hiker fell on the way to 3rd Pump on Seymour and sustained a broken neck, brain swelling, broken arm, and broken ribs causing a pneumothorax and a collapsed lung—he was in rough shape and had we not been able to get him out very quickly he could have died. This area is not a walk in the park."

So far this year, the North Shore team has received 128 rescue calls to the mountain in question, Mt. Seymour, up from just 78 at the same time last year.

The blog post goes onto urge incoming hikers to prepare for the trek up the mountainside with stuff that can help them survive, such as warm clothing, food and water, survival tools, and, maybe most obviously, hiking boots.

According to Blown, however, would-be hikers have been totally blowing it.

Blown described the general attire of new hikers to the CBC as extremely unprepared. Just yesterday, Blown said he saw "hundreds" of people trying to climb the mountain in sneakers and/or street shoes, many of which were made of leather or had no treads (gotta look fresh if you freeze to death).

Blown also describes attending to situations that range from laughable to potentially dangerous, such as directing a hiker back to a parking lot and running into hikers with no gloves, hats, or backpacks.

"We're feeling a bit frustrated and we're asking ourselves… what else can we do?" he told the CBC.

Closing the post on a hopeful note, Blown said he hopes that idiots will stop hiking up dangerous mountains.

"We would really prefer that our call stats do not increase for the year—we don't need any more searches, medical rescues, or fatalities," he wrote.

Photo via Flickr user North Shore Rescue

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