Search and rescue, police save man in deep crevasse on Little Mountain

A woman called 911 Thursday morning to say she heard someone calling for help on the top of Little Mountain in Parksville.

Oceanside RCMP Const. Dave Kokesch responded, and eventually he found an injured man down a deep crevasse.

“It was a little bit of a foggy morning and we decided just to walk down the side and explore a little bit more of the mountain. Luckily at that time the person let out a groan and we discovered him,” said Kokesch.

The man, who is in his 30s and is from the Parksville area, had fallen down a 20-metre deep by half-metre wide crevasse in the dark Wednesday night, possibly breaking both ankles and suffering other internal injuries.

However, the man was wearing a motorcycle helmet, which might have prevented serious head injuries.

“The person was able to verbalize that he was OK and that he possibly had some injuries obviously from the fall but he was alert and conscious,” added Kokesch.

“There looked to be quite a bit of swelling around the knees and quite a bit of tenderness and potential broken ankles,” said Nick Rivers, search manager with Arrowsmith Search and Rescue. “He was in a fair amount of pain but he did an amazing job for the pain and where he was.”

The man even managed to start a small fire in the bottom of the crevasse to keep warm until he was found Thursday morning.

That’s when search and rescue crews jumped into action to begin a very technical rescue in the same crack in the earth they’ve trained in before.

“So we were able to scoop the stretcher in and then he, fortunately, was able to help us out and get himself into it,” said Rivers. “It was very challenging when you can’t get to either side of the stretcher, just working from front and back. It was probably the most technical patient packaging we’ve ever had to do.”

The man was taken to Nanaimo Regional General Hospital where he is expected to make a full recovery.

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