Pieter Kramer looked quite calm as he waited to be rescued from a treacherous canyon on the side of Burke Mountain.
The 58-year-old Campbell River man was rescued late Tuesday morning by Coquitlam Search and Rescue after spending three days lost in the wilderness after a Sunday fishing trip to Monroe Lake went wrong.
"I fished for a couple of hours then couldn't figure out the trails," he told reporters Monday evening.
His family called police and the rescue operation went into action at 9 o'clock Sunday night.
"We launched teams that night. I think we were on the ground by midnight and were up on the ridge, up and down all the trails," Al Hurley of Coquitlam Search and Rescue said.
But Kramer was lost without food, warm clothing, little water or even a flashlight. It was a cold sleepless night.
"'I don't have any food, I'm going to get weaker,'" Kramer said he thought to himself while waiting for rescue. "Weighing the odds, you know, is it better to do something risky to get out?"
On Monday, rescue crews scoured the mountain. Kramer said he could see the choppers, but couldn't get their attention.
Night fell and this time he found something which could have saved his life -- a camping site with part of a sleeping bag and a foam pad.
Then around 11:30 Tuesday morning, Kramer used the one tool he had to flag down a search and rescue helicopter -- his flash camera.
The next time a chopper flew by Kramer said he started hitting the shutter on his camera and flashing the helicopter. Rescuers in the helicopter saw the flashes and began the rescue operation.
Kramer was harnessed up and airlifted out of the canyon, strapped to a search and rescue member on a 200 foot line.
Once in hospital Kramer was found to have sustained only scrapes and bruises to his legs and torso.
