Cal Nairne intended to just take a “little ski” up Hollyburn Mountain Sunday, but got more than he bargained for when he ventured out of bounds.
The 42-year-old said he got some bad information from other skiers about how to get to Cypress Mountain along a ridgeline, and found himself lost and disoriented.
“I got down a little ways… and got kind of like, this doesn’t look right at all,” he said. “I was apparently very turned around.”
Carrying a full backpack of water and emergency beacons, Nairne started trudging up the snow. He called his wife around 1:30 p.m. and again at 3:30 p.m. and advised her to “take the next step” if he didn’t call her back in a certain amount of time. She ended up calling police, who alerted North Shore Rescue.
Nairne found trail markings leading to the Trojan Horse, one of 10 emergency caches in the area stocked with emergency supplies. He stripped off his wet clothes, had some hot soup, and “settled in for the night to see what would happen.”
Soon after, members of North Shore Rescue found him. They helped him out of the woods, making it back out around 1 a.m. Monday.
“I feel horrible and embarrassed they had to do that,” Nairne said, adding that he’s learned a valuable lesson and plans to make a donation to the rescue group.
“These mountains are dangerous and they have lots of scary, dangerous drainages and if you’re not sure where you’re going it’s a big problem.”
Search Manager Peter Haigh said the lost skier is lucky to be alive, because he was found in a high avalanche risk area.
“He was in very gnarly terrain -- terrain that has taken lives before,” he said. “He probably wouldn’t have lasted the night.”
