Two Metro Vancouver cliff rescues kept emergency crews on their toes Wednesday night.
The first, in Abbotsford, saw a 14-year-old boy fall almost 12 metres down a cliff.
The teen was hiking with his cousin in what police call a very dangerous section of Sumas Mountain. His companion also fell, but managed to make his way off the mountain to get help. The second youth led rescue workers back to the injured teen.
The boy was still unconscious when discovered by rescue crews, says Cst. Casey Vinet of the Abbotsford Police.
"There is a 35 to 40 foot rock wall near where he fell. It's unclear if that's where it happened, or how he fell."
The youth was airlifted to Vancouver-area hospital with serious injuries.
In Vancouver, rescue crews sprang into action after two young men took a tumble into a patch of brambles off a steep trail near the University of British Columbia.
Fire officials believe the group was either climbing up or down one of the trails leading to Wreck Beach early Thursday when they fell about 10 metres.
"Two of them fell off one of the steeper parts of the trail and fell into the brambles and blackberry bushes and the like," Battalion Chief Jeff Dighton told CTV News.
A technical team climbed down the trail to meet the bruised and battered duo, who were accompanied by a third uninjured man.
One of the hikers had lost his shoe so a police officer made him replacement footwear out of his safety vest.
The pair was eventually lowered down to the beach, where a Coast Guard hovercraft transported the men to waiting ambulances.
The injuries are limited to cuts and bruises. Dighton said some interesting obstacles made it a difficult rescue.
"The dark the steep and the blackberries and that's about it," Dighton said.
"I imagine my guys will be as beat up and bruised as the hikers will be."
