The 33-year-old climber who died on Squamish's Stawamus Chief Saturday went into medical distress after a difficult search and rescue extraction, RCMP say.
Squamish RCMP say they were called at around 11:30 a.m. Saturday after someone saw that a group's lead climber had fallen while on the Angel's Crest, which is on mountain's north face.
"I heard somebody yelling 'Help,' but we were high on the other route so we couldn’t help but someone else got to them and called for the chopper," said June Le, who was climbing nearby.
Squamish RCMP, Squamish Search and Rescue and Squamish BC Ambulance all went to the area and found the climber 200 to 300 feet up the face of the rock. His location required a highly skilled rescue team, Mounties say.
"This was one of the more challenging calls that we've had to do – it's an area that you can't just walk to or drive to," Said John Wilcox with Squamish SAR.
Sgt. Sascha Banks in a news release said the man died after the rescue.
"The climbing community in Squamish is a very close and I know it will be a hard loss for everyone. Our thoughts go out to not only the man's friends and family but to the Squamish SAR team who worked tirelessly to help him."
Police say this is the second climber to die on the Stawamus Chief in the last six weeks and the third call to Squamish SAR for climbers in distress over the past three days. They added they're working to get "safe adventuring messaging" out to the local climbing community.
"My heart is broken. When these things happen in our community we feel it — especially for our climbing community," said Squamish mayor Karen Elliott.
"This was a local man so there is going to be a lot of people grieving today."
The BC Coroners Service has taken over the investigation and anyone with information is asked to contact Squamish RCMP at 604-892-6100.
With files from CTV News Vancouver's Emad Agahi
