Emergency crews join forces to rescue injured and stranded rock climbers

Close to 50 emergency personnel were involved in the rescue of two hikers in Peachland Monday night.

Two men were hiking the popular Pincushion Mountain trail, and on the return trip they decided to take a short cut down the front face of the mountain.

The men, aged 28 and 29, started to climb down when one of them fell several meters and struck his head.

The other man reached the same point, but was unable to climb either up or down from that ledge and called for help.

Emergency crews arrived to evacuate the injured man and transferred him by ambulance to hospital. They combined teams then spent the next five hours extracting the other male from the ledge.

Just under 50 emergency personnel from Central Okanagan Search and Rescue, the West Kelowna Fire Rescue technical rescue team, Peachland Fire department, Penticton Search and Rescue and Oliver/Osoyoos Search and Rescue attended the call.

The West Kelowna technical rescue team was able to reach the man with the support of the other agencies.

He was lowered from his position just before 11 p.m. and checked out by ambulance paramedics before heading home.

COSAR Search Manager Duane Tresnich stated it was the combined effort and incredible team work that made this difficult rescue possible with a very positive outcome.

“The male was in a position that was not easy to get to and with darkness setting in it made the job extremely difficult. One aspect in our favor was the fact there was a full moon and a clear sky which helped,” Tresnich stated.

Rescue of rock climbers on Pincushion Mountain in Peachland. (Submitted photo/COSAR)