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Cold and hungry woman rescued from Comox Lake

A Victoria woman who was camping near Cumberland had to be rescued after an afternoon hike went wrong on Saturday. (Comox Valley Search and Rescue) A Victoria woman who was camping near Cumberland had to be rescued after an afternoon hike went wrong on Saturday. (Comox Valley Search and Rescue)
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Courtenay, B.C. -

A Victoria woman who was camping near Cumberland had to be rescued after an afternoon hike went wrong on Saturday.

The woman called for assistance after deciding to take a stroll in the area around Comox and getting disoriented off a trail. She found herself stuck early in the evening.

According to Comox Valley Search and Rescue manager Paul Berry, rescuers were able to call the woman on her cell phone and determine that she was on some cliff bands above Comox Lake, approximately one kilometer past the Cumberland campground.

“She ended up bum-sliding down some pretty steep terrain, so in the end that she couldn’t go any further,” Berry said. “She was up at a pretty good elevation, it wasn’t an area that was easily accessible so we put teams both up on the water try and locate her and another ground team as well coming from above.”

Berry said the woman the woman apparently only had the clothes she was wearing, but fortunately did have a cell phone and used her light on the phone to signal to rescuers. He said she made the right decision in staying put and calling for help.

He said the best advice, though, is to make sure you go hiking with someone who knows the area if you can, and certainly to go with someone else, no matter what.

Berry said the team made the decision to climb up to reach her rather than the longer rappel down.

“It was going to be a long traverse to locate her from above and we were able to see her quite easily from the water, so we put two teams ashore (and) they up-climbed,” Berry said. “They put her in a harness and belayed her down a very steep terrain.”

He said the woman was cold and hungry but uninjured but otherwise none the worse for her adventure.  

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