A hiker was rushed to hospital after falling off a ridge in Strathcona Provincial Park on Saturday.
The 42-year-old woman fell between 20 to 30 metres onto the rocks below at Augerpoint.
She was with a partner who called for help, triggering a large-scale effort with three helicopters.
Comox Valley Ground Search and Rescue said this rescue was particularly tough.
“It was pretty steep, we were on a slippery slope with loose rock and everything,” rescuer Sebastien Marcoux said. “The patient was in a basket stretcher when they arrived and they transported her lower down onto the slope where there was a flat surface where grizzly helicopter was able to load inside the helicopter.”
The chopper then flew the woman back to the airpark to an awaiting ambulance.
The injured hiker was taken to a hospital in Comox in serious condition, before being transferred to a Victoria hospital.
Crew members say the situation could have been much worse had the hikers not been so well equipped.
“Certainly they were well prepared, they issued both a spot distress beacon as well as an in-reach and then we were able to text via in-reach to communicate a little further with them,” search manager Paul Berry told CTV News.
