Injured skier on Vancouver Island rescued by Vancouver-based helicopter team

A woman who was injured while skiing on Mount Cain in northern Vancouver Island was rescued by a Vancouver-based helicopter crew and other first responders on Monday evening.

North Shore Rescue (NSR) was called to assist the Mt. Cain Ski Patrol and Campbell River Search and Rescue to help extract the injured skier.

NSR flew to the mountain with the Vancouver-based Talon Helicopters to pick up the woman. The team included the pilot, an ER physician, a hoist operator and two night-trained hoist technicians.

However, when the helicopter arrived, strong winds and thick clouds made it hard for the helicopter to land where the skier was located.

Instead, the helicopter landed at the parking lot of the mountain and waited for an opportunity to get to the injured skier, where the Mt. Cain Ski Patrol was already waiting with the woman.

(North Shore Rescue/Facebook)Once the weather cleared, the ski patrol contacted the NSR team to pick up the injured skier.

The NSR team decided to travel light because of the weather, removing all unnecessary equipment from the helicopter and only travelling to the site with one nighttime technician and the hoist operator.

(North Shore Rescue/Facebook)"[The] rescue tech and subject were extracted and brought back to Mt Cain parking where she was assessed by NSR’s ER physician and then handed off to BCEHS (BC Emergency Health Services)," wrote the North Shore Rescue team in a social media post Monday.

"Thank you to Mt Cain Ski Patrol, Mt Cain resort staff, Campbell River SAR, BCEHS, ECC, EMBC, and Talon Helicopters," the post continued.

(North Shore Rescue/Facebook)According to the NSR, Monday's incident was just the second time the team had launched a nighttime hoist rescue.