Ridge Meadows SAR helps man out of woods after ATV crash
A 51-year-old crashed down a 10-metre embankment near Alouette Lake Dam
Ridge Meadows Search and Rescue (SAR) helped haul a 51-year-old man to safety, after he crashed an all terrain vehicle (ATV) down a steep embankment and broke a leg on Saturday.
Search Manager Rick Laing said 14 volunteers were called out, after the ATV rider was reported overdue to RCMP around 8 p.m. PT.
The man was reportedly riding quads with some friends in the area around Alouette Lake, north of Maple Ridge, B.C., but then went off on his own. Laing said he believes this was the man's first time riding an ATV.
"I guess he got distracted for a second, a wheel caught the side of the road, and he tumbled down a slope," said Laing, adding that the crash happened around 3 p.m.
Laing said the man's friends were able to find him on a B.C. Hydro access road, just as volunteers got to the area around 9 p.m. He said the man didn't appear to have a cell phone with him.
The SAR volunteers used their technical climbing experience to get the man up onto the road, and into an ambulance.
"It involved setting up a rope system, attaching him in a stretcher, [and] setting hauling system. It didn't involve just loading him on a stretcher and carrying him out out," said Laing.
Should have stayed with his friends: Search Manager
Laing said the man made a mistake by not staying with the group. He said it's lucky they were able to find him before searchers arrived, but they would have saved him much sooner if he wasn't alone at the time of the crash.
"I can't think of anything he did right," said Laing, adding that, at least, the man wasn't driving recklessly. "It was a real accident, it didn't sound like he was hot-rodding or anything."