Image: Chilliwack Search and Rescue / A helicopter was deployed Sunday night to assist in the rescue of a hiker who slid 50 feet over a cliff above Radium Lake Sunday night (May 19) in the Chilliwack River Valley. 

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Chilliwack Search and Rescue

Chilliwack Search and Rescue says rescued hiker slid 50 feet over a cliff during long weekend

May 22, 2024 | 11:43 AM

CHILLIWACK — Chilliwack Search and Rescue says it was activated by a satellite device over the long weekend after a hiker lost his footing on snow and slid over a cliff above a lake in the Chilliwack River Valley.

According to a social media post, SAR was deployed on Sunday night, May 19 at 7:23 p.m. when a hiker veered off course, lost his footing in snow and slid 50 feet over a cliff above Radium Lake in the Chilliwack River Valley.

CSAR personnel had just wrapped up another call assisting stranded hikers on Vedder Mountain and was able to dispatch a team with Valley Helicopters.

The patient was treated for hypothermia and a fractured ankle, according to CSAR, extracted with a helicopter longline and two technicians with little daylight left, and handed off to paramedics from B.C. Emergency Health Services. A ground team was sent up to assist the other member of the party down the trail.

The Satalite messenger device, a Zoleo, was able to notify and activate SAR very quickly, and in this case, stopped the patient from being out overnight on the snow, unable to move and stay warm.

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Images shared by CSAR show a helicopter flying above a mountain Sunday night with its focus on the injured hiker.

Image: Chilliwack Search and Rescue /

The male patient was loaded into a B.C. Ambulance Service ground unit on Chilliwack Lake Road at approximately 8:45 p.m. Sunday night.

Radium Lake is located south of Chilliwack Lake Road, and west of Chilliwack Lake Provincial Park.

Images shared by Chilliwack River Valley resident Derrick Kramer show a helicopter, a Chilliwack Search and Rescue truck, two B.C. Ambulance Service units, two uniformed RCMP members, and at least five CSAR personnel on scene along Chilliwack Lake Road, all dispatched for the rescue mission.