A pair of backcountry skiers and their dogs are safe thanks to the efforts of local search and rescue teams.
On Thursday, Jan. 31 at 7:20 p.m., the Trail RCMP detachment received a report that a man and a woman and their dogs had failed to return from an afternoon ski trip in the Seven Summits-Strawberry Pass area near Rossland.
“Their tracks were located on the summit of Mt. Lepsoe late last night [Thursday], but unfortunately they led the wrong direction away from the highway into a treacherous drainage,” said a Rossland Search and Rescue (RSAR) release on Friday.
Early Friday morning a helicopter with RSAR technicians was able to locate the skiers and fly them and their dogs back to safety.
The woman was treated for minor frostbite on her feet at Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital.
RSAR was assisted by Castlegar Search and Rescue, Grand Forks Search and Rescue and South Columbia Search and Rescue.