Yesterday afternoon COSAR was called out to locate and extract three hikers and their dogs from the High Rim trail between Oyama Lake and Beaver Lake Road in Lake Country.  

The two men and one woman started the hike in Oyama where the conditions were favorable but as they progressed south the trail the deteriorated.  

The three were in waist deep snow when the female suffered a medical incident and was unable to continue.  

They managed to find cell phone coverage and call for help.  

Due to the nature of the incident, COSAR used a helicopter to fly in a medical team to stabilize the female.  

The helicopter was just able to lift off with the female just before dusk but they  were unable to return for the male hikers due to darkness.  

While a COSAR member remained on the scene with the male hikers, the helicopter flew to Kelowna Airport to meet a waiting ambulance, where she was transported to KGH.  

The remaining COSAR member on scene worked on getting the two males warm by starting a fire and getting them warm drinks.  Meanwhile, a four member COSAR snowmobile team went in to rescue the 2 male hikers and the dogs.  

By 9:45 p.m. the team had dropped off the hikers near Beaver Lake Lodge to a waiting ambulance where they were checked and released to family members.

In all,  COSAR responded with 20 members including a helicopter medical team and snowmobile teams. 

Search Manager Michael Day would like to remind hikers that this is the shoulder season and while the weather might be great in the valley, snow and wintery conditions still persist in the higher elevations.  Before you go on a hike make sure you have the 10 essentials recommended by AdventureSmart BC.