CALGARY - Two climbers stranded in a southeastern B.C. national park are safe after a daring helicopter rescue that was the highest ever attempted in the area.
The exhausted climbers sent for help after discovering they were unable to find a safe route down from one of Yoho National Park's mountains.
The ensuing helicopter rescue from the 3,600-metre-high peak on Mount Goodsir has become one for the ages.
"It is the highest helicopter rescue on record ever accomplished in Banff, Yoho or Kootenay national parks," said Omar McDadi, a spokesman for Parks Canada.
"Two visitor safety specialists were dispatched via helicopter and the climbers were heli-slung off the mountaintop."
The incident began Sunday morning when the two climbers in their early 40s contacted Parks Canada for help using a satellite beacon, said McDadi, adding the climbers had "almost made it to the top" of the south peak of Goodsir, a well-known back-country landmark west of Banff National Park.
"They were really exhausted from the climb and unable to find a route back down so they used a SPOT beacon to transmit their location and ask for help," McDadi said on Monday.
McDadi said the mission would have been challenging for the pilot and the technician who ascended in the chopper to reach the climbers and guide them into the sling.
The thinner air was also a factor.
"The elevation doesn't reflect the difficulty of the rescue, it's just that the higher you go the less performance you get out of a helicopter," he said.
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