A man stuck on Mount McKay has been successfully rescued after being stranded for more than eight hours.
The 24-year-old male attempted to use a speed wing parachute from the top of the mountain late Saturday afternoon and became stuck on the side.
Thunder Bay Fire Rescue received the call shortly after 5:30 p.m. and were unable to make a visual sighting with darkness falling.
Joe Grezelewski, the morning shift’s platoon chief, said responding crews faced a lengthy and demanding rescue and did not return to the station until 2 a.m.
Despite the numerous challenges, he said the operation went as smoothly as the circumstances allowed.
“Locating him was a challenge, accessing him was absolutely a challenge when we found out where he was and we had to extricate him in a safe manner,” Grezelewski said at the Vickers Street station later Sunday morning.
“He was involved in a fall so we had to assess his injuries and bring him down in a manner that didn’t contribute to his existing injuries.”
Four pumpers and the command unit gathered at the scenic lookout to devise a strategy, and a four-man unit was deployed to determine the man’s location. There were around 18 members of the department involved in the rescue.
“It was a lot of work getting the equipment up there,” Grezelewski said. “A lot of it had to be brought up by hand up the trails and slopes. It was slippery and very physically demanding.”
After finding him, it was determined that crews were unable to reach him due to slippery and dangerous conditions. Instead, they used a rappel system from the top of the mountain and two rescue technicians descended 100 metres with guidance.
They were able to load the man into a basket stretcher and lower him to a ski trail and an all-terrain vehicle was used to transport him to an awaiting ambulance.
A media release from fire officials detail the man as being conscious throughout the rescue operation, and that he is in hospital with the severity of his injuries not yet known.
No members of the department were injured as a result of the rescue.
