MORAINE LAKE – A woman scrambling the Tower of Babel was seriously injured when falling rocks struck her on the back of the neck.
Parks Canada rescuers were called to the popular scrambling route on the spire rising high above the north end of Moraine Lake on Aug. 11 to helicopter-sling the woman, who was not wearing a helmet, to safety.
“Two scramblers were ascending a steep gully when one person was struck by rockfall that was generated by another party above them,” said Brian Webster, Parks Canada’s visitor safety manager for Banff, Yoho and Kootenay national parks.
“She was struck in the back of the neck and had severe, but non-life threatening injuries, and she wasn’t able to move.”
Tower of Babel, which rises 500 metres (1,640 feet) above Moraine Lake, is one of the most popular scrambling routes in the Lake Louise region.
In this case, the party of scramblers that triggered the rockfall above stayed with the injured woman while her partner descended to the lake below to raise the alarm.
When they arrived on scene, rescuers assessed the situation, administered first aid and had to move the injured woman to better site for the helicopter to safely sling her to a waiting ambulance in the Moraine Lake parking lot.
“She was taken to Banff hospital,” Webster said.
Although wearing a helmet in this particular instance may not have made a difference, Webster said visitor safety specialists recommend everyone venturing out to do this type of activity should wear helmets for protection.
“A good practice is to always wear a helmet for all types of climbing, including scrambling,” he said.
“People should be very aware of potential for rockfall, particularly if there are people above them or below them.”
In addition, Parks Canada recommends carrying a cell phone or satellite communication device, such as an inReach or SPOT, given time can be of the essence if someone is severely injured.
“In this particular case, the person probably would have been evacuated a couple of hours earlier had they had some sort of communication device,” Webster said.
In neighbouring Kananaskis Country, public safety staff were called to Mount Smuts in the Spray Valley on Saturday (Aug. 14) for two stranded, but uninjured, scramblers.
They were heli-slung off the mountain by Alpine Helicopters to the lakes below.
This was one of three calls on Saturday for Kananaskis Country Public Safety (KCPS), including a call for an injured dirt biker in the Ghost region and a group of 10 people stranded on an island in the Bow River near Harvie Heights at dark after losing some of their kayaks.
"The group was accessed by foot, given sleeping bags and pads for the night and then picked up the following morning," according to a Facebook post by KCPS.
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