Discovering deceased a hiker who had been reported overdue from a trip out into remote mountainous terrain in the Nordegg area was obviously not what search and rescue teams in Central Alberta had aspired for.
The 55-year-old man had on Monday, Aug. 5 been reported overdue from a solo excursion out into the backcountry after leaving his vehicle parked at the Coral Creek staging area, which is located near Abraham Lake along Highway 11 or the David Thompson Highway.
After a three-day search that included the coordinated effort of teams from the Rocky Mountain House Volunteer Search and Rescue Society as well as the Sundre Volunteer Search and Rescue Society who provided assistance to the Rocky Mountain House RCMP along with Kananaskis Emergency Services, he was found deceased on Thursday, Aug. 8 in the Coral Creek area about 12 kilometres away from where his parked vehicle had early on been found.
“It was definitely not the outcome we were hoping for,” said Noah Bradley, a team leader and technology director with Sundre SAR with a keen affinity for digital mapping technology.
The volunteers from Sundre contributed to the search effort on Wednesday, Aug. 7, “and that day we had the helicopter. So, teams were flown into various parts of Coral Creek,” Bradley told the Albertan during a follow-up interview.
“My responsibility that day was mapping; I’m definitely a big map guy,” he said. “I kind of help out with the technology side of things.”
There initially was reason for optimism to believe that the hiker, who has not been officially named, might yet be found either stranded or even overstaying his initial itinerary.
“He had plans to be out there for a few days and we knew he had a backpack, so we knew that he had some supplies,” said Bradley. “That was the hope that we would find him alive.”
The rugged terrain was challenging to search, so a helicopter was deployed to airlift volunteers up the creek to facilitate the effort.
“It was really along the Coral Creek valley,” he said.
“So, that was the issue there is that it’s a really long trail,” he said, adding the teams that were sent out to search the stream faced many creek crossings along the way that hampered the operation’s progress.
Cpl. Troy Savinkoff, an Alberta RCMP public information officer, confirmed on Aug. 14 during a phone interview with the Albertan that the hiker was ultimately located in the creek.
“He was found within the water of Coral Creek,” said Savinkoff.
The corporal was unable to get into more specific details such as whether the hiker had perhaps been knocked unconscious after slipping and hitting his head on rocks while crossing the creek or maybe been swept by the water and subsequently pinned by debris.
“The autopsy generally speaking will just offer a cause of death, not those specific details; we may never know the answer to that,” he said.
Regardless, such information would not be made public as the incident was not deemed suspicious, he added.
But the hiker was not believed to have been inexperienced.
“The information that we received from family was that he was quite a seasoned hiker,” said Savinkoff.
As to where the 55-year-old was from, the corporal said police initially had the man listed as being of no fixed address.
“Now, we’ve been trying to get away from that terminology,” said Savinkoff, adding that might imply the subject was homeless.
“I don’t believe that’s something that we’re saying. But he was originally from that Ontario area and had been living with family in the Okotoks area before this occurred,” he said.
Although the outcome was not what anyone would have hoped for, Bradley said the search teams were nevertheless relieved in the sense that there no longer remained any lingering doubt as to where the hiker might be.
“Our team really likes to help surrounding teams and communities and we were happy to give closure to the family, for sure,” he said.
The corporal shared similar sentiments and also went onto praise the professionalism of Alberta’s dedicated search and rescue volunteers.
“This is not the result we had hoped for. But I will say that the Alberta Search and Rescue volunteers that attended were – as usual – very professional and ultimately we had a successful search in that we located him, but obviously not the successful outcome,” Savinkoff said.
“That’s a great organization that really helps out police and the public whenever they’re called upon; really amazing work by them,” he said.
Asked if search and rescue volunteers have help available in such situations when the subject is located deceased, Bradley said, “Every team does have a person trained for discussing these types of things, for sure.”
Additionally, SAR Alberta also has resources available, he said.
“Just like every first responder group, there is always help available.”
RELATED: UPDATE: Overdue hiker found deceased following three-day search in Nordegg area