Climbers Buy Cell Phone Minutes to Get Rescue on Mt. Arrowsmith, BC

Two climbers stranded on a ledge while descending Mt. Arrowsmith in British Columbia were forced to buy cell phone minutes to call for rescue.

The brother and sister, both in their 30s, were descending the mountain. They thought they were going down the proper route, but found themselves stranded on a narrow rock ledge 80 meters below the summit.

While they were on the phone trying to relay their position to rescuers, the cell phone cut out and they were forced to buy more minutes to complete the conversation. They were equipped with a GPS unit and were able to give rescuers their coordinates.

Although the GPS unit coordinates were off by 200 meters, a chopper was dispatched and located the two climbers around 1 a.m. The chopper winched them to safety. Earlier attempts to hoist them up with a ground rescue team were abandoned due to the rough terrain and fears of hypothermia.

The names and condition of the hikers were not released. Authorities said the variation of elevation may have caused the erroneous coordinates from the GPS unit.

Read the story here.