A solo hiker who used AI to plan his route was hoisted back to safety by North Shore Rescue volunteers after getting stuck on a mountain cliff Saturday afternoon.
Rescue crews received the call just before 3:30 p.m. about a 16-year-old hiker who was stranded on a cliff on Crown Mountain.
The hiker started on Grouse Mountain around 8 a.m., aiming to do a route that went up Crown Mountain, said search manager Paul Markey.
AI had planned a route that ascended Crown Mountain by a gully. But when the hiker was following the trail, it actually led him to a rock-climbing route with steep terrain. The teen got stuck at the base of a cliff.
“The boy was very scared. He definitely feared for his life,” said Markey.
Volunteers were able to call the hiker to figure out his exact location and quickly began working on a helicopter hoist mission to save the boy.
Once crews found him, two rescue techs were hoisted down and lifted the hiker up to the helicopter before flying him back to their rescue base near the Cleveland Dam.
Saturday’s call could have had a much worse result, Markey said.
“It put him into a situation which was beyond his abilities, so things could have gone sideways pretty quickly,” he said.
The call wrapped up just before 6:30 p.m. Saturday. After the rescue, Markey is reminding hikers to not use AI for route planning. He suggests using other mapping and navigational aids like Gaia GPS, CalTopo or AllTrails.
“Be cautious when getting routes and information suggested through AI,” he said. “You can’t just blindly follow what AI is proposing to you. You need to question the information and just see whether it makes sense or not.”
Markey said it was the first time he’s come across someone following a route planned out by AI.
But there were things the hiker did right, Markey said. The hiker stayed put and was well-equipped, bringing a backpack full of items like a headlamp, hiking boots, a cell phone battery pack and a windproof jacket.
Saturday was busy for North Shore Rescue. Volunteers completed a helicopter training exercise on Crown Mountain Saturday morning and got another rescue call in the evening about a group of overdue hikers. The group eventually turned up, Markey said.
Crews also received calls about a hiker who injured her ankle on the Baden Powell Trail near Cypress Mountain, a group of lost hikers on Goat Mountain and a mutual aid call to Lions Bay SAR for a hiker facing an ankle injury on Brunswick Mountain.
As the fall season approaches, Markey is urging people to bring headlamps, micro spikes for boots and warm clothes for colder temperatures.
Abby Luciano is the Indigenous and civic affairs reporter for the North Shore News. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.