Crowsnest Pass Rescue, RCMP, and several volunteers assisted in locating two cavers who got lost at Gargantua Cave south of Crowsnest Pass on Saturday, August 27th.
Crowsnest Pass RCMP received a call at approximately 11:30 a.m. from a man who had arrived at the cave – located roughly 16 kilometres southwest of Coleman in Ptolemy Mountain on the Alberta-B.C. border - with two friends at approximately 5:30 p.m. the previous evening.
The man told police that his friends were expected to arrive back at the camp between the hours of midnight and 4 a.m., and were now overdue by several hours.
He said he had hiked with them to the entrance to the cave before deciding not to continue on, and that prior to his departure, he had watched his friends enter the cave and leave their hiking poles at the cave entrance.
When he awoke the next morning to find that his friends had not yet returned, he went back to the cave and found their poles still outside, indicating to him that they were either still in the cave or lost in the woods.
RCMP called upon Crowsnest Pass Rescue to assist, and a forestry helicopter which was in the area performed a flyover in order to determine if the men were lost in the woods near the cave.
RCMP and Rescue then spoke with a group of cavers who were about to enter the cave and advised them of the lost cavers, providing descriptions and names and asking them to watch out for them.
The group, which consisted of experienced and knowledgeable cavers familiar with the cave system, were expected to arrive back in four hours.