Final attempt to find missing North Shore hiker called off
Bad weather stops search teams from making one last effort to find Carl Couture
Efforts to recover missing hiker Carl Couture were called off Sunday due to poor weather conditions.
"Unfortunately, the weather today has not been good," said North Shore Rescue spokesman Mike Danks. "We've got really low cloud, high precipitation, and we have forecasted high winds as well."
Couture has been missing since Halloween when he was last seen on Grouse Mountain gearing up for a hike. It's thought he was headed towards the Hanes Valley area.
A search was launched a few days later after the 24-year-old failed to show up for work.
The search for Couture was called off earlier in the week, but search teams from across B.C.'s South Coast had planned to come together Sunday to make one final large scale effort.
"We had teams basically from Pemberton right through to Chilliwack to Vancouver Island that were going to assist. We also had seven search dogs," said Danks.
Heavy rain that fell Sunday is expected to give way to high winds on Monday.
Danks said there is little chance Couture is still alive.
"Based on his experience level, what he was wearing, his equipment, or lack of equipment, and the weather he has been through, I think his chances of survival are low.
"I really hope there's a cabin out there that he's warm in, but I just don't think that's the case."