Man seriously injured in mountain biking accident near Squamish

A man in his 50s was seriously injured in a mountain bike accident Saturday afternoon near Squamish.

The man was biking with his son on a trail called Hot Tuna, an advanced mountain biking trail above Alice Lake Provincial Park when the accident happened, said SquamishSearch and Rescue manager BJ Chute.

Twenty-two SAR volunteers were involved in the rescue, and the man was taken out by helicopter.

"We were able to locate him very fast, and that helps us get our crews quickly and allowed us to providesome more advanced medical care to him and ensure that we could stabilize him," Chute said.

The man was then airliftedto hospital in Vancouver.

This wasthe fifth call for help SAR received for help within 36 hours, Chute said. The groupgets about 100 calls for help each year, with an uptick in calls starting around the May long weekend, he added.

"It's been fairly taxing on our volunteer team," he said.

"Many of them, including this last one, are highly technical calls and require a lot of resources and a lot of equipment to be moved into the field."

Chute said anyone who becomes injured or lost in the outdoors should call 911 sooner rather than later.

"It is I think important that people understand that SAR in our province is still volunteer and although we are here and trained and equipped to help it could take some time, in some cases considerable time, to reach people who are either injured or lost."