Scrambler, 74, tumbles 100 metres to his death on mountain near Canmore

A 74-year-old man from Canmore, Alta., fell to his death while scrambling the Big Sister Mountain over the weekend. 

On Sunday, at around 4 p.m., Kananaskis Emergency Services received a call that a man had fallen more than 100 metres down the mountain just south of Canmore.

"He fell and tumbled," said Jeremy Mackenzie, a public safety specialist for the Kananaskis region. 

"And unfortunately he suffered some very serious traumatic injuries."

Despite their efforts to save the man, he died of his injures in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

400 rescue calls a year

On Saturday, Kananaskis Country Public Safety (KCPS) responded to another incident on the same mountain.

"The day before, we also had a scrambler in distress on the Big Sister and in that case he was not injured, but he was really badly off route and he ended up being in a situation where he couldn't go up or down from his position," he said.

"It's fairly frequent in terms of incidents with scramblers and we actually respond to close to 400 rescue calls a year —and there's a fairly large proportion that are scramblers."

KCPS was able to rescue the man Saturday.

More than a hike

The circumstances leading to the man's fall Sunday are unclear, but anyone attempting to scramble should take extra precautions, Mackenzie says.

One of the most important things to note is that scrambling and hiking are two different things. He says people often assume that once they can hike, they can go right to scrambling.

"In scrambling you're not on designated trails, so you have to have route finding and navigation skills," Mackenzie said.

"That means that you need to be a little bit more prepared with your research as well as the equipment you carry."

In some cases, scramblers require helmets and sturdy footwear. Mackenzie says their skill set is something that's built over time.

"You're not just going to become a hiker and then immediately become a scrambler."