View the Pique NewsMagazine Article
Three charitable foundations have donated a combined $87,000 to Whistler Search and Rescue (WSAR), helping the volunteer team reach people in hard-to-access areas.
The donations from the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation, Whistler Health Care Foundation and JBS Foundation have helped pay for a new off-road rescue vehicle, a lightweight stretcher and a drone.
The equipment arrives after what WSAR’s Greg Newton described as the team’s busiest year on record, with more than 100 rescues in the year ending Sept. 30.
Newton said more people are attempting difficult backcountry hikes, leading to more complicated rescues, including cases where hikers become stuck and cannot continue.
“There’s a lot of people that are attempting to do some extreme hikes that have that only seasoned veterans used to use,” he said. “Now people are seeing it on social media, and they’re saying, you know, I can do it, and they’re just not that prepared.”
The new equipment will give WSAR volunteers more ways to find, reach and safely bring people out of the backcountry.
New equipment for difficult rescues
The largest donation came from the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation, which contributed $50,000 in 2025 toward a new Polaris side-by-side rescue vehicle built to carry injured people.
The vehicle cost about $70,000, including upgrades. It has protective roll bars and a specially built compartment that holds a stretcher in place. A rescuer can sit beside the patient to provide care during the trip.
The Whistler Health Care Foundation donated another $12,000 toward a lightweight stretcher and wheel system made by Italian rescue-equipment company Ferno. The $12,400 system has a disc brake and can be used to carry injured hikers along trails when helicopters cannot reach them.
Newton recalled an earlier rescue at Rubble Creek that required a large team to move a much heavier stretcher wheel through difficult conditions.
“It was pouring rain. It was probably the toughest rescue I think we’ve ever encountered,” he recalled.
The Whistler Health Care Foundation has supported WSAR since 2022, a year after it launched a grant program to help local non-profits with healthcare-related projects.
Foundation chair Carol Leacy said the program recognizes that healthcare extends beyond hospitals and clinics.
“We realized there’s a lot of initiatives going on that are healthcare related that are beyond just the clinic, and so we wanted to really put it out to the groups like search and rescue and say, ‘come to us for healthcare related items, and it’s part of our mandate,’” she said.
Since 2022, the foundation has donated about $37,500 to WSAR through four grants. The money has also helped pay for safety gear, first-aid supplies and training for rescues involving ropes.
New technology, growing demand
A third donation, $25,000 from the Toronto-based JBS Foundation, has helped WSAR build its drone program, including the purchase of a DJI Matrice 4TD.
The drone has cameras that can detect heat and can be fitted with a spotlight, giving rescuers another way to search hard-to-reach areas when helicopters cannot fly.
WSAR already has four smaller drones, which it has used in searches, including one involving a person who died earlier this year. The larger drone is still being used for training, and the team is looking at other ways it could help during rescues.
“It’ll allow us to be in the air and seeing things when we can’t fly by helicopter,” Newton said.
Running WSAR is expensive. The team’s annual budget is about $500,000, with roughly one-fifth spent on helicopter training alone. It relies on donations, fundraising and government funding to cover its costs.
In its March 2025 to March 2026 reporting period, WSAR received more than 105 calls for help, with 83 requiring the team to respond. Those included 27 medical rescues, 20 searches and 17 evacuations. Together with training, the work added up to about 4,863 volunteer hours across 157 events.
Newton said he is particularly worried about unprepared hikers attempting difficult routes. He recalled three incidents where people became stuck and could not continue, even though they were not necessarily injured.
“They just freeze, and they just can’t move anymore, and they just get into a predicament where they can’t go forward or backwards,” he said. “So it’s not necessarily a physical injury. It’s just that they just can’t proceed.”
He encouraged hikers to check AdventureSmart, research their routes and tell someone where they’re going before heading into the backcountry.
Photo: Representatives of the Whistler Health Care Foundation and WSAR reveal a $12,000 donation that helped purchase a new $12,400 stretcher and wheel system.Photo by Luke Faulks