An unprepared hiker had to be rescued by helicopter in British Columbia, Canada, after reportedly following a phantom trail on Google Maps.
On Saturday 4 November, a team of two helicopter rescue technicians were hoisted in to evacuate an individual stranded on a cliff on the backside of Mount Fromme after climbing from the Kennedy Falls area.
A low cloud ceiling and dense tree canopy meant the hiker could not be spotted from the air.
In a post shared on Facebook, North Shore Rescue, a mountain search and rescue team based in Vancouver, Canada said: “The area in question has no trails and is very steep with many cliff bands throughout. In the preceding weeks, NSR has actually placed signage in the area warning of this.
“The area is clearly dangerous, as it was the sight of a previous fatality.”
A successful response from helicopter and rope rescue teams returned the unnamed hiker safely home.
This is the third rescue NSR has had to conduct in the Mount Fromme area north of Vancouver, and the second in just two months.
Previously, a non-existent trail in the area was visible on Google Maps.
NSR has since received word that the fake trail north of Fromme has been deleted from the app.
“It is simply not appropriate to navigate in the wilderness using ‘urban street map’ programs like Google Maps,” said NSR. “Trip planning beyond looking at Google Maps would have shown no trails in this area.”
The emergency response service urges hikers to carry a spare battery when using mapping programs to navigate as they can quickly drain phone batteries, especially in the cold.
It’s not the first time an error on Google Maps has directed a user into danger.
According to a lawsuit filed this September, a man who died after driving his car off a collapsed bridge in Hickory, North Carolina was following Google Maps directions.
The technology giant is being sued for negligence after claims that it had been informed of the collapse but failed to update its navigation system.
