An Edmonton hiker and his dog are safe after the man stomped out an “SOS” into the snow near the British Columbia-Alberta border, which was picked up by a remote camera from a Delta-based company.
According to a press release by Nupoint Systems, the man and his his dog left the staging area of Pinto Lake on what he expected to be a four-day hike. When he realized he was in trouble, he wrote a massive distress in front of a remote viewer satellite camera in the hope it would transmit his message to rescuers.
The image of his SOS was transmitted to Alberta’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, who passed it on to the RCMP on March 18. Rocky Mountain House Search and Rescue and RCMP K Division air services were deployed to Pinto Lake, where they found the man and his dog in good health and airlifted them back to the staging area.
Nupoint, which runs out of a home office in North Delta, specializes in camera technology that allows clients to monitor harsh and remote environments around the clock by taking pictures and sending them back via satellite. The release said hundreds of these cameras have been set up in areas without cellular coverage “to monitor wildfires, snow and ice conditions, wildlife, natural resource infrastructures and more.”
In the release, Nupoint’s president and CEO, Wayne Carlson, said the company developed its remote viewer systems “just a few years ago,” and has sold them across North America to environmentalists, government bodies, natural resource operators, law enforcement and owners of property in remote places.
“We’re delighted that our technology was instrumental in saving the life of this Edmonton hiker and his dog,” Carlson said.
sasha.lakic@northdeltareporter.com
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