There was still no sign of the 55 year-old woman who is missing on Heather Mountain as of the afternoon of Friday, June 28.
Members of Cowichan Search & Rescue were joined by teams from Ladysmith and Metchosin, as well as a search dog and its handler, on June 27 in the search for the Duncan area woman, who went missing on the mountain at around 4 p.m. on June 26.
CSR search manager Mitch Wright said on Thursday afternoon that he was optimistic the woman will be located, but he couldn’t be reached for comment on Friday, two days after the woman went missing.
The woman, whose name has still not been released, was hiking on Heather Mountain, a 1,250-metre summit west of Lake Cowichan, on Wednesday afternoon when she became separated from the group and became lost when they were descending from the snow-capped top of the mountain.
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The woman was keeping in touch with her friends by text and said she would return to the summit and try to reconnect with the trail down the mountain.
However, that’s the last the group heard from her and it’s assumed that her cell phone lost charge.
Searchers have now spent two days and two nights looking for her.
“The mountain has a lot of area for us to cover, including many side roads and trails,” Wright said on Thursday.
CSR president Jamie Tudway-Cains said he isn’t aware if the woman had any food and water or was properly attired to spend several days and nights on the mountain and cope.
“All we know right now is that she had a small gear bag with her, but we don’t know what it contained,” he said.