How much would you pay to have a loved one rescued from a dangerous or life threatening situation?

While it might be hard to put a dollar amount to such a situation, the biggest search effort in Jasper National Park (JNP) in 2009 cost Canadian taxpayers $32,190.

That paid for JNP’s public safety crew to search for George Joachim of Chicago, who went missing on the Athabasca Glacier in early September. Nine days after he went missing and after a week of searching, the man walked down from the glacier, oblivious to the search efforts.

According to public safety manager Steve Blake, large scale rescues such as Joachim’s only happen once a decade in the park.

After being alerted of Joachim’s disappearance, officials used a helicopter to search the Columbia Icefields for the missing hiker. The helicopter was used for 12.8 hours, eight of which were used for flying time, at a cost of $2,050 per hour – that’s $26,240, just for the helicopter.

The only reason more time wasn’t spent up in the air during the search was due to poor conditions and a storm that swept through the Icefields Parkway on the second night of Joachim’s adventure.

According to Parks Canada, seven of JNP’s public safety crew were used on the rescue mission, as well as Starsky the search and rescue dog. The nine-day-long search effort consumed 119 hours of their time. That cost taxpayers another $5,950.

With 1.8 million visitors to Jasper National Park a year, the average cost to each visitor is about 14 cents for search and rescue costs, with another 38 cents per visitor put towards the training involved for public safety crew members.

Every public safety occurrence is recorded by Parks Canada and is rated as either an occurrence (level 0) or Level 1, 2, or 3 rescue. In 2009, there were 238 public safety occurrences in JNP. However, these are not necessarily all rescues and also include events such as avalanche control on the Icefields Parkway.

The Joachim search was a Level 2 occurrence, because a full scale team was involved in the search mission. Another example of a Level 2 occurrence was the search for a missing mountain biker out near Miette Hot Springs last summer.

The difference between a level 1 and 2 rescue is the number of people involved, said Blake, noting that when half a dozen people or more are involved it is classed as a ‘level 2’ response.

A level 1 response will include three to eight members, depending on the type of rescue. A stretcher rescue is very resource intensive, said Blake, as you require a paramedic and people to walk with the stretcher to the person. Comparatively, a helicopter sling rescue would involve less people and is often quicker.

Level 1 rescues in JNP in 2009 included: rescuing an injured cliff jumper, a medevac rescue from the Tonquin Valley, evacuating two people off Mount Snow Dome using a heli-sling, an injured cross-country skier, and a broken leg at Mount Edith Cavell.

Overall, most Level 1 rescues will only take about two and a half hours, which equates to about $375 in staffing costs, assuming there are only three Parks Canada employees involved in the search. However, if five employees are involved, the staffing cost would be $750.

Furthermore, while a sling rescue – where a public safety crew member is hanging from a rope on the end of a helicopter – may only take 2.5 flying hours, Parks may pay for the extra hour it takes the helicopter to come to and from the park. For three-and a half hours of helicopter use, the cost is $7,175.