A 63-year-old Chilliwack man is "lucky to be alive" after his ATV went over a cliff near the Tamihi campground Sunday afternoon, Chilliwack RCMP said.
Reginald Hensbee was rescued by helicopter and taken to hospital with minor injuries.
Police said Hensbee's 29-year-old son Chad saw his father lose control of his ATV as it slipped on some loose shale, and his father was thrown about 200 feet down a cliff before he got hung up in some trees.
But then Chad crashed his own quad and fell about 20-30 feet down the same embankment.
"He luckily only sustained minor cuts and bruises," Cpl. Tammy Hollingsworth said.
A Chilliwack search and rescue team was unable to reach Reginald on foot, so a helicopter was called in and guided to the location using GPS coordinates provided by his son.
A search and rescue worker was dropped down from the helicopter on a rope, and Hensbee was secured to be airlifted to a safe location and a waiting ambulance.
"Reginald was conscious and in good spirits upon being rescued," Hollingsworth said. "He complained of back pain and was transported to Chilliwack General Hospital by ambulance."
She was Hensbee is now resting at home with a sore back, some cuts to his hands and knees, "but overall he felt lucky to only have such minor injuries."
"He wanted for people to know that if you are quadding up near Tamihi to be very careful, especially around the shale," she said.
Hensbee felt the shale was the cause of the accident, "as there was nothing he could do once was on it," she said.
"This man is very lucky, it could have been a lot worse," she said.
There was no indication that drugs or alcohol were a factor in the 2:15 p.m. accident.
The father and son were quadding with two others in the mountain area between the campground and Cultus Lake when the accident happened.