It was a sad ending to the search for Japanese tourist, Hiroko Kinugasa, 68, who went missing on Thursday, April 8, after she was last seen dining at the Altitude Bistro on Grouse Mountain at around 6:30 pm. Her body was found on Grouse Mountain near a ski run on Saturday evening, just two days later.

Hiroko Kinugasa

All the facts won’t be known until an autopsy is done, but a preliminary coroner’s report stated that she appeared to have died from exposure after venturing into cold and stormy weather with no outdoor winter gear. The police are scheduled to release the details of her death after they have had a chance to review all the information with the Coroner’s office today.

Some aspects about this case appear to be a bit bizarre. The staff at the Bed and Breakfast she was staying at, for instance, said that she had planned on going snowboarding at Grouse Mountain that day, even though her return flight to Japan was scheduled for the same day. Well, all I know is that if I were planning on flying to Japan that day, I wouldn’t have had time to do anything else except wait to catch a ride to the airport, wait in line to check in, and then head into the gate for my flight. So I can’t help but ask, why did she go to Grouse Mountain? She was actually reported missing by her family that same evening after it was noticed that she had missed her flight.

Some people have drawn parallels between this incident and one that happened back in May, 2005, when an American businessman named David Koch got lost while hiking in the Grouse Mountain area. Despite a massive search that included tracking dogs and helicopters, he was found dead 12 days later, and the cause of death was deemed hypothermia. Supposedly, he was able to survive for 6 whole days out in the elements before succumbing to the cold.

David Koch

David Koch

For me, this reminded me more of something that happened in Whistler in April 2008 with 25-year-old Ai Ito, also a Japanese female who was snowboarding. In her case, she had gone snowboarding alone in Whistler, and for some reason, decided to go out of bounds by herself near the 7th Heaven run on Blackcomb Mountain. Unfortunately, the consequences of her actions proved fatal, as she was somehow unable to get back out of a basin she had fallen into, and she froze to death.

Ai Ito

Ai was only reported missing 3 days later when she didn’t show up for English language classes. It was only then that the search for her began, but of course, it was way too late already. I remember this story well, and remember hoping for a happy ending for her and her family.

The Whistler Search and Rescue blog has an informative article about this tragedy, including a map that shows where she was found in respect to the ski run. Also, you can read the full story about the search for Ai Ito at Canada.com.

Hiroko, David, and Ai all appear to have been happy, adventurous people who really enjoyed living their lives, even though their lives ended way too soon. I’m sure many people have been and will continue to be affected by their stories, and they have no doubt helped others not to end up in the same kinds of life-threatening situations.