The incident is the latest to raise questions about the growing reliance on digital maps for wilderness navigation

The route up the Widowmaker Arete, a 1,700-foot wall in British Columbia, is deceptively described as “mostly easy slab climbing”, interspersed with “short steep sections that can include finger cracks, blocky face climbing”. It requires careful planning, and the right equipment.

When 16-year-old Bryce Vincent Gowryluk found himself facing its sheer headwall last week, he had neither. He did, however, ask the AI chatbot Claude for directions.

Last week, Gowryluk had to be rescued after those directions proved wildly incorrect, in the latest incident to raise questions about the growing reliance on digital maps for wilderness navigation.

On Saturday morning, Gowryluk took a gondola up to the top of Grouse Mountain and, while ascending, asked Claude to plan a route to nearby Crown Mountain and back. After navigating scree and more than 2,000ft of elevation gain, the summit promises 360-degree panoramic views of Greater Vancouver, the Fraser valley and the Capilano watershed.

Typically, the trek takes eight hours and hiking guides warn it is not for beginners.

As Gowryluk, a keen indoor climber, navigated down the Crown Pass and up through Crater Slabs and into a boulder-strewn valley, the directions from Claude took him away from the planned course.

He found himself at the final headwall of the Widowmaker Arete – a climb that requires ropes, cameras and a clear plan for ascent. As he climbed, Gowryluk soon realized the terrain was far too steep and that he was stuck at the base of a cliff.

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