A skier was found “extremely cold” but alive after spending most of the night lost in freezing temperatures in the B.C. Interior this weekend.
Before getting lost, the backcountry skier had been with a group on Zoa Peak, which is north of the Coquihalla Highway on the edge of the Coquihalla Summit Recreation Area.
Hope Volunteer Search and Rescue said it was contacted at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday about a skier who went missing from a group.
The group said members began searching from the air in a helicopter “to see if they could spot the missing subject before nightfall, but unfortunately, members were unable to locate the person.”
Members of four other area search and rescue groups joined in the ground search.
Eleven hours after the search and rescue crews were first called in, the missing skier was located at around 3:30 a.m. by a group of searchers on skis.
Hope Volunteer Search and Rescue said the skier was “OK but extremely cold,” and search and rescue members “worked to warm the subject with blankets and hot packs” so the rescued skier could be brought to the staging area.
“When the subject safely arrived, SAR members were eagerly met with big, thankful hugs,” Hope Volunteer Search and Rescue posted on social media.
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