Missing Canadian boy, 17, who got lost in the dark while a snowmobile built a snow cave to avoid hypothermia before being found five hours later – in the survival ‘textbook’
- The teenager disappeared at around 6:15 pm on Saturday, when he got lost near the Spanish Lake
- He parked his snowmobile outdoors near a wooded area where he built the snow cave
- Rescuers found the teenager around 10:34 pm with food and water at the shelter
- Authorities praised the teenager for his ‘knowledge of a backcountry winter survivor’
- Do you know this quick-witted teenager? Email [email protected]
A 17-year-old boy who disappeared while snowmobiling in Canada was hailed for his survival skills after building a snow cave to survive.
The British Columbia teenager, whose name has not been released, was lost at around 6:15 pm on Saturday when he was separated from his group near Spanish Lake.
The quick-witted survivor parked his sled in a visible area near a wooded area – while his family and friends returned to the parking lot and called South Cariboo Search and Rescue, who notified the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
“This young man did everything right after things went wrong,” South Cariboo SAR said on Facebook.
A teenager who disappeared in Canada survived after building a snow cave
‘This young man did everything right after things went wrong,’ said South Cariboo SAR
The volunteer organization found the teenager around 10:34 pm ‘in good condition’, with food and water, and reunited him with his family around midnight.
“This young man made our task a little less difficult by staying in the same place and having some knowledge of winter survival in the countryside,” the organization posted.
Val Severin, search manager at South Cariboo Search and Rescue, told CBC that the teenager’s choices “were quite mature”.
‘He did not panic and lost control of the situation. He understood the right thing to do, ‘said Severin.
Another 17-year-old boy, Nicolas Stacy-Alcantara, survived nearly 30 hours alone building a snow cave in an Utah incident
Earlier this month, a California teenager survived nearly 30 hours after being trapped in the snow on a mountain in Utah and built a snow cave to protect himself in another incident.
Nicolas Stacy-Alcantara, also 17, came from Fresno to visit an ex-girlfriend and took a day hike on January 2.
“I love hiking, it kind of clears my head,” he said at a press conference at the University of Utah.
He took an Uber in a canyon east of Salt Lake City, bringing six peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and 40 ounces of water with him. He planned to stay out all day and be back in time for dinner, after hiking 25 miles from Millcreek Canyon to Park City.
Stacy-Alcantara ended up trapped in the snow and also dug a snow cave, where he slept through the night.
He finally found other hikers who had a satellite phone and he was taken by helicopter out of the canyon.