After going missing on a snowmobile, a Canadian teenager built a snow cave where he waited to be rescued.
- When the 17-year-old did not return to the parking lot, his friends and family alerted the South Cariboo Search and Rescue that the teenager was missing.
- The 100 Mile House Royal Canadian Mounted Police was also notified of the missing snowmobiler.
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Thanks to the teenager’s snow cave, South Cariboo SAR was able to locate him.
- In a Facebook post, SAR wrote: “This young man did everything right after things went wrong.”
When this 17-year-old went missing, he knew exactly what to do.
After he went missing while on a snowmobile, a Canadian teenager built a snow cave which he used as a shelter. His friends and family noticed that he was missing when he did not return to the parking lot. While some of them went to search for him, the rest went to alert the South Cariboo Search and Rescue that the snowmobiler had not returned. The SAR then notified the 100 Mile House Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) at around 6:15 pm on January 16, CNN reported.
Thankfully, the South Cariboo SAR was able to locate and rescue the teenager. In a Facebook post, they wrote:
We would like to commend the 17 year old missing snowmobiler from the search last night. This young man did everything right after things went wrong. He got separated from his group and after multiple failed attempts to get back out of the area, the way he got into it and not knowing the terrain and area, he parked his sled in a wide open area, walked over to a nearby treed area and built himself an incredible snow cave to spend the night (see picture). When our team members came across him he was in the shelter with food and water. This young man made our task a little less difficult by staying in place and having some backcountry winter survival knowledge. We would also like to commend the other backcountry users who, after realizing their limits and exhausting their area knowledge called us for assistance. By doing this, it kept this task as a search for one person and not multiple. The actions of everyone involved was spot on for leading to a successful outcome.
We would like to remind all backcountry enthusiasts to be prepared for similar and unexpected situations as staying the night can happen just that quickly. Be prepared, get the knowledge and have a great time in backcountry.
