VANCOUVER – A young couple who were rescued Thursday after spending a week trapped in the B.C. backcountry are sharing their story.

Damon Brodeur and Catherine Gibbons were on a road trip through the Rockies with their dog when they were hit by an alpine storm, leaving them with no way to get out.

They wrote "HELP" in the snow, hung an orange tarp on a tree and built fires with the hope someone would see the smoke and find them. Then finally, on Thursday, Columbia Valley RCMP found 22-year-old Gibbons and 24-year-old Brodeur alive and rescued them from the mountain.

“Safe and sound inside of the helicopter,” said Brodeur on a Facebook post, which goes on to explain how the couple ended up trapped for so many days.

Brodeur said they left Fernie on Oct. 24 with “two junior chickens and enough food and water for a three day trip.” Of course, this trip ended up being much longer than that.

He wrote they planned to drive to Lussier Hot Springs, taking logging and back roads through the heart of the Rockies. They camped just past Sulphur Creek and were already out of cell service, but “had no reason to assume the roads would deteriorate.”

The next day he said they went down a remote road and “make it through three river crossings before coming to an ‘off-road’ only section.” They turned back and an alpine storm hit.

“Trying to get back up the side of the river bank was impossible with the sleet,” said Brodeur, “so we turned and headed for a cabin we’d passed earlier.”

He described how the pair slept in their car that night planning to try and build a bridge the next day.

“We built the raddest little bridge in the world,” he said, “using hay, rope, cedar planks, boulders, shrubs, anything and everything we could find.” Brodeur says while the bridge worked and could hold them, their Santa Fe’s tires had “frozen to the ground outside the cabin, and we stripped the tires bald freeing ourselves.”

After one last attempt to get out, Brodeur wrote they had no other option but to stay put and wait for help.

“We spent the next three days trying to make ourselves as visible as possible,” he said. “We had smoke fires going, orange signal blanket up in the trees, we wrote help in the snow." Brodeur said they also honked the horn, blew their whistles and flashed mirrors.

To pass the time, Brodeur posted that they played Harry Potter Trivial Pursuit, shared stories and “smoked a couple bowls while enjoying the views.”

They spent three days and nights in their car before leaving signs they were going to move into the cabin. The pair “cozied up next to a fire, we ate soup and tinkered with a CB radio.”

Brodeur said they only spent one night in the cabin before hearing the plane overhead.

"An RCMP officer and a search and rescue volunteer onboard the aircraft spotted the couple’s SUV, notably stuck in a creek crossing filled with snow and ice," said Cpl. Jesse O'Donaghey, spokesperson for the BC RCMP's Southeast District, in a news release.

Both the Columbia Valley and Kimberley RCMP detachments participated in the search, alongside Columbia Valley Search and Rescue, Civilian Air Search and Rescue Association, the BC Conservation Officer Service and Cold Stream Helicopters, according to police. They were taken to hospital as a precaution, police said.

“They were very happy to see the aircraft fly overhead,” said Scott Chaffey, Search Manager for Columbia Valley Search and Rescue. “They came out of the cabin jumping up and down signalling to it which let us know they were in good health and still okay.”

They were taken to hospital as a precaution, police said.

“We were fully prepared to be out there, and we were healthy and happy the whole time,” he explained. “We told people our plans, and we had a designated route, we just got stuck.”

“They were well supplied they had enough food with them and water and heating equipment,” said Chaffey, “So they were able to stay warm and staying put was the best thing for them.”

He said they did exactly the right thing by staying put. “It’s a quite mountainous area,” he said. “This particular road is one that’s not well maintained or maintained at all anymore.”

Chaffey confirmed to CTV News the pair did not have any vehicle chains with them.

Cherie Brodeur, Damon’s mom also posted an update on her Facebook page about being relieved the pair was found. “As I sit, still very shakily, but knowing my baby boy, the pup and Cassie are safe I want to say thank you,” she wrote.

Brodeur also thanked search and rescue and his family. “You are all heroes to me and thank you so much!”