Search and rescue volunteers brought a skier to safety on Saturday after he spent the night out of bounds on one of Vancouver's North Shore mountains.
North Shore Rescue became aware of the lost skier on Friday night after his friends reported him missing to Cypress ski patrol.
Fortunately, the skier had cell service. Rescuers figured out he was stuck in the Montizambert Creek drainage area. Rescue volunteers descended from a helicopter on Friday and spent the night with him sleeping on the hill.
In the morning, the group hiked to a helicopter pad where they were picked up and flown to safety.
The skier, an international student from Brazil named Tiago Passos, said he's learned his lesson not to ski out of bounds.
"You think you know, but you don't … I got completely stuck," he said.
Once safely in the Cypress parking lot, he had nothing but praise for the rescue volunteers.
"This wonderful team … They kept me calm, they gave me food, and they rescued me," he said. "I'm so glad to be back."
Scott Merriman with North Shore Rescue said the terrain they found Passos in was nearly vertical.
"He was very close to the waterfall and very wet. It wasn't warm last night," he said.
Merriman said this is the second out-of-bounds rescue from that spot in just a few weeks.
"Stay in bounds," he said. "It can go bad really quick when you duck that line."
