The snowboarder who survived three lonely nights on a mountain north of Vancouver will return to a huge celebration when he gets back to his home in Orillia, Ont.
Moments after touching down in Vancouver Airport on Thursday, Jamie Martin's Mom said the lucky-to-be-alive snowboarder will get a cup of hot chocolate and a lot of hugs from relatives and friends.
"His father and brother are sitting waiting for him,'' Debbie Martin told reporters before heading off to Vancouver General Hospital to visit her son.
The 21-year-old roofer went missing on Sunday after deciding to go snowboarding alone on Mount Seymour. He did so without telling anyone where he was going or taking a map.
He was finally located by North Shore Search and Rescue crews on New Year's Eve, who found him sitting on a log in a back country area known as Suicide Gully. He was suffering from frostbite and hypothermia, but was otherwise unharmed.
Debbie Martin said her son is not a total stranger to the Canadian outdoors. His father was a trapper in his youth and often goes on ice fishing expeditions. "We are outdoor people,'' she said.
The snowboarder's grandmother Faye Milburn said it's been a difficult week for the family as they waited for news of what had happened to Jamie. "You don't know what it's like until it happens to you,'' she said.
Debbie Martin said she is very thankful that North Shore Search and Rescue officials did not give up the search. "They gave us the best New Year's gift that they could have ever given,'' she said.
With a report by CTV British Columbia's Reshmi Nair.
