VANCOUVER -- A teenage snowboarder is back with his family after spending a night lost at Sun Peaks Resort in B.C.'s Interior.
Fourteen-year-old Carson Hadwin was reported missing Sunday afternoon.
Mounties said he took a shuttle to the ski resort in the morning and used the chairlift during the day, but he did not catch the shuttle back to Kamloops in the afternoon.
A large-scale search effort failed to find him before nightfall. Eighteen hours later, an aircrew spotted his footprints in the snow.
Mounties said the boy went out of bounds and got lost. He managed to find a shed but wasn't able to get access inside because it was too snowed in.
"He laid down in the snow, he didn't seek refuge in any structure. He took his jacket and slept underneath his jacket," said Alan Hobler with Kamloops Search and Rescue.
Just before noon Monday, a spotting plane saw footsteps and alerted crew members on the ground who managed to reach the teenager. He was then airlifted off the mountain by helicopter.
"He was relatively good. Obviously very cold... He actually leaped out of the helicopter," Hadwin said. "We are absolutely ecstatic. We weren't expecting a happy outcome. We've seen similar ones where it was tragic outcomes and to see him walk out of that airplane was unbelievable."
Cpl. Jodi Shelkie with Kamloops RCMP said while this story had a good ending, some areas are out of bounds for a reason.
"It's really important that people stay within bounds when going skiing and to have a buddy," she said.
