This is the story of how a 35-year-old gym teacher from Quebec survived six nights in the B.C. wilderness after getting lost snowboarding in the backcountry of Kicking Horse Mountain Resort on Jan. 29, 2017.
Unsure of which direction to go Stéphane Boisvert decided to follow a creek downstream, not realizing it was taking him further and further away from civilization. The National Post reports Boisvert soon found himself stranded in a wintery landscape fighting for survival. Boisvert dug a snow cave and spent most of his remaining remained time inside in a fetal position.
On the seventh day, a search-and-rescue team located Boisvert alive but he had suffered serious frostbite requiring amputation. Boisvert initially denied interview requests about the incident but almost 4 years later he decided to share his story including never-before-seen videos he shot during his ordeal in hopes others can learn from his experience: “Clearly I made some mistakes. It didn’t happen for nothing. I want it to have a purpose.”
Since the incident, the Golden search-and-rescue team had built a small shelter along Canyon Creek equipped with an S.O.S. beacon and installed signs along the creek telling people who get lost to not follow the stream.
