Two skiers from Colorado had not been seen or heard from for over 36 hours, one of the skiers was known to regularly call and text his wife while on ski trips and the wife had not heard from her husband for over 36 hours which was out of character. The subjects car was located at the Fernie Ski Hill and estimations based on snow accumulation was that it had been in the parking lot for two days.
A witness placed the subjects in the out of bounds back country area of Lost Boys pass/Sand Creek at 14:00 on March 9 having spoken with the subjects to offer some local knowledge as they were not familiar with the area. They advised the witness they were going to complete one more lap in the area and return to ski hill.
Due to the information from the witness and the high avalanche risk in the area Fernie SAR dispatched an initial team of two avalanche technicians via helipcopter to assess the terrain and avalanche risk for ground teams. Whilst assessing the area the SAR members spotted ski tracks heading in the wrong direction and decided to follow the tracks.
The tracks led the team to the lost subjects and the SAR members were dropped off near the subjects to make contact. The subjects were uninjured and were able to make their way to the two SAR members who assisted them into the helicopter and they were flown back to Fernie.
The subjects had become totally disorientated by the micro features in the area and the lack of visibility on the days they were missing from low cloud and falling snow. The subjects were slightly dehyrdated and tired but otherwise in good spirits and uninjured after two unplanned nights in the back country.