'In panic mode now': How a Quebec snowboarder survived six nights in the B.C. wilderness

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Stephane Boisvert, who lost part of his right leg and left foot to severe frostbite, is sharing his story of survival, which includes never-before-seen videos shot when he was lost

Cocooned in a makeshift snow cave, Stéphane Boisvert had been stranded in the unforgiving wilderness near the town of Golden in B.C.’s southern interior for maybe four or five days — it was all a bit of a blur by then. All he could do was focus on his breathing.

He hopes others can learn from his experience — “clearly I made some mistakes,” he says — and draw inspiration from his recovery.It didn’t happen for nothing. I want it to have a purposeHe has bungee-jumped, leapt out of a plane, and encountered sharks while scuba diving.In early 2017, Boisvert set his sights on the Kicking Horse resort, sometimes dubbed the “champagne-powder capital,” near the B.C.-Alberta border.

Boisvert tried this but tired quickly, so he decided to follow the meandering creek instead, believing it would intersect a road.When stranded in the wilderness, it is generally recommended you stay put and wait for help, says Gino Ferri, a survival expert in Ontario.In this situation, it’s best to eat all your food — build up your fat reserves — and hunker down in “semi-hibernation mode.”

Frustration was growing. He said his legs were on fire and he cursed the “f***ing long” stream. Spinning around with his camera, he complained about the static scenery.“Pure and natural,” he said. There’s a tendency for visitors to switch to “holiday brain,” adds Lisa Roddick, another team member. Blackburn filed a negligence lawsuit that read like a “bruising indictment of search-and-rescue incompetence,” Explore Magazine later reported.Wearing a fresh pair of socks, Boisvert continued downstream on Day 2 and recorded one more video before his battery died. His mood had deteriorated.Boisvert says his family later learned a resort employee had spotted his car in the parking lot the night before. But it did not trigger a call to authorities.

That’s when he decided to stop and build a permanent shelter. He was now 8.5 kilometres from the resort. The shaking finally subsided when he focused his breathing and his mind, just like he was taught in yoga.He’d wake up in the pre-dawn darkness and tell himself daylight was coming.One time, he heard a scratching noise around his backpack. It’s possible he was hallucinating, but he believed he was staring at a hermit crab.Faith is often cited by people who’ve survived near-death experiences in the wilderness.

 

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He should have watched that movie 127 Hours.

He shouldn’t have been in BC. We have laws against such stupidity. Border Services failed us.

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