Snowboarder With 'Strong Spirit' Found After 3 Days

Julie Abrahamsen was lost in Whistler, in 'cold, but good, condition'
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 25, 2015 10:36 AM CST
Snowboarder With 'Strong Spirit' Found After 3 Days
In this photo taken Saturday, Jan. 17, 2015 snowboarders and skiers share the terrain park at Gunstock ski area in Gilford, NH.   (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

Three days lost in the "back country" around Whistler, British Columbia, have left a snowboarder "cold," but apparently no worse for the wear. Twenty-one-year-old Julie Abrahamsen was found yesterday by searchers who spotted her tracks from a helicopter, reports ABC News. "Searchers followed the trail and at approximately 1:30pm located the missing snowboarder in cold, but good, condition," reads a statement from the Whistler Royal Canadian Mounted Police. She had last been seen Wednesday near Blackcomb Mountain; a roommate reported her missing on Friday, triggering a search.

Abrahamsen was found in what the CBC calls "extremely rugged terrain" more than three miles beyond the ski boundary. "These moments are big for us because we don't get enough of them quite simply," says a Search and Rescue coordinator. "To find someone with a strong spirit who is able to endure the past three nights of weather—that's a big win for all of us." Officials are trying to figure out how Abrahamsen got so far astray. "It's not an area that would've been accessible by just riding your snowboard out," says an RCMP rep. (More snowboarding stories.)

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