KIRKRIDER

CARRABASSETT VALLEY — The 17-year-old skier missing since Sunday from the Sugarloaf ski area was found alive Tuesday morning and told rescuers he built a snow shelter when he realized he was lost, according to the Maine Warden Service.

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Missing skier Nicholas Joy, 17, of Medford, Mass., is led to an ambulance Tuesday morning after spending two nights lost near the Sugaloaf ski area.
Staff photo by David Leaming

Donna Joy becomes emotional as she reflects on the two days her son Nicolas Joy, 17, was missing on Sugarloaf Mountain as she speaks to media at the Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington on Tuesday.
Staff photo by Michael G. Seamans
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Nicholas Joy, of Medford, Mass., said he likes to watch survival shows on television and that may be how he learned to make the snow cave, said Sugarloaf General Manager John Diller.

Joy was found around 9 a.m. near Caribou Pond Road, a snowmobile trail on the west side of the ski area. He was conscious and alert, and was taken to Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington for evaluation, according to the warden service.


Teen built 'snow cave' while lost near Sugarloaf | The Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME

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linvillegorge

Dumb enough to get lost, but smart enough to survive it and ensure he gets a chance to learn from the experience.

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jdang307

perhaps I should learn to build a snow cave

mojo maestro

Snow trench is less work in a survival situation.

poutanen

Good survival skills, but don't most smartphones come with at least GPS, and magnetometers in them?!?

boarderaholic

I wouldn't be surprised if the battery in his phone died. Smart phones are awesome... But only when they're working.

poutanen

Yeah fair enough. Maybe it's just me but my phone is charging all night, and then it's got a full battery for a full day at the hill. Usually still have 70% battery or so when I get home. I only use it for pictures and the occasional text while at the hill though.

I guess the overall moral of the story is to not leave the boundary of the resort, right? Right!

Treegreen

Or if he wasn't riding with one since he was technically riding the resort and ducked out-of-bounds.

Psi-Man

I just listened to the details of this story and something tells me that there is more to this story than meets the eye.

Efilnikufesin

Not all places in the east are that small. If you end up on the backside of the mountain you are probably very far away from the resort bounds and stuck in a thick forest. Sugarloaf's skiable terrain once they complete the expansion will be 1600 acres or so, but keep in mind the actual acreage of the mountain is much greater because they only count the acres of trails and glades that are cut, it's not the full mountain acreage.

Edit: Looked it up, and the ski area actually encompasses a total of 5000 acres.