Backcountry
Industry News
20 year-old snowboarder Julie Abrahamsen was found Saturday by search and rescue teams after she got lost Wednesday while snowboarding on Blackcomb Mountain at Whistler Blackcomb ski resort in British Columbia.
Abrahamsen, visiting from Norway, had been snowboarding alone Wednesday, and was reported missing by a room mate Friday after she hadn’t returned home. Whistler RCMP, Ski Patrol and Search and Rescue began searching Friday. A helicopter discovered tracks Saturday afternoon in the Blackcomb backcountry which they then followed and eventually found her. She was in good spirits and had sustained no serious injuries but was taken to hospital to be observed for the night.
The young snowboarder was found near Wedge Mountain, a few miles from resort the boundary.ย Search and Rescue operations said had she continued her path, she would have made it to the main road in about two days.
The pineapple express, the name for a warm weather front originating in the pacific tropics, is to thank for three days of warmer than normal January weather which played a huge role in Abrahamsen’s survival. Had temperatures been closer to the average January climate, the story may have ended very differently.
Abrahamsen was reunited with her friends back in Whistler and is very grateful to all involved in the search. She also requests that anyone who finds a purple and black Burton snowboard with purple bindings in a riverbed somewhere around Blackcomb to please let her know.
