Snowboarder spends cold night lost in mountains after going out-of-bounds at Heavenly

A 32-year-old man is lucky to be alive today after spending the night lost in the mountains of South Lake Tahoe after snowboarding out-of-bounds at Heavenly Mountain Resort.

El Dorado County Sheriff's Search and Rescue (SAR) team was notified at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday that the man, identified only as "Aarin," was disoriented and lost. Aarin was able to call Heavenly Valley Ski Patrol to tell them he was in deep snow and having trouble navigating.

Heavenly Ski Patrol could only speak with Aarin for a very brief time as his phone died almost immediately. The snowboarder could only state he left the Canyon Express lift near High Five run. Heavenly staff began searching in-bounds and notified SAR at approximately 4:00 p.m. Tuesday, February 21.

At the time Aarin went missing it was snowing heavily and visibility was very poor. Using 20 searchers from Heavenly Ski Patrol, a thorough search of the area in-bounds was completed. Due to the weather conditions and reduced daylight due to the time of day, searching out of bounds was determined to be unsafe. The search was scaled down until first light Wednesday. Plans were to involve ground searchers and helicopters from CHP Air Operations and CALSTAR, based in South Lake Tahoe.

At approximately 8:30 a.m., just prior to sending out ground searchers, a CALSTAR medical helicopter located Aarin in the Cold Creek Drainage. With the assistance of CHP Helicopter and El Dorado County Sheriff's Search and Rescue, Aarin was recovered from the drainage.

Aarin suffered exposure to the cold and was transported to Barton Memorial Hospital for an evaluation. He was able to get out of the helicopter on his own and walk into a waiting ambulance.

Heavenly Mountain Resort could not be reached for comment.