Sam Benastick was found by two workers after being missing since Oct. 19 and surviving temperatures down to -20 C.
A hiker who went missing in the northern B.C. backcountry has been found after surviving more than five weeks in the freezing northeastern mountains.
In a news release Wednesday, northern Rockies RCMP say they were notified that Sam Benastick, who was reported missing on Oct. 19, had been located.
The experienced outdoorsman had gone hiking and camping on Oct. 7 in Redfern-Keily Provincial Park, located northwest of Fort St. John, but failed to return home to Kamloops on Oct. 17.
Two people were headed to the Redfern Lake trail for work, where they saw a man walking toward them. When they approached the man, they recognized him as Benastick, Mounties said.
The two men took him to hospital where police attended and confirmed he was the man reported missing.
Benastick told police that he stayed in his car for a couple of days and then walked to a mountainside creek, where he camped out for 10 to 15 days. He then moved down the valley, and built a camp and shelter in a dried-out creek bed.
“Finding Sam alive is the absolute best outcome. After all the time he was missing, it was feared that this would not be the outcome,” said RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Madonna Saunderson in a statement.
The temperature has been below -20 C over the past week in the park, according to the Weather Network, and is expected to be -30 C on Friday.
Search-and-rescue and police dog services aided in the search for Benastick.
Mike Reid, general manager of the Buffalo Inn in Pink Mountain, B.C., where Benastick’s family stayed during the search efforts, says he spoke to the hiker’s father, who told him the young man had been found.
With files from The Canadian Press