| | Lost snowboarder 'cheats death' on mountain
 OTTAWA (AFP) — A rescued 21-year-old snowboarder "cheated death" after three days lost on a western Canadian mountain, media reports said Thursday.
James William Martin, who had been missing since Sunday in the vicinity of Mount Seymour, north of Vancouver, was discovered in the snow with frostbite on his hands and unable to walk.
His mother Debbie Martin described his rescue as a "miracle."
"It's the best news that can ever happen," she said, quoted by the Globe and Mail daily.
"It's an unbelievable story. Three nights out in the freezing cold, lost in the backcountry of Mount Seymour, and Jamie Martin beat the odds -- cheated death even."
Martin, a construction worker originally from eastern Ontario province, was unfamiliar with region.
He set out alone on a snowboarding trip Sunday, and was reported missing by his employer 24 hours later.
Rescuers began an intense search on foot and by helicopter after Martin's car was discovered in a ski resort parking lot Tuesday, but hopes were fading just hours before they spotted his tracks in the snow Wednesday.
"Frozen stiff," according to the newspaper, Martin was nevertheless coherent upon arriving at hospital.
Without extreme weather equipment, Martin braved the three days in bone-chilling conditions, with temperatures dropping as low as minus 6 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 21 Celsius).
The threat of avalanches also hampered rescue crews. In the region this week eight snowmobilers were killed after being struck by an avalanche in the Rocky Mountains southwest of Calgary, British Columbia.
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