When Daniel Weisz was up on Brohm Ridge in the middle of the night, cold, wet and tired, it was the thought of his kids that kept him focused, he says.
"I thought of my family — if I was not there," he said.
The Burnaby man was out for a "quick run" snowmobiling in the backcountry on Dec. 18 when he became lost, tired and stuck. It got dark, cold and blustery quick.
He tried to use his cellphone to call his wife and 911 but the calls kept dropping.
By 3 p.m. he knew he faced a night alone on the mountain.
It was snowing so much, he only saw the moon once, and not until close to the morning.
It dipped to -4 C during the night.
"I screamed a little bit, 'I will survive,'" he said. "I talked about my kids a lot too."
He never feared he would die, a mindset which he thinks helped save him because he was thoughtful in his choices and didn't panic.
"I didn't leave and try to find my way out — which would have made me more tired."
He dug a hole to huddle in and stayed put to wait it out.
He spent 17 hours on the mountain until Squamish snowmobiler Dave Norona heard his whistle and saw the light from his sled. Norona helped him ultimately get home to his wife and kids, aged five and 12.
While his kids weren't aware of what was happening during the night, family and friends did suffer during the wait to hear if he was OK.
"My mom was scared to hell," Weisz said. When she got the call he was OK, her relief was overwhelming.
"On the phone, she couldn't speak for 10 minutes. She was just crying."
His mom is in Montreal and was scared he had been buried in an avalanche or was under his snowmobile somewhere, hurt.
Weisz, 42, is no stranger to the outdoors. He was a self-described Whistler ski bum as a young man, has worked as a labourer and bricklayer in all types of weather — including in Montreal — and took a first responder wilderness course last year.
He did a lot of things right, such as telling his wife where he was going, staying put once he knew he was lost and digging a hole in the snow.
He was also carrying two lighters with him, so, to beat the cold, he started a fire in his helmet and burned his belt.
Being wet was the worst part, he said.
He was soaked so even to light the lighter, he had to dry out his hands on his snowmobile's exhaust.
"It was terrible," he said. "I felt like I was swimming in a pool for the whole day. My fingers and everything were swollen."
When he started to shiver, he did jumping jacks to get warm.
He was thinking of lighting his sled on fire just before he was rescued.
On the way back down the mountain in the morning, he came across Squamish Search and Rescue members on their way to find him.
"I cancelled them and the guy gave me his left-over coffee," Weisz said with a laugh. "It was great, but it tasted like plastic because I burned so much stuff that the smoke was nasty."
On reflection, he says he knows he went too far that day on his sled. When the treeline started disappearing in front of him, he shouldn't have kept going, he said.
"I was thinking I knew the way. I disrespected it, kind of. I thought it was easy and I should have paid more attention."
He also thinks he should have headed out earlier in the day.
He headed up at 9: 30 a.m.
"The shortest day of the year, if something goes wrong, it is a small window," he acknowledged.
Weisz said he is going to buy a personal locator — a SPOT satellite messenger — before he heads out again into the backcountry. But he will go out again.
"It was a bad mistake, but I am not going to change my life," he said. "I won't go during a snowstorm, that high. I will stay in a way more safe area."
AdventureSmart.ca offers a lot of resources, including a comprehensive list of items to pack to stay save in the backcountry.
For rescuer Dave Norona's story, go here.
Snowmobiler “Lost & FOUND!!!”
— BC AdventureSmart (@BCAdvSmart) December 20, 2019
He had a safety whistle, he made a (sacrificed helmet & belt), he knew how to make shelter & made it out w/ help from our friend @davenorona !
NO ONE EVER expects trouble, but poor #weather , mistake in can = crisis.https://t.co/q1VYVGbyR5 pic.twitter.com/6HlEwD7802
