A tale of survival

What was supposed to be a fun day in the powder turned into an overnight ordeal of survival for a North Okanagan man who has described what happened before a helicopter rescue in the Shuswap backcountry on Tuesday morning.

On Monday, Jordan Edgelow was riding his snowbike in the Hunter's Range area near Enderby. He had become separated from his friends and started to work his way down a slope in an area he had never ridden before.

The 27 year old soon found the slope was too steep to ride back out. In hind sight, Edgelow said he should have left his bike and hiked back to the main trail for help.

Instead, he tried 'sidehilling' – riding parallel along the mountain – in an effort to find a way out, but things went from bad to worse.

While sidehilling, his bike broke loose and slid to the edge of a cliff.

“I just jumped off the bike and it went down a little ravine. I tried holding on to it and looked up and realized there was another cliff so I let go. The bike hooked up on a stump at the edge of the cliff. After that I realized I was pretty screwed and needed to get to the bottom.”

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Edgelow kept his head and survival instincts kicked – thanks to TV.

Edgelow admits he is not an experienced outdoorsman, but has watched numerous episodes of Survivor Man and shows featuring outdoor expert Bear Grylls and some of what he saw stuck with him.

As he was making his way down the slope to the valley bottom, he grabbed a handful of 'witches beard' – the wispy fungus that hangs from trees – because he knew he would need it to start a fire.

Once he reached the bottom of the valley, he dug out a two-metre oval and began looking for firewood for much-needed heat.

Using a shovel saw – which broke part way through the night – Edgelow managed to cut several pine branches which he used as a roof and for bedding.

He also had enough sense to grab a jerry can from the back of his bike as well as some beers - that he did not drink, but poured out so he could use the cans to boil water over the fire.

All tips that he recalled from survival shows.

“I am not like an avid camper,” he said. “ But your mentality totally changes when you are by yourself. Any mistake could be fatal.”

Edgelow knew a rescue operation would be launched and he prepared for that as well.

“I kept some gas for first thing in the morning in case a chopper did come. I grabbed the pine from around my shelter and my pine bed and threw it on the fire and it created lots of smoke. They saw it right away,” he said, adding he has high praise for the crews that brought him to safety.

“It was sweet getting winched up out of there. The experience was great. The chopper team was awesome, they did a great job,” he said.