North Shore Rescue airlifts skier, snowboarder from Cypress backcountry

A skier and snowboarder who went missing from the Cypress Mountain ski area Saturday have been located and airlifted to safety, according to North Shore Rescue.

Search manager Peter Haighsaid the pair are in good shape, but very hungry.

"They were pretty shaken," Haigh said.

"The thought of spending another night did not appeal at all."

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Haigh said a helicopter crew spotted the pairSunday afternoon in the Tony Baker Gully. The pair had been in the area all day.

"They've been trying to look around and get out of there all day, but they basically hadn't moved," Haigh said.

When the two men were initially located, crews assessed whether theycouldbe long-lined out, but fog and snow made that difficult.

Haigh said avalanche conditions persisted, meaning ground crews couldn't go in.

At about 4:15 p.m. Sunday, NSR brought in ahelicopter with a winch, which can lift people from higher altitudes than the other helicopter they use, which requires the aircraft to be 100 metres from the subjects.

Missing since Saturday night

Mike Danks, NSR team leader, saidrescue crews were called by West Vancouver police about the two men, aged 42 and 38,who were reported missing by a girlfriend at 10 p.m. Saturday.

Danks said there waslittle information to go on and weather and avalanche conditions were poor Saturday night, so crews weren't sent out until first light on Sunday morning.

Haigh said 24 members spent the day searching for the missing pair.