An Australian family had the scare of their lifetime when they went missing on their ski trip at Nagano Prefecture last Monday. Thankfully, they were found alive and well on Tuesday morning, after an intense search team sought them out.
An Australian woman in her 50s, along with her three sons, was spending the day on Monday skiing at Nozawa Onsen Japan when they failed to return to the resort. Authorities were deeply alarmed because of the prospective chance of an avalanche in their area due to the heavy snow.
The family was apparently skiing at the marked trails at Mt. Kenashi, but due to the heavy snowfall they went off course and were unable to get down from the 1,649m high mountain. That night, the temperature reached as cold as -10 degrees Celcius, with the snow up to 1.32 m thick.
The search continued the next morning as early as 7:15 am, and after an hour and 30 minutes the police and rescue team was able to find the family. They were immediately taken to the hospital for treatment but none of them sustained major injuries.
According to one of the sons, they were able to send a message to Facebook to some of their family members and relatives that they were lost. And since no cabin can be found in the area where they got lost, they dug out a hole in the snow to keep themselves warm while waiting for their rescue.
Because of the incident, Nozawa Onsen Ski Resort posted on their website about the danger of heading and skiing off-trail due to the heavy snowfall. "Don't head off-piste as there are some extremely unstable layers and the likelihood of becoming stuck is an almost certainty," their website said.
Nozawa Onsen Ski Resort is a popular hangout of snowboarding and skiing enthusiasts. It is located on the west coast of Japan's main land.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
