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Against all odds, rescuers found snowboarder James Martin alive Wednesday more than three days after he went missing on Mount Seymour in North Vancouver.

Mr. Martin was found frozen stiff, unable to walk and with frostbite on his hands, according to one report. He told his rescuers that he hadn't moved since managing to make his way down the mountain to a spot near Suicide Gully a day earlier. He was being taken to a local hospital for treatment, but was described as coherent.

“Oh my God, it's such a miracle … it's just … you have no idea, no idea. It was just getting very grim … it's the best news that can ever happen,” said his mother, Debbie Martin. “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.”

Hopes for Mr. Martin's survival were dimming only hours before he was discovered. The 21-year-old construction worker had driven alone to the popular ski slopes this past Sunday morning. It wasn't until Tuesday that his car, which by then had a thick blanket of snow, was discovered and the authorities alerted. Already missing for two days mountain rescue were unable to begin a full search because of the dangerous weather conditions and the risk of avalanches. On Wednesday morning things had improved but his chances still didn't look good to many of the rescuers.

“People were pretty pessimistic,” said Jim Delgrande, a 10-year member of the Coquitlam search-and-rescue team. Mr. Delgrande has participated in numerous searches on Mount Seymour, most of them in the winter and some ending with discovery of a body.

Volunteer rescue teams were scrambled to look for Mr. Martin, who had recently moved to B.C. from Ontario and was new to the terrain. Helicopters from the RCMP and Mountain Rescue scoured the mountain and dropped rescuers into inaccessible areas.

Speaking from the rescue operation centre at Mount Seymour resort at noon, search-and-rescue manager Tim Jones was pessimistic about the chances of finding Mr. Martin alive.

“Thank God the weather risk has improved, otherwise we would never had access. Dropping the field teams in there would have been unacceptable yesterday,” he said. “However, I hate to say this, but his chances of survival are very low; it is a bad set of cards for this guy.”

Yet the search went on unabated, with friends of Mr. Martin arriving at the mountain to help look for him. Glen Williams, a friend of Mr. Martin's from Surrey, was positive about finding him alive.

“I haven't known him very long but he's a sweet guy. Right at the minute it's the more hands the better,” he said. “The temperatures haven't been too bad for the last few days; I think he'll stick it out.”

As the day drew on, the chances of finding Mr. Martin seemed to shrink even further. His mother was beginning to ask for a miracle.

“I just want everyone to pray that he comes back alive,” she said, sobbing down the phone from her home in Orillia, Ont. “He is the most likeable person and has tons of friends praying that he's going to be alive.”

Then, just 15 minutes later, her prayers were answered when she received the news that he had been found by a search-and-rescue party and was being airlifted to safety.

Mr. Delgrande was on the mountain when he heard the news that Mr. Martin had been found. Mr. Delgrande and three others had been assigned to search an area that was within Mount Seymour ski area boundaries but had no marked runs. After spending the morning searching, they were alerted that other searchers had found tracks headed down the mountain to an area known as Suicide Gully. The tracks eventually led ground teams to Mr. Martin. Temperatures were in the -6 range but strong winds made conditions “surprisingly bitter,” Mr. Delgrande said.

Mr. Martin can consider himself lucky, Mr. Delgrande said.

“The weather was bad, he was out for a long time and avalanche conditions are appallingly bad right now. There are areas they just won't send searchers in, because it endangers them. Somehow he managed to get through very nasty avalanche terrain, with very poor conditions, and obviously traversed it all right.”

With a report from Joe Friesen