Lost Snowboarders Burned Homework to Survive

A teenager in British Columbia is going to have a very good excuse for not having done his homework when he goes back to school: He had to burn it to avoid getting frostbite. The Mounties say two 16-year-old snowboarders became lost in an out-of-bounds area at the Whitewater Ski Resort near Nelson, BC, on Sunday and spent a cold night stranded in the backcountry, the CBC reports. The boys were rescued after a helicopter spotted them Monday morning. Authorities say they were very cold but in good spirits when found and they were allowed to go home after a medical assessment.

Officials say the teens, who were found in an area where people easily become disoriented, constructed a shelter and built a fire after they realized they were lost, reports the Nelson Daily. More than 3.5 inches of snow fell on the mountain overnight. "One young person had homework in his backpack and that definitely helped keep the fire going," says Jim Kyle, the manager of Nelson Search and Rescue. "They did all the right things." (More Canada stories.)