Bush survival skills, cellphone come in handy for Sask. First Nations man lost at northern lake

The family of a man from northern Saskatchewan who got lost in a snowstorm is happy to have him home safe.

Jack Ballantyne is from Stanley Mission First Nation, part of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band, about 320 kilometres north of Prince Albert. On Thursday, he posted on social media that he was lost.

"I am lost at La Ronge Lake … I found a cabin. My phone is about to die and my skidoo is totally stuck on a block of ice and out of gas," he wrote.

Residents in the area shared the post, including Tammy Cook-Searson, chief of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band.

She said a search team from Stanley Mission headed out in the snowstorm to look for Ballantyne.

"They went out and they searched for six hours," said Cook-Searson. "They covered 103 kilometres searching for Jack to see where he might be, because the last post he made was [Thursday] afternoon and he hadn't posted again."

The search team was out until nearly midnight, and planned to go out again the next morning.

At about 10 a.m. Friday, Ballantyne messaged one of his sisters with an update and sent a photo of the outside of a locked cabin, where he was keeping a fire going outside.

Jack Ballantyne sent a message to one of his sisters with a photo of the cabin where he was, which helped rescuers locate him. (Submitted by Beatrice Ballantyne)

His sister shared the photo online and, through social media contacts, they were able to figure out where the cabin was and rescuers reached Ballantyne later in the day.

Another sister, Beatrice Ballantyne, said she and her family are happy to have her brother safe and home. He was very tired, she said.

Cook-Searson said she was very happy about how the communities worked together to find Ballantyne.

"It's really good that Jack has those skills to be able to get the fire going, to keep the fire going all night and to be able to keep himself safe," she said.

"A big part, too, is having those bush survival skills and growing up on the trapline, which allowed him to be able to be safe and for him to be returned home safely to family."

Vaughn Skogstad is a dispatcher for the Civil Air Search & Rescue Association, which was on standby to help in the search.

He said Ballantyne did all the right things in the situation.

"He didn't panic, and he found shelter, made contact, made a plan, and powered down his device to preserve power until the morning," Skogstad said.

He said people often make the mistake of panicking, especially when they are lost. They start to call a bunch of people, and use up the power on their device.

If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, he said the best thing to do is to stay calm, find shelter and make contact with someone to let them know your last known location, and that you will call them back.

"In this case, we weren't needed, which is a really good thing."