iPod saves lost
snowboarder

LOS ALAMOS, N. M. (KRQE) - The light from a portable music player helped guide airborne rescuers to a lost snowboarder facing a second frigid night on a New Mexico mountain.

Sebastian Gomez disappeared while boarding in falling snow at the Pajarito Mountain Ski Area late Sunday afternoon. He and his best friend, Greg Blea, were on their last run in the mountains above Los Alamos when they became separated.

Blea told KRQE News 13 he stopped to clean his goggles, and that was the last he saw of Gomez.

"This was my buddy," Blea said. "We went up looking for him. I couldn't leave him alone."

More than 100 searchers hoofed through the deep and blowing snow along with the help from search dogs and snowmobiles. They never gave up.

But as Gomez was preparing for another long, cold night shortly after sunset, he found salvation in his pockets. As a Blackhawk rescue helicopter made a pass overhead, he waved his iPod music player and a lighter.

Those little lights caught the attention of crewmen wearing night-vision goggles. He was flown to the Los Alamos Medical Center where he was being held overnight mostly as a precaution with no signs of frostbite or serious injuries.

"I was really cold," Gomez said from a wheelchair at the medical center. "I had to build shelters at night to sleep because it snowed all night long.

"That was pretty eerie."

Rescuers found Gomez on the back side of the mountain in 4 feet of snow and about a mile outside the ski area. He said he never gave up hope and knew searchers would find him.

"I knew I was going to be OK," he said. "I didn't freak out or anything."

Word of the rescue sent family and friends into a frenzy. His mother, Janet Ashman, raced to search headquarters.

"Thank you so much," she said. "God bless you guys."

Later she told News 13, "I just want to say thank you to every single person who was giving their best in order to find him. He's on the helicopter, so we will have him soon."

Gomez is fortunate to have made it through this ordeal, and it was a long 24 hours for his mother as well.

"I suffered with her through much of today, and so to share the joy with the family finally, I'm so happy for them," Suzanne Johnston of the Pajarito Ski Patrol said.

Gomez said he doesn't know how he made it out of the ski area's boundaries. It was snowing so hard late Sunday afternoon he just didn't know where the run ended and the danger began.

Temperatures fell into the teens Sunday night, and during the day Monday wind-chill readings were near zero.