Site Map |

Search IFW:

DEPARTMENT INFORMATION

• Commissioner's OfficeBureaus & Divisions
• All-Terrain Vehicles, Snowmobiles, and Watercraft
• Education
• Employment
• Fishing
• Grants
• Hunting and Trapping
• Laws and Rules
• Licenses and Permits
• News and Events
  • Meetings and Events
  • Press Releases
• Wildlife

Press Releases

Contact: Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife 284 State Street 41 State House Station Augusta, ME 04333 Contact: Doug Rafferty - 287-5248

Media representatives can receive press releases via e-mail.

• Maine Warden Service Press Releases
• Maine Wildlife Park Press Releases
• Previous Press Releases for 2013
• Previous Press Releases for 2012
• Previous Press Releases for 2011
• Previous Press Releases for 2010
• Previous Press Releases for 2009
• Previous Press Releases for 2008

March 5, 2013

Search Details - Nicholas Joy

Sugarloaf Mountain, Maine - Nicholas Joy, age 17, from Medford, Massachusetts was located this morning at 9:00 AM. He was located alive and well on the Caribou Pond Road (winter snowmobile trail) on the west side of Sugarloaf Mountain. He was located by a snowmobiler named Joseph Paul (correction from Joel in earlier release) from Warwick, Massachusetts. Paul is a Captain with the Warwick Fire Department. Paul was not part of the official search party but did hear of the search via the media. Paul decided to ride the Caribou Pond Road snowmobile trial to help look for Joy. At 9:00 AM, he located Joy on the snowmobile trial. Joy was conscious and alert but was transported to Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington for evaluation.

Photo courtesy of the Maine Warden Service. Nicholas Joy shown this morning on Caribou Pond Road where he was located. Also shown in the photo is Danny Barker with Sugarloaf Mountain Operations. Photo taken by Game Warden Sergeant Scott Thrasher.

Visibility on the mountain was poor on Sunday, March 3 when Joy first went missing. He was last seen by his father Robert Joy on the Timberline chairlift at approximately 12:40 PM on Sunday. Nicholas Joy skied out-of-bounds off the Sugarloaf Mountain trail system network. Nicholas Joy spent both Sunday and Monday nights on the side of Sugarloaf Mountain. He constructed a snow cave for shelter and located nearby Carrabasset Stream for water. Searchers had been in that area on Monday and Joy stated he had heard snowmobile engines. Monday, Joy made some directional sampling searches (short searches to and from his ice cave) to look for help. On Tuesday, Joy walked in the direction of the snowmobile noise he heard the previous day. While walking, he found snowshoe tracks left by searchers. He followed the snowshoe tracks to Caribou Pond Road where he was found by Joseph Paul.

Nearly 100 searchers helped with this search effort. Mahoosuc Rescue, Lincoln (Town of) SAR, Franklin County SAR, Mercer CERT (Community Emergency Response Team), US Border Patrol, Maine Forest Service Rangers, SERE School, Wilderness SAR, Mount Desert Island SAR, DIRIGO SAR, Carrabasset Valley Fire and Rescue, Sugarloaf Ski Patrol, Carrabasset Valley Academy ski volunteers, and the Maine Warden Service.

This is the second search conducted by the Maine Warden Service this winter for a skier who has gone out-of-bounds on Sugarloaf Mountain.

Maine.gov | IFW Home | Site Policies