NBC NATIONAL NEWS — After nearly 48 hours, a 17-year-old skier was found alive and well at Maine's Sugarloaf ski resort Tuesday morning.

Nicholas Joy, of Medford, Mass., survived two nights in the wild by building a snow cave for shelter and walked toward the sound of snowmobiles during the day.

A Massachusetts firefighter was out snowmobiling and found Joy near Caribou Pond Pass, a trail off the western side of Sugarloaf Mountain. Joy was cold and wet, but otherwise okay.

Joy went missing Sunday afternoon after he and his father split up after taking a chairlift to the top of the mountain.

Joseph Paul, the snowmobiler who found Joy, was not part of the search party. Paul said he knew the area well and decided to take his snowmobile for a ride to see if he could find him.

"I was searching off the side of the trail looking for any footprints or sign of anybody. All of the sudden I see some footprints walking down the trail. So he had found the snowmobile trail finally and I just gave him a ride out," said Paul.

"He said he watched a survival show and made a shelter with branches and drank out of the stream, so that's how he survived," Paul added.

Joy was reunited with his family in the ambulance.

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