A group of 10 skiers who went missing yesterday at the Red Mountain Resort near Rossland, B.C., has been airlifted to safety after spending a cold night out on the mountain.

The group, which was made up of two families of skiers, aged six to 51, from Washington state, was reported missing after they failed to return from an outing on Sunday.

The group leader had lived at the resort and knew the area, according to a statement released by the RCMP.

But apparently they got lost and drifted out of bounds while skiing in a new area of the resort on Grey Mountain near Esling Creek and were unable to find their way back to the resort, according search director Graham Jones.

"Basically [they] kept going downhill trying to find where they were until about three in the afternoon, until they made the wise decision to stay put," said Jones.

Two teams from Rossland Search and Rescue located the skiers around midnight. They were keeping warm around their fire and all were in good condition.

The searchers decided to wait out the night with the two families, rather than traverse out, and at first light a helicopter was dispatched to pick up the group at a nearby helicopter pad.

They were taken to the resort and reunited with the rest of their families.

Google Map: Red Mountain