A Scottish tourist is lucky to be alive after falling into the Athabasca river and spending four hours freezing in -10 degree temperatures in a small clearing  on Saturday night.

The man, 22, from Glasgow, Scotland was found in the grips of hypothermia by Old Fort Point on Saturday by a group of hikers participating in a full moon hike. By the time he was found, his body temperature had dropped 32 degrees C and he had turned blue.

“He was put on the line between moderate and severe hypothermia. From there, it’s a quick downhill slide to potential cardiac arrest. He likely wouldn’t have survived the night,” said Parks Canada public safety officer Garth Lemke.

The water was a frigid 4 degrees C that night, which coupled with the -10 C temperatures quickly took its toll on the victim, who found himself incapacitated within minutes.

The man was walking to town with some people he had met when he became separated from the group before sunset. In town for a ski vacation, he had been drinking before the hike.

Although he does not remember falling in the river, he recalls the sunlight during his walk by the river. He managed to climb out of the river over the ice ridge. By that time, the cold began to take effect and he crawled towards the trail before settling by a tree. Disoriented and unable to move because of the cold, he drifted in an out of consciousness.

“In the summer, without protection, you have seven minutes in the water before you start to lose use of your appendages. It’s much shorter in the winter,” Lemke said.

Lemke said the victim's ’ clothing was also frigid, which would have made moving difficult. Since he was young and healthy, he had a better chance of survival, Lemke said, but an entire night in that condition could have proven fatal. There is also a chance the alcohol in his blood helped insulate him from the cold.

At 9:30 p.m. a group of hikers participating in a Friends of Jasper moonlight hike made their way down the trail and heard moaning coming from the bushes. They found the man about 20 metres from the riverbank by a tree, snapping in and out of consciousness. He had stopped shivering which is a sign of severe hypothermia. One of the hikers, a nurse, attempted to wake him and EMS was called. The victim soon began to shiver – a positive sign.

“It was a coincidence they were walking by,” Lemke said.

Within minutes, paramedics and parks staff members arrived on scene.

“You could pick him up by his jeans. He was as stiff as a two-by-four,” said Lemke.

He had lost all feeling in his feet, and parks officials initially worried they may need to be amputated, Lemke said. Since he was so stiff, he was lifted into the ambulance.

He was transported to hospital, and released 24 hours later. It took 12 hours for the man to regain feeling in his toes, and he suffered frostbite underneath his eyes.

Lemke guesses that the man had walked onto an ice shelf that collapsed underneath his weight.

“Ice shelves look pretty, but they’re pretty dangerous,” Lemke said. “They can collapse.”

Parks officials are warning the public to be safe around waterways.

“If you fall into the water, don’t panic, control your breathing roll along the ice and change out of wet clothes,” Lemke said.

Body temperature drops 25 times faster when wet, and faster still when combined with winds.

Parks officials are looking for more information about the incident and are asking anyone with details to come forward.