LINCOLN, N.H. (AP) – It took 15 hours for state Fish and Game and U.S. Forest Service searchers to locate a cross-country skier who got lost Saturday in the White Mountain National Forest.

Fish and Game Department Lt. Todd Bogardus said the skier, 51-year-old John Ford of Harvard, Mass., could have helped himself and possibly avoided a lengthy search by following some rules of safe hiking: turning back, packing the right equipment and staying with his group.

The search for Ford began about 4 p.m. Saturday and continued until 7 a.m. Sunday.

Bogardus said Conservation Officers Gregory Jellison and Jeremy Hawkes walked 16 miles to find and retrieve Ford, who with a companion split from a group during a ski trip in Franconia Falls. The two skiers took a wrong turn, and when his companion decided to turn back, Ford kept going.

AP-ES-02-11-07 0944EST