By John Fowler 
 
 KTVU.com 
 
 The quick-thinking of a 9-year-old Marin County boy may have helped save his father’s life after a recent snow-mobile accident. 
 
 Bode Bierdneau is in the fourth grade and had an extra pep in his step Tuesday. 
 
 “Because I saved my Dad, a lot of people were like ‘Wow! You saved your dad’,” Bierdneau told KTVU. 
 
 His dad, JT Bierdneau was severely injured two days ago in Lake Tahoe after his snowmobile trapped his leg. 
 
 After the crash the younger Bierdneau took off by himself, across miles of snow to get help. 
 
 “I was pretty nervous it was a lot of pressure on me to try to get someone,” the young boy said. “It was really hard because I didn’t know which way to go, he didn’t give me much direction.” 
 
 Despite having no cell-phone reception the 9-year-old hero stayed calm, snowmobiling until he found someone with an emergency radio. 
 
 From there he led rescuers to his dad. 
 
 “Search and Rescue called me and said, ‘Your son, what he did was incredible, 9-year-olds don't leave their father and go get help and bring us back,” Tisha Shaw, Bode’s mother,said. 
 
 Bode’s father was hospitalized and is expected to recover. 
 
 The fourth-grade student says despite all the excitement and his new hero status, he was still able to complete all his homework. ||||| Nine-year-old Bode Beirdneau sits at home in San Rafael, Calif. on Wednesday, April 9, 2014. Beirdneau is being called a hero after he dug his injured father out from the snow and then went for help after a snowmobile accident near South Lake Tahoe last Sunday. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal) Alan Dep 
 
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 When a typical backcountry snowmobile outing near South Lake Tahoe took a turn for the worse Sunday, a 9-year-old San Rafael boy took action and is now being credited with saving his father's life. 
 
 Bode Beirdneau, a fourth-grader at Coleman Elementary School, was riding his snowmobile in the Blue Lakes Area of Alpine County when his father, 54-year-old South Lake Tahoe resident John Taylor, began to have problems with his own snowmobile. 
 
 "His gas got stuck going at 30 miles per hour. He went up a hill and ran into a tree branch. He tried to jump off, but got pulled under the snowmobile and broke his femur," Bode said. 
 
 Emergency personnel assist John Taylor after a snowmobile accident near South Lake Tahoe, Calif. on Sunday, April 6, 2014. (Photo by Bode Beirdneau) Bode Beirdneau 
 
 His father's left leg was trapped under the snowmobile and even though Bode took off his gloves and tried to dig his father out of the snow, his hands quickly became numb and the pair realized they were in trouble. At first, Bode didn't know what to do. With no cellphone signal and no GPS device, there was no way to call for help. 
 
 "My dad told me to go back to the road and go find help," Bode said. "I freaked out because I didn't know where to go." 
 
 But he stomached his fears and spent the next 20 minutes on his snowmobile trying to locate the road. According to the California Highway Patrol, Bode rode his snowmobile toward Highway 88 on Blue Lakes Road and eventually found a group of tourists on an outing with a Lake Tahoe Adventures employee. The employee used a radio to call emergency personnel for help around 1 p.m. 
 
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 Bode was able to lead emergency responders back to his father. Personnel from the CHP, the Alpine County Sheriff's Department, Alpine County Volunteer Fire Department and Lake Valley Fire Department responded to the crash site, according to a CHP press release. 
 
 CHP Officer Jeff Gardner said Taylor was a couple of miles from Blue Lakes Road, so the fact that Bode was able to lead emergency responders back to his father is remarkable. 
 
 "Knowing the area helped out a lot with them," Gardner said. "He showed a lot of maturity for his age." 
 
 Bode said the emergency responders placed his father on a backboard and then used a helicopter to airlift him to the hospital. Emergency personnel transported Bode to the hospital by vehicle, where his father was treated and released the next day. 
 
 Bode said he was glad he was with his father when the accident happened. 
 
 "If it was just himself, he would've just froze to death out there," Bode said. 
 
 Even though Bode has been snowmobiling since he was 4 years old and enjoys skiing and snowboarding when he visits his father every other weekend, he said the plan is to bring a GPS unit on future outings and another adult — just so they can be safe. 
 
 Bode Beirdneau, 9, does homework at the kitchen table of his home in San Rafael, Calif. on Wednesday, April 9, 2014. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal) Alan Dep 
 
 Gardner said GPS units are a great tool for traversing the backcountry and can be especially valuable because most cellphones don't get coverage in the area. He said those who helped Bode and his father were amazed by the youngster. 
 
 "It's the calm and composure he had during the whole thing," Gardner said. 
 
 Bode plans to visit Taylor this weekend as he has a few items he needs to retrieve from his father's vehicle, which was left out in the snowy backcountry. 
 
 "The bad thing is all of my homework was stuck in the car in my backpack," Bode said. 
 
 Luckily, his book report isn't due until next week. 
 
 Contact Megan Hansen via email at mhansen@marinij.com or via Twitter at http://twitter.com/hansenmegan. Follow her blog at http://blogs.marinij.com/bureaucratsandbaking.
– A fourth-grader is being hailed as a hero for keeping his cool and saving his dad's life after a snowmobile accident, reports KTVU-TV. Bode Beirdneau, 9, and his father were snowmobiling in South Lake Tahoe when dad John Taylor lost control of his machine and ended up pinned beneath it with a broken leg. Bode couldn't dig him out and had no choice but to hop back on his snowmobile in the remote locale and try to find help. "I freaked out because I didn't know where to go," he tells the Marin Independent Journal. But he soon calmed down, riding for about 20 minutes until he came across a tourist group whose leader radioed for help. Then the tricky part: Bode led them back to his dad without a GPS device. "He showed a lot of maturity for his age," says a California Highway Patrol officer. "It's the calm and composure he had during the whole thing."