Man in fair condition after weekend incident in Swan

Rescued by helicopter

Lake County Leader

One man was in fair condition at Kalispell Regional Medical Center Tuesday after he was saved Saturday following a fall in the Swan mountain range, according to officials.

The man’s identity has not been released.

Lake County Sheriff Don Bell confirmed Monday morning that the county’s emergency dispatch center received a call on Jan. 5 that a man “went over the cliff.”

Once Bell was contacted by dispatch, he called Swan/Mission Search and Rescue to coordinate a rescue effort.

Coordinators from SMSAR said that a member of the team was flying his own helicopter Saturday afternoon when he received the call about the man, who was southeast of Swan Lake on the back of Spring Slide Mountain.

The victim was with a group of people at the time of the incident, officials said.

Together, three members of SMSAR went to assess the situation in the helicopter as well as confirming exact coordinates of the site.

SMSAR members contacted Two Bear Air out of Kalispell for further assistance.

The man was successfully located by Two Bear Air and rescued. He was taken to the SMSAR hall in the Swan Valley, where he was than transported to KRMC by Bigfork Ambulance.