Man rescued in parasailing accident

The Daily Inter Lake

Search lights illuminated part of Columbia Mountain Thursday night as rescuers looked for a parasailor who crashed into trees.

The 36-year-old man reportedly carried his parasail up the trail to the top of the mountain. On the way, he asked a landowner's permission to cross through his property. It was the landowner who reportedly watched the man launch his craft and then saw the chute tangle in trees on the mountain.

ALERT helicopter lifted off from Kalispell Regional Medical Center at about 7 p.m. Also dispatched were North Valley Search & Rescue, sheriff's deputies, Badrock fire department, Canyon Quick Response Unit and Columbia Falls ambulance.

A brilliant moon shone to the north of the mountain as crew members from ALERT reportedly freed the man from the tree that had snared his parasail.

He refused medical attention and rescuers were done within a couple of hours.