Injured hiker rescued after fall: Helicopter plucks climber off ledge

By JIM MANN

The Daily Inter Lake

After spending the night on a narrow ledge, a University of Montana student with a broken leg was plucked from the Mission Mountains by an Air Force helicopter Monday morning.

Andrew Endris, 23, broke his leg after an ice-climbing fall in a tight canyon about a mile above the Mission Falls trailhead east of St. Ignatius.

His climbing partner, Missoula resident John Smiley, also fell but landed on top of Endris and was not injured, Lake County Sheriff Bill Barron said.

Barron said he believes the two men fell about 65 feet.

Smiley hiked out and called 911 for help at about 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon.

A St. Ignatius Ambulance crew and a Salish-Kootenai tribal game warden determined that a technical rescue team was needed, so Flathead County Search and Rescue was called to assist.

"Flathead County has a very experienced ice-climbing rescue team," Barron said.

Tom Snyder, the Flathead Search and Rescue coordinator, said he dispatched a seven-person team led by Bob Lee. The team hiked in after dark and contacted Endris, who was lying on a rocky ledge that would require ropes to reach.

"What I have been told is that because of the fellow's injuries… [the rescuers] didn't feel comfortable pulling him out on the litter with ropes," Snyder said. "So they made the call to spend the night and get him flown out in the morning."

Barron said rescuers were able to maintain voice contact through the night with Endris, who was at an elevation of about 7,200 feet.

"He was in real good condition. He had warm clothing and he was able to make it through the night with no problem," Barron said of Endris, a student from Cape Cod, Mass. "He knew there were people and things in progress to get him off the mountain."

Arrangements were made to have a military helicopter arrive Monday morning from Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls.

"It took all night to get everything together," Barron said.

Capt. Elizabeth Benn, a public affairs officer at Malmstrom, said a UH-1N "Huey" outfitted with a five-person crew and a litter hoist flew the rescue mission.

"It took them about a half hour to assess the best way to do it," Benn said. "He was in a pretty deep box canyon with sheer walls. But they do have a very unique capability because they have a hoist … They can drop that down into some of these narrow areas and that's what they did this morning to get that person out."

Endris was flown to the Missoula airport at about 9:30 a.m. and then taken by ambulance to St. Patrick Hospital.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.