'Moonlight' jump off Columbia doesn't go well for paraglider
Hungry Horse News
A 36-year-old Whitefish man was ferried down from the summit of Columbia Mountain by ALERT helicopter Feb. 24 after his paraglider got caught in trees shortly after takeoff, even though he was not injured.
Peter Myers, an experienced paraglider who has been jumping for 12 years, said he had planned on doing a moonlight descent but decided to jump at sunset because the winds had changed.
"I've climbed Columbia Mountain about 30 times, but I've only walked down it once," he said.
On takeoff this time, however, his chute got entangled in trees, leaving him hanging a few feet off the ground.
"The winds changed and I didn't get the lift I needed," he said.
Meanwhile, as he worked to clear his chute and move to a new jump location, rescue personnel were notified of Myers' situation by Thane Bodily, who lives on the flats below Columbia Mountain.
Myers had left his vehicle on Bodily's property in the early afternoon and hiked to the summit carrying his 35-pound chute in about three hours. Bodily was watching with a video camera when he saw Myers' chute hit the trees.
The Flathead County Sheriff's Office was notified of the accident about 7 p.m. North Valley Search and Rescue, Badrock Volunteer Fire Department, Canyon Quick Response Unit and Three River EMS also responded.
Rescue personnel estimated it might take four or five hours to reach Myers on foot, so the ALERT helicopter was dispatched from Kalispell Regional Medical Center to assist with the rescue.
Equipped with night vision equipment, the helicopter pilot was able to find a place to land not far from the crash.
Myers said he had his chute packed and told the ALERT crew he wanted to hike back down to his vehicle, but they insisted he ride down with them. Once he was at the bottom, he said, the ALERT crew offered to retrieve his gear on the summit.
Myers said he began paragliding 12 years ago when he was living in Brazil. He said he's soared as high as 4,000 feet above Columbia Mountain.
According to NVSR president Jack Thompson, there have been several gliding accidents in area mountains in the past. A young hang glider's body was found by searchers more than a week after he flew off the summit of Desert Mountain during the 1980s.
Another hang glider went missing on the back side of Columbia Mountain in the early 1980s. Searchers found the hang glider and the man's helmet, but the man was never found despite several years of searching with up to 150 people at a time. His was the only case of a missing person never found by NVSR.