A backcountry skier fell 200 feet and suffered serious injuries near Clear Lake sometime Wednesday morning or afternoon and was taken by helicopter and ambulance to Telluride.

Jim Donovan, emergency manager for San Juan County, declined to provide details about the skier other than he was a young man from Telluride who suffered serious injuries that required helicopter transport out of the area.

Clear Lake is along the San Juan-San Miguel county line, 3 miles north of the South Mineral Campground, which is west of Silverton.

Donovan declined to detail the nature of the man’s injuries other than to say they were serious and required helicopter transport.

The helicopter initially took the patient from the scene to U.S. Highway 550, where Silverton Ambulance picked him up for transport to Telluride Regional Medical Center. The skier might have been transported from Telluride to Montrose Memorial Hospital for treatment, he said.

A helicopter from Helitrax Trips flew the skier out of the area because Flight for Life was unavailable because of weather conditions, Donovan said.

“Helitrax has a wider range of conditions it can fly in, and they know the area,” he said.

Weather during the rescue varied from cloudy conditions to snowy conditions, Donovan said.

San Juan Search and Rescue was the lead agency with assistance from San Miguel County Search and Rescue and La Plata County Search and Rescue. Donovan said about a dozen responders assisted.

Emergency responders received the call about the fallen skier about 2:09 p.m. Wednesday, but Donovan said a skier who was uninjured had to climb to a ridgetop to make contact with emergency dispatch, and he was unsure the exact time of day when the accident occurred.

This story has been updated to note additional details about the injured skier’s transport to Telluride Regional Medical Center. parmijo@durangoherald.com