Two Whitehorse residents rescued a man from the frigid waters of Little Salmon Lake near Faro last night, likely saving his life, RCMP Cpl. Ken Alderson said in an interview this morning.

The canoeist, a Whitehorse man in his 50s, had capsized in the lake after he stood up in his boat.

The RCMP would not release the man's name.

He was in the wrong kind of boat for the weather on the lake and just wasn't thinking when he stood up, said Alderson. The canoeist is feeling rather embarrassed right now, he added.

It's estimated the man was capsized in the water for about 40 minutes before he was spotted by Ron Moyen of Whitehorse from the shore.

Moyen quickly sought help from a nearby territorial highway camp and Lou Drake, also of Whitehorse, volunteered a boat to go and attempt to rescue the man from the water.

The boat used for the rescue was a large motorboat style vessel, however, it didn't have a working motor onboard and the two rescuers had to paddle out to the distressed canoeist, said Alderson.

It took the rescuers approximately 15 minutes to paddle through the high winds and rough waters to where the canoeist had fallen into the water approximately a kilometre from shore, he added.

They managed to pull the man aboard and wrapped him in a blanket before trying to paddle back, he said.

'It was very, very difficult for them because of the waves and wind,' he said.

The RCMP's Faro detachment was contacted at about 5:07 p.m. It was able to launch a rescue Zodiac and meet the dismantled motorboat on its way back to shore. It towed the boat the rest of the way.

'The guy would have died if they had not done that,' Alderson said.

He added the two rescuers were nearly exhausted by the time the RCMP reached them.

The rescued man was suffering from advanced, and potentially fatal, stages of hypothermia and was taken to the Faro nursing station for treatment, he added.

He has recovered and has since been released, said Alderson.