Frank Glass says he wouldn’t be here if not for the man who jumped into Kathleen Lake to help him after Glass’s canoe capsized Saturday evening.

Glass was paddling the lake, in Kluane National Park, with Donald Francis, a longtime friend and Yukon resident

When a wave hit them broadside, it spilled both men and Francis’s dog, Kody, into the middle of the glacier-fed lake.

Kody, a Portuguese water dog, swam back and forth between the men, climbing on them and scratching them.

Glass told the Star this morning from his home in Quebec City he tried to put the dog back in the canoe, so he could scissor-kick toward shore with the boat, but Kody kept jumping out.

“My breathing is excellent,” said Glass, 70, who was in the water for a total of 10 minutes.

“I’m very very fit, but at some point, there was no more oxygen getting to my legs. They were too cold. I realized I wasn’t going to make it. I looked at (Francis) and he looked comatose.”

That’s when Glass saw a man on the beach wearing swim trunks.

The man got in the water and swam out to the canoe, pulling it by the bow back to shore, along with both men and the dog.

From there, Glass remembers the man helping him out of his clothes.

His rescuer then dressed Glass in his own dry clothes, rubbed his back, and fed him a banana.

He helped Glass and Francis to a nearby Parks Canada cabin, where they awaited an ambulance which took them to the Haines Junction Health Centre.

Pat Living, spokesperson for the Yukon’s Department of Health and Social Services, said today both men were treated and released that day.

Glass was visiting from Quebec City, where he’s a geophysicist and geologist. He had come to attend last week’s major geological and mineralogical conference held in Whitehorse.

Francis moved to the Yukon after retiring from his position as chair of geosciences at McGill University. Glass said the two have been friends for 50 years.

Glass also said that neither he nor Francis would be here if not for the rescue.

“It’s something that may be common for the Yukon, but if it had been somewhere else, I’m not sure they might have bothered to help us,” he said.

“They might have just picked up a cell phone, but not more .... I’m not sure that everyone would want to get in that cold water and help.”

He didn’t get the name of his rescuer, but remembers shaking the man’s hand and thanking him. He also remembers the man saying he had trained with the German army.

Though still shaken as he recalled the incident over the phone from his home, Glass said he plans to return to the Yukon next summer.

“From now on, I’ll be taking all my summer vacations there,” he said.