Another Weekend of Rescues: Short-Haul, Short-Haul, Snowmobile, Short-Haul

Jackson, Wyo. — Local rescuers had a busy weekend with four callouts. Three calls came on Saturday: an injured skier on Pucker Face outside of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort; an injured skier in Stewart’s Draw in Grand Teton National Park; and a snowmobiler who was stuck in a creek in the Togwotee Pass area. The rescue on Sunday involved an injured skier in Avalanche Canyon in GTNP.

In one of three calls on March 8, TCSAR responded to a snowmobiler who’d become stuck in a creek in the Gros Ventre Mountains. The mission took 8 hours, 32 minutes, with volunteers getting back to base at 3:45 a.m. Photo: TCSAR

On Saturday, March 8, the first call came in at 10:43 a.m. regarding an injured male skier on Pucker Face. JHMR Ski Patrol arrived on scene and requested helicopter assistance from Teton County Search & Rescue. A heli team flew to the scene, where they short-hauled the local skier to a waiting ambulance at the base of Teton Village.

Later, at 2:45 p.m., Jenny Lake Rangers in GTNP requested helicopter assistance from TCSAR after receiving an emergency call regarding an injured male skier near the bottom of Stewart’s Draw. A heli team including park and TCSAR personnel responded to the accident site. The team short-hauled the local skier out of the backcountry, from where he elected to self-transport.

Saturday's third rescue call came at 5:43 p.m. for a snowmobiler in the Togwotee Pass area. The local male had been crossing a snow bridge on his machine when the snow collapsed beneath him, causing him and the machine to fall into a creek.

TCSAR sent four volunteers up the Gros Ventre Road via snowmobile, while another team entered the backcountry from Togwotee Pass. A friend of the stranded snowmobiler also joined the effort. The friend made contact with the subject at 11:23 p.m., followed by TCSAR volunteers about 30 minutes later. The subject was reported to be extremely tired and cold.

After trying to warm the subject, TCSAR transported him out of the backcountry to the Gros Ventre Road. After making it out of the field, the team provided the man with a ride back to town. The volunteers arrived back at the SAR headquarters at approximately 3:45 a.m.

On Sunday, the Jenny Lake Rangers called TCSAR at 1:40 p.m. requesting helicopter assistance to help an injured female skier in Avalanche Canyon. The TCSAR pilot flew the county ship to the park and picked up a team of rangers. The team extracted the patient via short-haul and flew her out of the backcountry. The woman decided to self-transport from there.

TCSAR Rescues Injured Hunter in Horse Creek Area

Just past noon on Friday, September 13, Teton County Search & Rescue was called to respond to an injured horseback rider in the Horse Creek area.

A 50-year-old man from Maryland, on the last day of his guided hunting trip, became injured after he was bucked off his horse. An emergency call from a Garmin inReach was routed from dispatch to TCSAR, with volunteers responding in the rescue helicopter. A ground team drove to the trailhead as backup.

The helicopter was able to find a landing zone near the patient, who was not able to walk due to the injury. Without the use of the helicopter, the team would have been hiking in at least six miles to bring the man out in the wheeled litter. Instead, the volunteers had a short walk to reach the patient from the helicopter.

They assessed the man’s condition and packaged him in the suck bag, a type of full-body vacuum splint. With the help of the guides, the team carried the man to the helicopter for internal transport. The heli lifted off and transported the man to a waiting ambulance at the TCSAR hangar, completing the mission in 2 hours, 5 minutes.

TCSAR Responds to Stuck Snowmobilers in Gros Ventre Mountains

Jackson, Wyo. — On Monday afternoon, February 13, TCSAR received its fifth rescue call in five days. The latest incident concerned a group of five snowmobilers from out of town who were stuck in the Slate Creek area of the Gros Ventre Mountains. The men, all between the ages of 60-80 years old, started out from a guest ranch on the east side of Togwotee Pass and rode their snowmobiles into the Continental Divide Trail system. After entering the Slate Creek area, the men went down a hill where four of their five sleds became stuck. They managed to get an emergency call out on a cell phone, which initiated a response by TCSAR.

TCSAR volunteers helped five snowmobilers get unstuck and safely out of the Gros Ventre Mountains on Monday, February 13. Photo: TCSAR

Four TCSAR volunteers dispatched on snowmobiles at Atherton Creek and drove up the Gros Ventre Road. They then crossed the ice-covered river and found the men a short distance above Slate Creek, about 10 miles from their starting point at Atherton. The men were uninjured but getting tired. They had one shovel but no avalanche safety gear. The men were driving trail sleds that were not designed to handle deep snow. TCSAR volunteers helped the men get their sleds unstuck and back up a hill to more manageable terrain. The volunteers then led the men and all snowmobiles back to Atherton Creek, where a TCSAR team member shuttled the men to Jackson and helped them find a place to stay for the night.

The volunteers returned to the TCSAR hangar, debriefed, and readied the equipment for the next mission, completing the call in 5 hours, 42 minutes.