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's 2024 End-of-Year Review and Rescue Report Available Now

Teton County Search & Rescue had one of its most eventful years ever in 2024. That’s according to the newly released 2024 End-of-Year Review and Rescue Report, which is published twice a year by Teton County Search & Rescue Foundation. The End-of-Year Rescue Report is notable because it documents the past six months of rescues, as well as a year’s worth of data about rescue demographics.

Cover image by Joey Sackett.

The 32-page report shows that with 130 calls for service between Dec. 1, 2023 and Nov. 30, 2024, TCSAR had its second highest call volume in the team’s 31-year history. Many of these calls were due to the arrival, in October 2023, of TCSAR’s new helicopter, which was called 31 times to conduct missions with the Jenny Lake Rangers in Grand Teton National Park. 

In 2024, some of the most common locations for rescues included: Togwotee Pass; Caribou-Targhee National Forest on the west side of the Tetons; the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort backcountry; and the Gros Ventre Mountains. Those ages 16-30 issued the most rescue calls, with 38 percent, while local and regional backcountry users accounted for 43 percent of all calls.

In 2024, TCSAR’s helicopter was used more than 60 times. Photo: TCSAR

The report shows that the TCSAR’s 38 volunteers dedicated a collective 10,827 hours back to the community in the form of rescues, training, and community events.

TCSAR Chief Advisor Cody Lockhart explains that the volunteers accomplish what they do thanks to an unwavering commitment to teamwork.

“Within our Team, there is a culture of finding where you can be the most helpful and then proudly filling that role,” Lockhart writes in the report’s Intro Letter. “It is not about being a hero or an all-star—it is about being the best teammate possible. It is not about getting credit for the job—it is about making sure the job gets done.”

Other key takeaways from the report include:

• The TCSAR helicopter program, in its first year of operation, completed more than 60 missions, demonstrating how invaluable this tool has become during a time when backcountry recreation shows no signs of slowing down.

• The report includes 21 rescue summaries from the summer in Grand Teton National Park, during which Jenny Lake Rangers executed rescue missions with TCSAR’s helicopter and pilot. These summaries are intended to help educate the public about the partnership between the Jenny Lake Rangers and TCSAR, and how the county’s heli resource is being used.

• TCSAR will take on a new class of volunteers in 2025.

• A strategic plan outlining the goals and initiatives for TCSAR and the Foundation, including hosting the International Commission for Alpine Rescue in October 2025, and prioritizing programming from the Foundation’s education and outreach efforts through Backcountry Zero.

Rescue Reports are free and can be found at a number of participating businesses in Jackson Hole. If you’d like to be on our mailing list, please send an email to info@tetoncountysar.org. Digital versions are available for download at the TCSAR website.

Join us August 15 for "Lessons at 13,000 Feet: Stories from the High Alpine"

Jackson, Wyo. — On August 15, Teton County Search & Rescue Foundation, Teton Climber’s Coalition and Jenny Lake Rangers are proud to present an evening where stories of close calls, misadventures, and first-responder perspectives are being given a stage for listening and reflection. 

This free event features live storytelling at the Black Diamond store in downtown Jackson.

As we enter the prime season for high altitude adventures, ‘Lessons at 13,000 Feet: Stories from the High Alpine’ will share insights to how people survive, and respond to, backcountry accidents above the treeline.

Storytellers include local climbers Lars Schou and Hadden Goodman, along with Jenny Lake Climbing Rangers Zack Little and Ken Kries, and TCSAR volunteer Jen Reddy. Each speaker will go into detail about how an experience in the mountains influenced their relationship to risk and adventure. 

While Little and Kries will discuss their points of view from a first-responder perspective, Reddy, Schou and Goodman will discuss incidents involving serious injuries: what happened, how they each responded to the trauma, and how it may have changed their relationship to risk and mountain adventures. 

Incidents like this are not uncommon in the Tetons, but getting to understand the decisions that contributed to them, and the reflections they’ve catalyzed, is an experience few get to have.

Doors open at 6 p.m., stories begin at 6:30 p.m. Roadhouse Beer and Yeah Buddy pizza provided. Register HERE to let us know you’re coming and be entered into a raffle!