Mira Ahora: Videos from Spanish-language Avalanche Awareness Night

On January 28, 2025, a consortium of concerned residents in Jackson came together to present the valley’s first Spanish-language Avalanche Awareness Night at the Virginian Lodge. The event was recorded, with each presentation now available to watch via the TCSAR YouTube channel.

The goal of the event was to increase access to essential safety information for community members for whom Spanish is their preferred language. Based on local school demographics, an estimated 40 percent of county residents have a home language other than English, and the majority of those are Spanish-speakers.

With the outdoors such an important part of the Jackson Hole culture, it’s important that backcountry safety information is accessible to all.

"Language access is one of the important first steps in ensuring that everyone in our community has the tools and knowledge they need to make informed decisions in the backcountry,” said Piper Worthington, a language access advocate and event co-coordinator. “This event will be educational, but also a celebration of local people and organizations who have changed the ways we think about who is represented in the outdoor industry."

Below, TCSAR volunteer Ryan Mertaugh discusses how to mitigate your risk while traveling in avalanche terrain. This is just one of several presentations done entirely in Spanish.

Thanks to all of the presenters, the Virginian Lodge, Camino Conmingo, Coombs Outdoors, Exum, Jackson Hole Mountain Guides, the Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center, and TCSAR for making this event possible. All videos were recorded and edited by Garrett LeRoy.

TCSAR Short-Hauls Stranded Snowmobiler on Westside of the Tetons

At 3:56 p.m. on Tuesday, February 4, Teton County Search & Rescue was notified that a male snowmobiler was stuck in a drainage on the western slope of the Tetons. The local resident had motored a couple of miles into the Hill Creek area and was not able to get back out due to heavy, wet snow.

A TCSAR volunteer happened to be snowmobiling in the vicinity during his time off. He responded to help the man and subsequently informed incident command in Jackson that conditions were too dangerous for a ground response.

Teton County Search & Rescue complete a successful short-haul mission for a stranded snowmobiler just before dark on Tuesday, February 4. Photo: TCSAR

Opting for a helicopter rescue, TCSAR dispatched three short-haul members into the ship with the pilot. They flew to the scene and then successfully short-hauled the man out of the backcountry. The ship returned to base just minutes before ‘pumpkin hour,’ known as 30 minutes after sunset.

Pumpkin hour originates from Cinderella, and can mean a personal curfew or deadline. For aviation crews, it indicates when a helicopter can’t fly due to darkness.

During the mission debrief, TCSAR learned that the snowmobiler had attended the Moto Avalanche Safety Night on December 12 at the Virginian, where he said he learned to call 911 early if a situation arised. That he put in the call when he did gave TCSAR the extra bit of time to consider various options, along with the safety of the stranded snowmobiler and SAR volunteers. Our team was happy to help get this snowmobiler out of there before nightfall and weather complicated matters.

Midnight Mission: TCSAR Rescues Stranded Snowmobilers on Togwotee Pass

At 7:53 p.m. on Sunday, February 2, Teton County Search & Rescue was paged regarding a group of snowmobilers who’d become stuck on the Togwotee Pass trail network.

The group sent out an emergency text-to-911 via satellite along with their coordinates to the Teton County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch Center. Dispatch contacted TCSAR and indicated that the party of four were in the vicinity of the K and V trails. The group consisted of two men and two teenage boys visiting from Minnesota. To communicate, the group had an iPhone with satellite messaging capability as well as a satellite-specific communication device.

During the February 2 callout, TCSAR volunteers encountered drifting snow on Togwotee Pass. Photo: TCSAR

With high winds and drifting snow limiting visibility, TCSAR volunteers responded with teams on snowmobiles. Just past midnight, a group of six volunteers located the missing party about eight miles from the trailhead. They were cold but otherwise unharmed. The trail they were on had essentially disappeared under snow drifts. 

The volunteers helped dig out two of the stuck snowmobiles. The two men in the missing party were able to ride their sleds out of the backcountry while the two boys were transported via snowmobile by TCSAR volunteers. All returned back to Togwotee Mountain Lodge. 

Six volunteers responded on snowmobiles to rescue a party of four missing snowmobilers on Togwotee Pass on February 2, 2025. Photo: TCSAR

The volunteers then returned to the TCSAR hangar in Jackson just before 3 a.m. and prepped the equipment for the next callout.

Regarding the use of satellite texting, this incident showed how the SAR team was able to use the technology in an emergency. As the incident unfolded, one of the men was using his iPhone to text his wife via satellite. She connected with TCSAR, who asked her to tell her husband to initiate a text to TCSAR incident command. He did so, which enabled back-and-forth text communication between his party and incident command at TCSAR.