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.

TCSAR Responds to Avalanche Fatality on Togwotee Pass

We are deeply saddened to report that a skier has died as a result of an avalanche on Togwotee Pass on Saturday, January 4, 2025. More details about the accident will emerge following an investigation by the Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center.

Just before noon on Saturday, Teton County Search & Rescue was called to respond to a known avalanche burial on Togwotee Pass. The emergency alert came in via iPhone satellite text-to-911, but it was unclear whether the avalanche involved snowmobilers or skiers. For anyone using this relatively new function, please include the nature of your emergency, mechanism of injury, and number of people in your party. Including that info can help first responders efficiently develop solutions to the problems.

Initial reports indicated that a group of four was in the Breccia Cliffs area when they triggered an avalanche. As TCSAR mobilized, the team learned that it was a party of four skiers who’d triggered the slide as they were ascending a skin track. The avalanche partially buried one skier and fully buried another. The partially buried skier sustained a lower leg injury.

TCSAR responded with teams in the helicopter, on snowmobiles, and on skis. The helicopter team lifted off but returned when weather conditions did not permit an air response. The snowmobile team was also unable to reach the party of skiers due to the challenging conditions.

A team of skiers from TCSAR approached the area on skins and were able to get on scene at approximately 3:47 p.m. They began to apply treatment to the injured skier and remaining members of the party. The volunteers also worked to begin recovering the deceased skier for transport out of the backcountry. The volunteers worked into the evening, skiing the injured skier out of the backcountry in a litter to a waiting ambulance from Grand Teton National Park. The team also skied the deceased skier out via a sked. This serves as an important reminder of how much longer a mission can take when the helicopter is grounded, and is another factor to consider in your backcountry planning should an accident occur.

TCSAR extends its most sincere condolences to the family and friends of the deceased skier.

TCSAR Responds to Lost Snowmobilers in Whiteout Conditions

This post has been updated from an earlier version:

Teton County Search & Rescue volunteers, along with Togwotee Mountain Guides, were involved in a strenuous search yesterday evening, December 29, for four snowmobilers who’d become stuck and lost off trail on Togwotee Pass. The teams searched for the lost party during dangerous whiteout conditions, and eventually brought them out of the backcountry around midnight.

Whiteout conditions and darkness made Sunday’s rescue mission on Togwotee Pass very challenging. Photo: TCSAR

TCSAR wants to highlight the critical help provided by Togwotee Mountain Guides, who assisted the rescue effort even though the party in question was not part of their operation.

There were some hard lessons learned last night. We share these lessons to remind everyone to do the following: Make sure you are aware of the weather and the ability level of everyone in your party; if you become lost, stay together; and finally, do not leave your snowmobile and try to walk out.

TCSAR volunteers and Togwotee Mountain Guides respond to help four lost snowmobilers on Sunday, December 29, 2024. Photo: TCSAR

The call for help came at 3:40 p.m. on Sunday. The party consisted of two Jackson residents, male and female with previous backcountry experience, who rented two tandem sleds to take their visiting parents, who are in their 60s, out for an unguided snowmobile excursion on Togwotee Pass. They had a map on their phone of their intended route. However, the groomed trail they started on eventually became ungroomed, causing their sleds to get stuck. To call for help, the Jackson woman used her iPhone's satellite function to text a friend in town, and followed up with a text to 911 about an hour later to provide coordinates and trail location. The party then left their snowmobiles to attempt to walk out.

TCSAR arrived on Togwotee with a team of six snowmobilers. Battling whiteout conditions, the volunteers found the stranded rental sleds but not the people. The team then discovered a ping from the phone in another drainage. Togwotee guides responded into that drainage and located the lost party at about 10:30 p.m.

The team eventually transported the party out of the backcountry to safety by midnight, with volunteers making it home around 3 a.m. The volunteers reiterated their appreciation for the help from Togwotee Mountain Guides, and are glad the lost snowmobilers made it out of a scary situation.