Four Days, Four Helicopter Rescues: TCSAR Responds to Multiple Near Misses

Jackson, Wyo. — Four days. Four helicopter rescues.

That was the story this weekend for Teton County Search & Rescue. Starting on Thursday, February 9, there were several close calls in our surrounding backcountry that required TCSAR volunteers to utilize the Search & Rescue helicopter. Our team is grateful for the partnerships with the numerous responding agencies—Teton County Dispatch, Grand Teton National Park, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort Ski Patrol, and Fremont County Search & Rescue—that helped bring these near-misses to successful closure.

All four rescues would have been challenging to pull off—if not impossible—without the use of the SAR helicopter and the highly trained volunteers and personnel.

These incidents should encourage all of us to reflect and consider what the consequences would have been had rescue personnel and resources not been available. We want to take this opportunity to remind everyone to know the avalanche forecast, consider your terrain choices along with weather and time of day, and plan your backcountry adventures accordingly.

Incident summaries from the four rescues are below. 

TCSAR volunteers short-haul an injured snowmobiler on Togwotee Pass on February 10, 2023. Photo: TCSAR

On Thursday afternoon, February 9, TCSAR was called with a request from Jackson Hole Mountain Resort Ski Patrol for a short-haul helicopter operation to help an injured skier in Granite Canyon. A woman had injured her knee while descending Endless, a 2,000-vertical-foot couloir that sits within Grand Teton National Park. TCSAR accepted the helicopter request, mobilizing a flight plan that consisted of one TCSAR volunteer and two Jenny Lake Climbing Rangers. The interagency team was able to fly to the scene and successfully short-haul the patient to the landing zone (LZ) at the base of Teton Village.

At 2:36 p.m. on Friday, February 10, TCSAR learned of a snowmobile accident on Togwotee Pass. A woman in her 60s had been riding her snowmachine with a guided group when she reportedly hit a tree, suffering severe injuries to both legs. Given the nature of the accident and remote location, the team decided that a helicopter response was the best option.

TCSAR assembled a short-haul helicopter team, which included a ranger from Grand Teton National Park. TCSAR volunteers also loaded up trucks and snowmobiles to drive to Togwotee as a backup ground response.

After short-hauling an injured snowmobiler to higher medical care on Friday, the heli team flew back to the hangar in Jackson before sundown. Video: TCSAR

The initial report put the accident site about 4 miles from the highway on the Continental Divide Trail (CDT), but upon flying to the scene, the heli team was unable to find the reporting party at the given location. The heli circled the area and eventually spotted the injured party about 2 miles from the highway on the Continental Divide Alternative (CDA) Trail.

The heli team dropped two short-haulers off to rig the ship for a short-haul operation. The heli then lifted the short-haulers to the patient, where they packaged her for transport. The team then flew the patient and the rescuers to a landing zone (LZ) in the parking lot of the Black Rock Ranger Station, where the patient was transferred to a waiting ambulance. The teams made plans to return back to Jackson before sundown and drop off the GTNP ranger en route, completing the mission in 4 hours, 9 minutes.

At 2:47 p.m. on Saturday, February 11, TCSAR was alerted to an injured skier in the backcountry south of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. The skier had triggered a small avalanche at the top of a steep, narrow couloir located on the south-facing side of No Name Canyon. The slide carried the man, a local resident, through the couloir, depositing him at the bottom with an injured shoulder. Due to the steep and inaccessible nature of the accident site, TCSAR decided to send the helicopter short-haul team. After arriving on scene, the helicopter was able to land on the snow on a nearby ridgeline, and two TCSAR volunteers helped the injured skier walk to the ship for an internal transport to the LZ at the base of Teton Village. The volunteers completed the mission in 2 hours, 13 minutes.

TCSAR’s rescued an injured skier who had been caught in an avalanche through a narrow couloir in the southern Tetons on Saturday, February 11. Video: TCSAR

At 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, TCSAR was called by Fremont County Search & Rescue for assistance in locating a missing snowmobiler near the Union Pass Road. Fremont County SAR had spent most of the afternoon looking for the man, and was requesting helicopter assistance for the continued search on Sunday morning.

At first light on Sunday, TCSAR dispatched the helicopter with three volunteers and the pilot. The team conducted an aerial search while utilizing LifeSeeker, an aerial cellular transmitter that can pick up mobile phone signals even where there is no service. The team was in the air for roughly an hour and a half before they spotted the man waving his arms. At that point, TCSAR was able to provide directions to the patient for a Fremont County SAR ground team on snowmobiles. They found the man, uninjured but very cold, and snowmobiled him out to a warming hut. The TCSAR team returned to the hangar in Jackson.

TCSAR helped locate a missing snowmobiler who’d spent the night in the backcountry along the boundary of Teton and Fremont counties. Photo: TCSAR

Lost...and Found with Lifeseeker, a Heli Rescue Transmitter

This story is being republished from its original release date of May 27, 2020, with updated info and new photos.

Let’s say you are backpacking in the middle of the Gros Ventre Wilderness, or deep within a remote canyon in the Jed Smith. Somehow, you unfortunately break your leg. Without having cellular service and being very far from help, what do you do?

TCSAR volunteer Lexie Drechsel uses Lifeseeker during a training on May 24, 2022, to find a cellular device where no cellular service exists.

If you can, send someone for help and hunker down as best as possible. But even then, that leaves many questions about the outcome of your potential rescue: How long can you last due to exposure? What about weather, wildlife, and the seriousness of your injury? 

These situations, though rare, occur when someone becomes stranded, lost, or incapacitated in a wilderness environment, leading to extended rescues involving dozens if not hundreds of people searching for clues of your whereabouts.

But thanks to one of the more unique tools within the Teton County Search & Rescue toolkit, you might be found in a much quicker fashion. Known as Lifeseeker, this aircraft-mounted cellular transmitter enables a helicopter search team to locate you based on the pings in the cellular network—even when there is no cellular service. 

“Lifeseeker is another tool in toolbox and I think it’s amazing that TCSAR has access to this technology,” says TCSAR volunteer Lexie Drechsel, who joined the team in 2021. “I feel very fortunate to have been able to be part of multiple trainings this spring, running several iterations with Lifeseeker. In the case of a missing/injured party of unknown location, it’s a huge asset that we have multiple team members trained and prepared to operate the technology smoothly.”

When activated, Lifeseeker effectively acts as an airborne cellular transmitter, allowing a helicopter search team to pick up and locate specific numbers coming off your phone. When your phone is powered on and not in airplane mode, it constantly sends out a unique IMEI number (think of it as a digital fingerprint) to connect with the nearest cell tower. If the SAR team knows that IMEI number, they can hone in on its exact location as the number is transmitted through Lifeseeker. When Lifeseeker picks up on the IMEI, the location is displayed on a pair of iPads connected to a primary controller box. Both rescuer and pilot have iPads so they each both see the location of the device.

TCSAR pilot Steve Wilson hones in on a lost subject using Lifeseeker during a training on May 24, 2022.

In other words, when Lifeseeker passes overhead inside the TCSAR helicopter, it acts as a temporary service provider, connecting your phone to the team inside.

“Once we have a confirmed location, we can send a text message to that device, and, if able, someone can text back,” says TCSAR team member Eric Helgoth, a volunteer since 2004. “However, if we fly over looking for phone X, and phone Y sees they have a cell signal, phone Y can’t use that signal.” 

Nor does TCSAR have the ability (and, it should be noted, the desire) to block or interfere with anyone’s cellular service. Lifeseeker is simply a rescue aid. Designed by a Spanish firm, Centim, this is the first such device in use in the U.S. TCSAR obtained it through an anonymous donor.

“We’ve got a dozen different ways to find someone,” Helgoth says. “It’s just one more tool in our toolbox. It’s not going to work in every instance.”

Turn it up to 11. And if you’re lost, keep your phone charged up and on so Lifeseeker can find you.

For example, Lifeseeker won’t find you if your phone is turned off or in airplane mode. It is only able to receive and transmit phones that are actively seeking a cell tower. So it’s a good idea to bring a backup power source, and make your phone active if you know you’re being sought by Search & Rescue. Goal Zero makes some great power banks for rugged outdoor use, as does Outdoor Tech. 

TCSAR has a range of options to do helicopter searches depending on the rescue scenario. One is the RECCO SAR Helicopter Detector, a 174-pound drum that hangs 15 meters (about 49 feet) below the helicopter. Flying 300 feet above the ground at 60 mph, the detector scans 600 square feet every second. The team also has a heli avalanche beacon, which picks up signals from buried avalanche transceivers.

Another useful took from TCSAR is Backcountry SOS, a free app that allows a user to text an emergency directly to 911 in Teton County. The app is now available in 12 counties across the West, and has been used to save lives in Jackson Hole.