At 12:25 p.m. on Tuesday, August 8, TCSAR volunteers were notified of an injured mountain biker on the Phillips Canyon trail. The patient, a local man in 60s, crashed on his mountain bike while crossing a log-bridge feature over a creek. The man fell off the side of the log and sustained severe injuries that prevented him from riding or walking out of the backcountry on his own. Without reliable cell phone service, the man used the BackcountrySOS app to alert Teton County Dispatch, which connected the notification to TCSAR volunteers.
TCSAR volunteers treat an injured mountain biker on the Phillips Canyon trail on August 8, 2023. Photo: TCSAR
The team responded on foot up Phillips Canyon from the trailhead at Fish Creek Road. They were equipped with medical supplies and the wheeled litter. The first volunteers reached the patient, located 1.7 miles up the trail, about one hour after the initial emergency notification. The volunteers then assessed the patient and packaged him for transport. After placing the man in the wheeled litter, they transported him down the trail and transferred him to a waiting ambulance on Fish Creek Road, completing the mission in about three hours.
BackcountrySOS is a free smartphone app that provides local dispatch with your exact location and nature of the emergency. Developed by the TCSAR Foundation, it works with minimal cell service where voice calls are not possible, and is available in 12 counties across the Intermountain West. Learn more at BackcountrySOS.com.
TCSAR volunteers transport an injured mountain biker down the trail in the wheeled litter. Photo: TCSAR