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.

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.