Challenge Accepted: TCSAR New Class Reaches Milestone

TCSAR’s new class team members reached a significant milestone on their journey to becoming fully operational volunteers. This week, they received their Challenge pins, signifying that they had each completed at least 200 hours of training since coming on board in May. Like all TCSAR volunteers, they will continue to train and practice avalanche rescue, heli- and snowmobile-assisted rescues, among other winter-related challenges over the next several months. 

Photo: Brook Yeomans

For the last several months, the new class members have taken on all kinds of different trainings, taking on each one with enthusiasm and smiles. It’s a lot of time and work behind the scenes, including by the instructors KC Bess and Anthony Stevens. On November 1, the new class members will be added to page call-outs during rescues, but won’t be considered ‘operational’ until April 2022.

But this moment is worth recognizing, and giving them kudos to a job well done.

Get to know the new class by clicking the link below.

New Episode from The Fine Line podcast: An Honest Conversation about Mental Health

In Episode 41 from The Fine Line, Laura McGladrey and Nick Armitage discuss stress injuries and psychological first aid for first responders. They also explain the Stress Continuum, and how the 3-3-3 approach is a useful tool for helping others address mental health.

This episode is sponsored by Roadhouse Brewing Co. Thanks to Roadhouse for their support of this podcast and backcountry safety in Jackson Hole.

Even if you are not a first responder, this conversation will be relevant and relatable on many different levels, and touches on life in mountain towns (guess what, not always powder days and bliss), stress depletion, and how each of us can be more intentional with our ‘green choices.’

GTNP Ranger Nick Armitage and psychiatric nurse practitioner Laura McGladrey. Photo: Matt Hansen/TCSAR Foundation

McGladrey has become a leading and outspoken proponent of addressing mental health among first responders. She has instructed NOLS Wilderness Medicine for the past 20 years and is a Nurse Practitioner with dual certification, practicing both emergency medicine and psychiatry across the lifespan. She is currently in the Emergency Department and the Stress Trauma Adversity Research and Treatment (START) Center with expertise in trauma support for Emergency, Wilderness, and frontline workers. She has a background in international and relief work on Psychological First Aid and Stress Injuries. She is the Stress and Resilience advisor for Portland Mountain Rescue and Eldora Ski Patrol, and works with teams throughout the U.S. following critical incidents and fatalities. She is the founder and director of Responder Alliance, and works closely with avalanche educators, guides and forecasters supporting both incidents and stress and resilience planning.

Armitage is a ranger in the Jenny Lake District of Grand Teton National Park. Prior to becoming a year-round ranger four years ago, he was a seasonal climbing ranger in the Jenny Lake District for eight summers. He has also worked as a USFS wildland firefighter and been a ski patroller at Big Sky, Montana. As a local first responder, he is instrumental in providing peer support for his colleagues.

Responder Alliance is an excellent resource for additional information, and can help teams establish programs to build resilience. Teton Interagency Peer Support (TIPS) provides mental health services for first responders and their families in Teton County, and can provide guidance for teams around the country establish similar programs. MentalHealthJH.com is another great resource for Jackson Hole residents.

“Peer Support: Mental Health and First Responders” airs at 2 p.m. on KHOL 89.1 FM on Thursday, Sept. 30, and then can be streamed on Apple, Spotify, and SoundCloud.

TCSAR Searches For and Finds Body Believed to be Robert Lowery on Teton Pass

Teton County Search and Rescue issued the following news release regarding the search for Robert ‘Bob’ Lowery on Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021:

Jackson, Wyo. — Teton County Search & Rescue conducted a search for Robert ‘Bob’ Lowery at the base of Teton Pass, Wyo., on Tuesday, Sept. 28. After four hours of searching on foot, a team with a search dog located a body fitting Lowery’s description on a steep, timbered slope. Lowery, a 46-year-old man from Houston, hadn’t been seen since August 20.

On the search were 25 volunteers, along with three dog teams from the region, including from Jackson Hole Search Dogs and another from Driggs, Idaho. 

An investigation into Lowery’s whereabouts had been ongoing within the Teton County Sheriff’s Office, but new clues recently surfaced that prompted the SAR callout. 

The widespread news coverage of the Gabby Petito search helped bring light to Lowery’s case, and resulted in at least two members of the public calling local authorities this past weekend with new information about his possible last seen point. The new information put Lowery on the Black Canyon Trail, wearing a black baseball cap with a gold P, and carrying a duffle bag with the Nike logo.

Given this new information, TCSAR initiated a response. The volunteers split into seven teams and combed the thick timbered area surrounding Black Canyon, a popular hiking and mountain biking trail in the summer. At about 1 p.m., a dog team located a body and Nike duffle bag significantly off trail on a steep, wooded slope. Volunteers spent Tuesday afternoon recovering the body from the mountainside. Collectively, the search teams hiked more than 75 miles and covered 22,500 feet in elevation. 

TCSAR offers its gratitude to all those who helped in the search, and sends its most sincere condolences to the family of the deceased.