Rad Spencer Scholarship Fund to Provide Annual Award for Search & Rescue, EMT and Water Rescue Training

Community Foundation of Jackson Hole Honors the Compassionate Spirit of Young Skier

Jackson, Wyo. (March 16, 2022) — Rad Spencer was a positive influence on countless lives, both in Wyoming and Georgia where he grew up. On February 13, 2022, Spencer died in a skiing accident in Grand Teton National Park. His larger-than-life spirit remains and will continue to make an impact in the local community of Jackson Hole through the Rad Spencer Scholarship Fund. The Fund was established this week by the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole. The purpose of the Fund is to honor the life and legacy of Spencer who made a big impact on Jackson Hole and the surrounding area in his short 27 years. The Fund will provide an annual scholarship in Search and Rescue, EMT and Water Rescue training to the Jackson area nominee who best embodies the life and remarkable spirit of Rad Spencer.

“The Community Foundation of Jackson Hole is pleased to create this Fund honoring Rad Spencer’s life,” said Erin Lusins, the Foundation’s CFO. “We look forward to partnering with Rad’s family and friends to support our community and its members – while honoring an individual who made a lasting impression on so many who live in Jackson.” 

The Fund’s creators have established a Scholarship Board made up of seven of Rad’s closest friends and contemporaries who have agreed to seek out, receive and review nominations on behalf of candidates each year for the Rad Spencer Scholarship. After interviews and discussion, an annual winner will be announced. 

The Rad Spencer Scholarship Board consists of the following members:
Spain Short  (Co-Chair)  
George Ehlers (Co-Chair)
Ryan Watson
Harrison Woodward
Chapman Wilkinson
Margaret Donell
Richmond Watson

“It has been a really difficult month for us. We are glad to be part of an effort to create a lasting legacy for Rad,” commented Spain Short. 

George Ehlers added, “It was very meaningful that fourteen of the close friends of Rad’s mother and father got together and volunteered to donate the first $100,000 in funds towards this effort. The Scholarship Board that has been assembled sincerely thanks them for their generosity and we are hopeful and confident that many more people who were close to Rad will see lasting value in the effort and contribute as well.”

If you would like to donate to the Fund, checks should be made out to the Rad Spencer Scholarship and mailed to the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole, P.O. Box 574, Jackson, WY, 83001. 

The Fund also is now setup so that it can receive credit card donations directly from donors. To make a credit card donation, donors can go to the website, https://www.cfjacksonhole.org/, and select the ”DONATE” button on the top right. Once at the shopping cart, simply search for “Rad Spencer” and the Fund will appear.

Or simply click the button below.

Follow the steps through to complete the donation and once completed, the donor will receive a confirmation email which also serves as their tax receipt. All donations are tax deductible and donors will receive a tax receipt from the Foundation if they mail in a check. Grants from the Rad Spencer Scholarship Fund will be made to qualified nonprofits for their training of the scholarship winner each year and will not be used for any other purposes.

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CONTACT
Spain Short
SShort@TributaryIdaho.com
George Ehlers
GMEhlers19@gmail.com
Rad Spencer Scholarship Board

The Fine Line Podcast Looks at How to Diagnosis and Treat Anaphylaxis...in the Middle of Winter

While many Jackson Hole locals flocked to the Tetons for a day of powder skiing on February 15, 2020, Teton County Search & Rescue volunteers loaded up their heavy packs for a routine day of training on Snow King Mountain.

But the training session quickly turned into anything but routine when longtime TCSAR volunteer Robb Sgroi came down with a rare and severe form of anaphylaxis. The ordeal comes into focus in the next episode of The Fine Line, a podcast from TCSAR Foundation that seeks to raise awareness about backcountry safety and issues affecting first responders.

Most people associate anaphylaxis with bee stings, which of course is not possible in Jackson Hole in the middle of February. Anaphylaxis can also be brought on by food allergies that kick someone’s immune response into overdrive and thereby shut down vital organs. But that’s not what happened here, either.

Robb Sgroi with his wife, Krista, and their daughter, Savannah. Photo: David Bowers

So how did Sgroi—a tall, lean husband and father—end up itchy, on the ground, and spiraling into unconsciousness?

In this episode of The Fine Line, TCSAR volunteers Sgroi, Chase Lockhart and Dr. Will Smith relive this scary incident, and walk us through how to diagnose and treat anaphylaxis, no matter the time of year.

Thank you to Roadhouse Brewing Co. for the generous sponsorship of The Fine Line. We are also grateful to KHOL 89.1 FM for the use of their studio.

This episode airs at 2 p.m. on March 17 on KHOL 89.1 FM, and will be available afterward wherever you get your podcasts.

The Sliver Couloir: The Fine Line Podcast Dissects Intergroup Communication in the Mountains

Like many big ski lines in Grand Teton National Park, the Sliver Couloir was infrequently skied only about 20 years ago. Now, it might see several people in a single day. Fueled by the potent combination of social media and digital mapping, the expense of resort skiing, and the ease of modern equipment, backcountry skiing has reached a fever pitch across the West and the Tetons. 

This increase in skiers means intergroup communication is yet another element people must plan for and accommodate as they head into unforgiving terrain.

Collin Binko ascends the Sliver Couloir in Grand Teton National Park on January 22, 2022. Photo: Courtesy of Michael Martin

The consequences of not communicating became abundantly clear on January 22, 2022, when skiers Collin Binko and Michael Martin encountered a lone snowboarder at the base of the Sliver. All three had eyes on the same prize, but neither party talked to the other. The day ended with the snowboarder descending upon the two skiers, with Martin being overcome by sluffing snow and tumbling several hundred feet to the bottom. He luckily survived, but required a helicopter evac by Grand Teton National Park rangers and Teton County Search & Rescue.

The accident exposed the growing risk of skier-on-skier conflicts in the Tetons, and how critical it is for people to talk to one another in the backcountry, especially in high traffic, high consequence zones like the Sliver.

The next episode of The Fine Line podcast explores this issue head on, with Martin and Binko giving a first-hand account of what happened in the Sliver. We also hear from alpinist and licensed therapist Ryan Burke about coming onto the scene and the dangerous role ego plays in the mountains. Jessica Baker, an AMGA-certified ski guide who has more than two decades of experience in the Tetons, walks us through what communication looks and sounds like in the mountains, and why it’s so critical for everyone’s safety.

The episode airs first at 2 p.m. on Thursday, February 24, on KHOL 89.1 FM, before being available for download on your preferred podcast platform.

The Fine Line is produced by Teton County Search & Rescue Foundation as part of the Backcountry Zero project. The goal of this episode is to offer it up as a learning experience so that similar accidents can be avoided in the future. Thank you to Martin and Binko for sharing their important story, and to Baker and Burke for their valuable insight.

Thanks to Roadhouse Brewing for sponsoring The Fine Line.