TCSAR Provides Heli Assist for Skier Rescue in the Wind River Mountains

At 8:42 p.m. on Monday, April 15, Teton County Search & Rescue received a call from Tip Top Search & Rescue for helicopter assistance to help a female skier having a medical issue deep in the Wind River Mountains.

The 29-year-old patient and her partner were on a multi-day ski traverse of the Winds when her condition deteriorated on Downs Mountain. Downs is a large flat-topped mountain that straddles the Continental Divide at 13,355 feet above sea level.

On their first approach to Downs Mountain, TCSAR encountered low-lying clouds that inhibited their ability to find a proper landing zone.

On Monday, the skiers used a satellite communication device to issue a distress call that was picked up by Tip Top SAR in Sublette County. Tip Top mobilized a ground response and called Teton County SAR for heli assistance. As TCSAR currently has the area’s only SAR-dedicated helicopter, the Jackson-based team was ready and willing to offer its help.

Special permission was granted by the U.S. Forest Service to enter wilderness with both helo and sleds due to the extreme conditions and life-saving measures needed.

Early in the morning on Tuesday, April 16, TCSAR assembled a team consisting of the pilot, one TCSAR volunteer, and one Grand Teton National Park Climbing Ranger. The heli team departed the TCSAR hangar in Jackson at 7 a.m. 

The clouds parted on the team’s second approach, giving them a narrow window to land the helicopter and retrieve the patient before the weather closed back in.

On their initial approach to Downs, the team encountered low-lying clouds that prevented their progress. They came within a mile of the distressed party but had to turn around for their own safety. The team flew back to Jackson to refuel before departing again. Knowing the forecast called for inclement weather starting this afternoon, the team believed Tuesday morning was their best window of opportunity to reach the patient

As they approached Downs on the second flight, the clouds parted, allowing the ship to land near the distressed skier. The team assessed her condition, loaded her into the ship, and flew back to Jackson and transferred her to an ambulance with Jackson Hole Fire/EMS. 

Downs Mountain is a large, flat-topped mountain in the middle of the Wind River Range. It straddles the Continental Divide at 13,355 feet. The skiers were camped near the top.

Due to weight, flight distance, and the power needed for high-altitude flying, the team could not pick up the woman’s partner. He eventually met up with Tip Top SAR, who brought him out via snowmachine.

This successful rescue is a great example of why TCSAR asked for the community’s help in purchasing a rescue-dedicated helicopter. We are grateful to have this resource, and we are honored to work with our interagency partners and regional SAR teams to bring people out of the backcountry safely. Thank you to Tip Top SAR for coordinating this rescue, and to everyone who has supported these efforts along the way.

TCSAR's End-of-Year Report Highlights Extraordinary Year for Local Rescue Team

Jackson, Wyo. — Teton County Search & Rescue’s 2023 End-of-Year Rescue Report, released this week, shows that this past year was one of the most eventful and extraordinary in the organization's 30-year history.

Not only did TCSAR have the third-highest rescue call volume on its books, it also landed its very own full-time rescue helicopter, stood up an aviation program, released its first new logo in 30 years, celebrated its 30-year anniversary, and hired a new Executive Director to lead the TCSAR Foundation.

The report, which is published twice a year by TCSAR Foundation, shows that the 39 volunteers at TCSAR donated 11,589 hours back to the community on SAR-related activities. This includes 5,307 hours on rescues, 5,779 hours on training, and 503 hours on community events and backcountry safety education.

“Our core function is to provide Search & Rescue services to those in need in the Jackson Hole backcountry,” writes TCSAR Chief Advisor Cody Lockhart in the report’s intro. “We accomplish this by working as a Team. This is a job we all take seriously and are proud to do. A lot has changed in a generation, but the core values set by our founders remain the same: service to the community, commitment to Team, and the tireless pursuit to be Rescue Ready.”

Along with incident summaries for every rescue call between June 1-November 30, 2023, key findings from the 2023 End-of-Year Rescue Report include:

• From December 1, 2022, to November 30, 2023, TCSAR received 112 calls for service. This is below the records set in 2022 and 2021, which saw 136 calls and 126, respectively.

• From June 1-November 30, the most rescue calls came from hikers (17) and mountain bikers (8). There were no backcountry fatalities in TCSAR’s service area in that six-month period.

• Men continue to outpace women as rescue patients, with males accounting for 64 percent of rescuees for the last six months.

• 27 percent of rescues were for those between the ages of 16-30, the highest percentage by age group.

• The most common areas for rescue calls during 2023 were from the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort backcountry, Togwotee Pass, Teton Pass, and on the west side of the Tetons in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest.

Rescue Reports are intended to provide lessons learned, raise backcountry safety awareness, and highlight the essential service provided by TCSAR volunteers and their partners. The reports are free and can be picked up at a number of businesses throughout Teton County, or viewed online at TetonCountySAR.org. If you’d like a print copy for your business or home, please send a request to info@tetoncountysar.org.

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