TCSAR Stays Busy with Two Rescues in Three Days

Two rescues in three days has kept Teton County Search & Rescue volunteers busy. Following trends from the past 5-10 years, February is typically one of the busiest months of the year for TCSAR.

At approximately 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, February 8, TCSAR was notified of three snowboarders stranded out of bounds in the Grand Targhee backcountry. The group—one adult male, one 18-year-old female, and one 16-year-old male—was uninjured, but unable to return to the resort or find a safe descent through complex terrain. They were reportedly not carrying backcountry safety equipment.

Teton County Search & Rescue short-hauls a snowboarder from steep, complex terrain in Teton Canyon, Wyoming. Photo: TCSAR

Grand Targhee Ski Patrol made initial contact and requested helicopter assistance due to the steep terrain. The TCSAR pilot and short-haul team flew in, extricating two members first, then returning for the third snowboarder and a TCSAR volunteer. All were flown to the Teton Canyon Trailhead (pictured) before the team refueled in Driggs and returned to Jackson.

TCSAR appreciates the coordination and efforts from Grand Targhee Ski Patrol to help resolve this incident.

On Monday, February 10, at 10:15 a.m., two backcountry skiers on the south side of Teton Pass called 911 after encountering a male skier experiencing a medical issue.

At the time, a TCSAR short-haul team was about to begin routine training in Jackson. The pilot and three volunteers immediately diverted to the scene in Olympic Bowl. The helicopter dropped off two volunteers, who skied to the patient and initiated treatment. Given his condition, they called for a short-haul operation, lifting him to an ambulance near the top of Teton Pass. The time from the 911 call to ambulance transfer took just 40 minutes.

TCSAR commends the reporting skiers for assisting in the response and stresses the importance of calling 911 at the first sign of an emergency, even when details are unclear. After the incident, the two skiers continued their day, and the volunteers resumed their training.

TCSAR Short-Hauls Stranded Snowmobiler on Westside of the Tetons

At 3:56 p.m. on Tuesday, February 4, Teton County Search & Rescue was notified that a male snowmobiler was stuck in a drainage on the western slope of the Tetons. The local resident had motored a couple of miles into the Hill Creek area and was not able to get back out due to heavy, wet snow.

A TCSAR volunteer happened to be snowmobiling in the vicinity during his time off. He responded to help the man and subsequently informed incident command in Jackson that conditions were too dangerous for a ground response.

Teton County Search & Rescue complete a successful short-haul mission for a stranded snowmobiler just before dark on Tuesday, February 4. Photo: TCSAR

Opting for a helicopter rescue, TCSAR dispatched three short-haul members into the ship with the pilot. They flew to the scene and then successfully short-hauled the man out of the backcountry. The ship returned to base just minutes before ‘pumpkin hour,’ known as 30 minutes after sunset.

Pumpkin hour originates from Cinderella, and can mean a personal curfew or deadline. For aviation crews, it indicates when a helicopter can’t fly due to darkness.

During the mission debrief, TCSAR learned that the snowmobiler had attended the Moto Avalanche Safety Night on December 12 at the Virginian, where he said he learned to call 911 early if a situation arised. That he put in the call when he did gave TCSAR the extra bit of time to consider various options, along with the safety of the stranded snowmobiler and SAR volunteers. Our team was happy to help get this snowmobiler out of there before nightfall and weather complicated matters.

Midnight Mission: TCSAR Rescues Stranded Snowmobilers on Togwotee Pass

At 7:53 p.m. on Sunday, February 2, Teton County Search & Rescue was paged regarding a group of snowmobilers who’d become stuck on the Togwotee Pass trail network.

The group sent out an emergency text-to-911 via satellite along with their coordinates to the Teton County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch Center. Dispatch contacted TCSAR and indicated that the party of four were in the vicinity of the K and V trails. The group consisted of two men and two teenage boys visiting from Minnesota. To communicate, the group had an iPhone with satellite messaging capability as well as a satellite-specific communication device.

During the February 2 callout, TCSAR volunteers encountered drifting snow on Togwotee Pass. Photo: TCSAR

With high winds and drifting snow limiting visibility, TCSAR volunteers responded with teams on snowmobiles. Just past midnight, a group of six volunteers located the missing party about eight miles from the trailhead. They were cold but otherwise unharmed. The trail they were on had essentially disappeared under snow drifts. 

The volunteers helped dig out two of the stuck snowmobiles. The two men in the missing party were able to ride their sleds out of the backcountry while the two boys were transported via snowmobile by TCSAR volunteers. All returned back to Togwotee Mountain Lodge. 

Six volunteers responded on snowmobiles to rescue a party of four missing snowmobilers on Togwotee Pass on February 2, 2025. Photo: TCSAR

The volunteers then returned to the TCSAR hangar in Jackson just before 3 a.m. and prepped the equipment for the next callout.

Regarding the use of satellite texting, this incident showed how the SAR team was able to use the technology in an emergency. As the incident unfolded, one of the men was using his iPhone to text his wife via satellite. She connected with TCSAR, who asked her to tell her husband to initiate a text to TCSAR incident command. He did so, which enabled back-and-forth text communication between his party and incident command at TCSAR.