TCSAR Recognizes Volunteers For Outstanding Service

Jackson, Wyo. — Teton County Search & Rescue recently recognized numerous volunteers for reaching significant milestones in their commitment to the team and the betterment of our community.

Each summer, the organization honors those volunteers who have reached 10 years of service or more, in five-year increments. The volunteers who reach these milestones receive a limited-edition belt buckle at the team’s summer picnic. This year, Teton County Commissioners also recognized the volunteers with a certificate of service.

Volunteers Chris Stiehl and Carol Viau were recently recognized for their 25-year commitment to Teton County Search & Rescue. Photo: Matt Hansen

This year, volunteers Chris Stiehl and Carol Viau were recognized for their 25 years of service on TCSAR. Having joined the team in 2000, the two are among the most tenured volunteers in the organization. Only Tim Ciocarlan (1993), Mike Moyer (1993), Mike Estes (1993), and Jenn Sparks (1998) have been on the team longer.

Ten Years and Counting

The volunteers who have reached the 15-year mark include: Ryan Combs, Ethan Lobdell, Cody Lockhart, and Galen Parke.

Reaching the 10-year anniversary include volunteers: KC Bess, Phillip Fox, Chase Lockhart, Ryan Mertaugh, Keegan Pfeil, Scott Shervin, Anthony Stevens, Doug Van Houten, and Don Watkins. 

Of the 36 volunteers on TCSAR, 27 have served for more than 10 years. Every year, TCSAR volunteers collectively donate more than 10,000 hours of service back to the community in the form of rescues, trainings, and backcountry safety education. All rescues performed by TCSAR are free of charge.

Please join us in thanking all of these volunteers for their exceptional commitment to our community.

TCSAR Rescues Mountain Biker on Teton Pass

At 12:40 p.m. on Tuesday, July 22, Teton County Search & Rescue was alerted to an injured mountain biker on the Phillips Canyon trail. The biker, a 47-year-old local woman, had crashed while descending the trail and sustained injuries that prevented her from getting out of the backcountry on her own.

TCSAR volunteers maneuver the wheeled litter carrying an injured mountain biker down Phillips Canyon on July 22, 2025. It was the team’s fourth mountain bike rescue of the summer on Teton Pass, and the season’s eighth rescue call overall for that location. Photo: TCSAR

TCSAR responded with numerous volunteers. Two teams approached the scene from the Phillips Bench trailhead before going on foot packing the wheeled litter via the Arrow Trail. A third team went up Phillips Canyon from the trailhead on Fish Creek Road.

Volunteers reached the patient and her friend at approximately 2:40 p.m., and packaged the patient for transport in the wheeled litter. The team then rolled and carried the patient about three miles down the trail to Fish Creek Road. From there, the patient and friend self-transported to higher medical care. TCSAR volunteers made it back to base at 4:30 p.m.

This was the volunteers’ eighth time responding to a rescue call on Teton Pass this summer, four of which have been for mountain bikers.

Hot off the Press: The 2025 Midyear Rescue Report

Jackson, Wyo. — Teton County Search & Rescue had one of its busiest winters ever, according to the organization’s 2025 Midyear Review and Rescue Report. 

Between December 1, 2024, and May 31, 2025, TCSAR reported 64 calls for service. That figure rivals nearly the entire number of calls for many years before 2021, when annual calls for service took a dramatic jump. In the past six months, February saw the most calls with 18, while January had 13. After a relatively quiet March and April, the team saw a spike in May with 13 calls for service.

Most of the calls this winter came from skiers and snowboarders, which alerted TCSAR 27 times. The majority of those calls, 18, were from skiers and snowboarders who entered the backcountry from a resort boundary gate. Many of these lift-served backcountry incidents were handled by local ski patrol, underscoring the critical partnership between TCSAR and our three local ski resorts.

A big theme for this winter had to do with stuck or stranded snowmobilers. Snowmachiners accounted for 17 rescue calls, with five rescues leading to all-night operations from TCSAR volunteers.

“In the thick of rescue season, heading out into a storm at night starts to feel normal—but it is not. Whenever I can step back and get some perspective on the TCSAR Team, I am amazed that an ordinary group of community volunteers are able to come together, risk their lives, and go into the mountains to save people they’ve never met.”
— Cody Lockhart, TCSAR Chief Advisor

The Rescue Report is published twice yearly by TCSAR Foundation, the nonprofit that supports TCSAR volunteers and provides backcountry safety education and outreach. The reports are intended to highlight the commitment and dedication of TCSAR volunteers, provide lessons learned from backcountry accidents, and drive awareness for improving backcountry safety.

The new Rescue Report includes the following:

  • Incident recaps from every call that came into TCSAR from December 1, 2024, to May 31, 2025.

  • A deeper look at the trend of overnight snowmobile rescues.

  • How backcountry users can use the satellite text-to-911 feature on Apple iPhones.

  • Graphs and stats that reveal backcountry accident trends and demographics. 

  • Backcountry safety education highlights from the last six months.

Rescue Reports are available for free, and can be found at participating businesses all over Jackson Hole. Digital versions are available for download at at the button below.