TCSAR Rescues Skiers from Teton Pass

Teton County Search & Rescue volunteers responded to two separate incidents on Monday and Tuesday, January 12 and 13, on Teton Pass. Both calls involved backcountry skiers suffering lower leg injuries that prevented them from exiting the backcountry on their own.

At 3:43 p.m. on Monday, January 12, TCSAR received an alert of an injured female skier in the area of the Do-It Chutes (pictured). The skier was located in a timbered chute several hundred feet above Hwy 22.

TCSAR responded with a short-haul team in the helicopter, and placed skiers on the ground as backup. The helicopter inserted two volunteers directly on scene, where they were able to package the patient for transport. The team then short-hauled the patient to a waiting ambulance with Jackson Hole Fire/EMS at the Coal Creek parking lot, completing the mission in 3 hours, 17 minutes.

At 10:28 a.m. on Tuesday, January 13, the volunteers were paged for an injured male skier in the Black Canyon area of Mount Elly. TCSAR responded with a helicopter team, while a ski team was positioned as backup on the top of Teton Pass. 

With the patient being about 400 feet below the summit of Elly, the helicopter landed in an open field of snow uphill from the scene. With the help of the man’s ski partners, TCSAR volunteers carried the patient up the hill to be placed inside the helicopter. The heli then transported him and the rescuers to the TCSAR HQ in Jackson. All team members were out of the field by noon, completing the mission in less than 2 hours.

Mira Ahora: Videos from Spanish-language Avalanche Awareness Night

On January 28, 2025, a consortium of concerned residents in Jackson came together to present the valley’s first Spanish-language Avalanche Awareness Night at the Virginian Lodge. The event was recorded, with each presentation now available to watch via the TCSAR YouTube channel.

The goal of the event was to increase access to essential safety information for community members for whom Spanish is their preferred language. Based on local school demographics, an estimated 40 percent of county residents have a home language other than English, and the majority of those are Spanish-speakers.

With the outdoors such an important part of the Jackson Hole culture, it’s important that backcountry safety information is accessible to all.

"Language access is one of the important first steps in ensuring that everyone in our community has the tools and knowledge they need to make informed decisions in the backcountry,” said Piper Worthington, a language access advocate and event co-coordinator. “This event will be educational, but also a celebration of local people and organizations who have changed the ways we think about who is represented in the outdoor industry."

Below, TCSAR volunteer Ryan Mertaugh discusses how to mitigate your risk while traveling in avalanche terrain. This is just one of several presentations done entirely in Spanish.

Thanks to all of the presenters, the Virginian Lodge, Camino Conmingo, Coombs Outdoors, Exum, Jackson Hole Mountain Guides, the Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center, and TCSAR for making this event possible. All videos were recorded and edited by Garrett LeRoy.

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.