TRIO OF CALLOUTS KEEP TCSAR BUSY

Members of TCSAR responded to 3 separate incidents on Thursday, the last stretching well into the night.

The first callout was an interagency assist requested by Fremont county.  Members were mobilized to assist with a search for a missing snowmobiler.  Luckily the snowmobiler was located near Union pass quickly and TCSAR members were stood down.

The second and third callouts occurred simultaneously.  TCSAR received a 911 call from a a skier who had gone out of bounds at JHMR.  The skier had attempted to ski a line in Four Pines.  An avalanche caught and stranded the skier in the backcountry, and they were unable to ski out.  

At the same time that the team was mobilizing to respond to this call a second call came in for a stranded snowmobiler up the Cache Creek drainage.  The Team split into separate units and responded to both incidents.  The snowmobiler up Cache Creek was located and with help able to ride out without difficulty.

The other members of TCSAR responded to JHMR and fielded two hasty teams into blizzard like conditions to search for the avalanched skier.  911 had provided GPS coordinates and with the help of GPS and good old Whistle blowing the skier was located. The teams then packaged the skier in a sked (a bendable plastic toboggan) and skied out of the backcountry.  Members of the JHMR ski patrol then assisted the team with snowmobiles back to the base of the village. The team arrived back at the JHMR around 9pm tired but happy with the outcome of a hard days work.

Please consider the backcountry conditions carefully before deciding to head out.  Stay safe.

The members of TCSAR set out this weekend to brush up on their snow machine skills.  Despite the shallow snowpack they managed to find some fun ‘biling.  

Snowmobiler Rescued

TCSAR participated in rescuing and transporting an injured snowmobiler from the Togwotee pass area today (1/2/12).

TCSAR received several fragmented 911 calls but were unable to locate or confirm that an incident was in progress until a notification made by a SPOT personal locator sent a text message to the dispatch center.  The information from the SPOT provided an accurate location near Togwotee pass and information on the injured snowmobiler.

Members of TCSAR flew in the contracted helicopter to the area and found Togwotee guides on scene with the man, who was injured when his machine flipped while trying to climb a steep incline.  The guides had properly insulated the man from the cold ground and covered him in blankets.  The SAR members packaged the man into the helicopter and provided him with pain medications before transporting him back to the the TCSAR base and transferring him to a Jackson Hole Fire/EMS ambulance crew.  

This marks the first rescue of 2012 for the members of TCSAR.