TCSAR Strives to Keep Pace with Snowmobile Rescues

During Old Bill's Giving Season, your support for TCSAR volunteers helps keep the backcountry safe

The power and efficiency of a modern snowmobile means you can travel farther, faster and stay out longer than the best riders barely dreamed of just 10 years ago. Advanced engineering, better floatation in powder, and improved maneuverability make for some all-time days.

"The best day I had this last year, we were the only people out. It was bluebird and we had deep powder,” says Doug Van Houten, a TCSAR volunteer since 2015. “We were getting face shots on every turn, like the snowmobile was tunneling through the snow. We went 30 miles that day.”

But as TCSAR volunteers know all too well, that same speed and power can get people into trouble, and turn an all-time day into tragedy. Over the last several years, avalanche deaths among snowmobilers in Wyoming have grown at an alarming rate. Since reporting began decades ago, there have been 37 snowmobilers who’ve died in avalanches in Wyoming, compared to 26 backcountry skiers, according to statistics from the Bridger-Teton National Forest Avalanche Center.

Doug Van Houten, a TCSAR volunteer since 2015, is the team’s logistics advisor. Photo: Morris Weintraub

For the last 10 years in Teton County, snowmobilers have accounted for roughly 35 percent of all callouts each winter, versus 58 percent for backcountry skiers and snowboarders. Snowmobile callouts range from people getting lost, stuck, crashing, or getting caught in avalanches. At times, the team may respond on snowmobiles, but transition to skis at a wilderness boundary, as they did two winters ago during a two-day mission to save three snowmobilers who’d become lost and stuck in the Teton Wilderness. 

To respond to these incidents, TCSAR volunteers have made it a priority to train and be equipped on sleds. They keep seven snowmachines in Jackson, and two in Alta to respond to accidents on the west side of the Tetons. Volunteers may also use their own sleds depending on the situation, and they train how to use the machines with different types of toboggans for hauling gear and people across difficult terrain.

The widespread and challenging nature of snowmobile rescues is one reason why your donations to the Teton County Search and Rescue Foundation through Old Bill’s this year are so important. Our volunteers need to have access to technology and training that helps them keep pace with modern snowmachines in order to handle the incident load.

TCSAR volunteer Galen Parke stamps his passport to Trench Town during a training session last winter. Photo: David Bowers

Van Houten, also the logistics advisor for TCSAR, offers the following recommendations for having all-time days:

Know the consequences

• Before heading out, make sure you are prepared for environmental, mechanical, and medical scenarios. Carry the right gear in avalanche terrain, and more importantly, know how to use it. The Mountain Riding Lab offers avalanche safety classes by snowmobilers, for snowmobilers.

Be mindful

• Always pay attention to terrain, navigation, snow conditions, and your own energy level. Many people are excellent at riding, but they may not have experience managing avalanche terrain, creek beds, and other hazards.

Talk it out

• Communication is key, both within your group and the outside world. Two-way radios, like these from Backcountry Access, are excellent options to keep tabs on your riding partners, whereas emergency locator beacons, such as a Garmin inReach, allow you to call for help even without cellular service.

• Remember to discuss your plans with your group before hitting the trail. Talk about expectations, a plan everyone can agree on, ability level, and comfort level for riding in the backcountry.

Think about it

• Your brain is your best tool, exercise it.

If you'd like to help support the efforts by our team to continue to save lives in the Jackson Hole backcountry, we humbly ask for you to consider making a donation to TCSAR Foundation through Old Bill's. This is the best time of the year to support TCSAR volunteers, as matching funds from the community help stretch your dollars.

As locals and visitors continue to flee the pandemic into the Teton County backcountry, it's more important than ever for the community to have a healthy and strong TCSAR team. We would be grateful for any and all support.

How Ground-based Rescue Is the Core of TCSAR's Response

During Old Bill's Giving Season, your support for TCSAR volunteers helps keep the backcountry safe

Walking through the TCSAR hangar, one can't help but be enthralled by the jet boats, snowmobiles, a Side-by-Side, Incident Command trucks, and, for most of the year, a helicopter.

But as much as these machines may seduce our inner zoom-zoom, they each have their own limitations, whether due to topography, mechanical function, or weather. Sometimes, these machines are no match for good old-fashioned boots on the ground. Indeed, the ground-pound is unglamorous and at times unpleasant for those slogging through the mountains, but it forms one of the most essential services from Teton County Search and Rescue.

"The reality is ground-based rescue is the core of what we do," says Eric Helgoth, a TCSAR volunteer since 2004. 

The ground response is just one rescue method we are highlighting over the next several weeks, along with the volunteers who orchestrate them as a team to save lives, during the Old Bill's giving season. You can help support these rescues and the team by donating today to the TCSAR Foundation through OldBills.org.

Nearly every rescue mission includes a ground response. When machines get bogged down, boots climb mountains in snow and rain and fog; they wade across swollen creeks, bushwhack through grizzly bear country, and bypass broken bridges. Sometimes, the ground team is on standby; other times, they lead the way.

Helgoth and fellow volunteer Terri Romanowski, who joined the squad in 2001, are two veterans on the team. They have each put in untold hours of pounding the ground, taking time out of their lives to help others in need. They are also highly dedicated volunteers, with Romanowski having one of the top attendance records for incidents (70 percent) and trainings (94 percent).

Terri Romanowski, volunteer since 2001, and Eric Helgoth, volunteer since 2004, are among the most dedicated members of the team. Photo: Morris Weintraub

They've been involved in some of the most strenuous TCSAR missions to date. When a young woman needed serious medical attention deep in the Gros Ventre Wilderness, Romanowski was one of a small group of volunteers who responded to a call-out at 4 a.m. to hike in six miles after weather and rugged terrain shut down both helicopter and ATV access.

Helgoth recalls another incident in the fall when the team had to climb Cody Peak to reach a woman who'd been cliffed-out. From the summit, they rappelled 600 feet down the cliffs to reach the patient.

Each time the crew goes out on a ground mission, they shoulder a 24-hour pack, meaning it has the supplies to help them survive overnight and into the next day. The packs weigh about 30 pounds, depending on the gear for the mission, and include an emergency shelter, food and water, light and fire, medical kit, and warm clothes.

"Ground rescue is important because we don’t always have aircraft evacuation," says Romanowski, who's been a mountain operations emergency dispatcher at Teton Village since 1999. "You have to consider various hazards, such as weather, wildlife, terrain, and your mental and physical capacity. If it's a missing person, you're going to have to cover a large area, and it's essential to get feet on the ground and extra eyes to find clues you can't see from above."

Ground-based rescue includes high-angle response, where machines aren’t always viable. Photo: TCSAR Foundation

If you'd like to help support these efforts, we humbly ask for you to consider making a donation to TCSAR Foundation through Old Bill's. This is the best time of the year to support TCSAR volunteers, as matching funds from the community help stretch your dollars.

As locals and visitors continue to flee the pandemic into the Teton County backcountry, it's more important than ever for the community to have a healthy and strong TCSAR team. We would be grateful for any and all support.

Old Bill's Giving Season is Here

TCSAR Foundation seeks donations during the Old Bill's Giving Season of August 1-September 18, 2020

In a year that's seen constant change, upheaval and challenges, it's no surprise that the Old Bill's Fun Run, in its 24th year, is being reimagined due to the coronavirus. As the event goes virtual, TCSAR Foundation is fully embracing this important fundraiser as an opportunity to showcase TCSAR's essential role in our community.

Old Bill's giving period starts today, August 1, and runs through September 18. Over the next several weeks, we'll be highlighting a number of our TCSAR volunteers with various methods of rescue. Whether it's a kayak, snowmobile, pair of skis, rolling the wheeled litter, grinding it out on foot, or riding a mule, our volunteers respond in many different ways throughout the year.

But one thing all TCSAR volunteers have in common is the heart, drive and compassion to help others in times of need. As first responders, they are ready to go even during the worst pandemic in more than a century.

TCSAR volunteer Ryan Mertaugh is among the top paddlers on the team.

But they can't do it without your support. Old Bill's is the best time of the year to donate to TCSAR Foundation, as matching funds help stretch your financial contributions. Donations help keep TCSAR volunteers outfitted with the proper gear, adequately trained to save lives, offer mental health support, and provide educational opportunities for our community.

Regardless of the new Old Bill's format, we encourage you to stay involved. Jackson Hole is very fortunate to have this event to support the nonprofit community, but it only works when people give back—whether it's to TCSAR Foundation or any other local nonprofit.

More than ever before, now is the time to support what you love. We would be honored and grateful to have your support during these uncertain times.

Doug Van Houten, a TCSAR volunteer since 2015, is the team’s logistics advisor and one of the snowmachine leaders.