BRIDGER-TETON NATIONAL FOREST— Both Teton County Idaho Search and Rescue (TCISAR) and Teton County Search and Rescue (TCSAR) reported several avalanche related rescues in the region over the holiday weekend.
At the end of the day on Friday, Jan. 12, TCISAR team members recovered a skier involved in avalanche above State Line Canyon, along Highway 33 at the Idaho-Wyoming State line.
According to Teton County Idaho Search and Rescue, over twenty team members, including three K9 teams, responded to the incident. The observation report from Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center recorded the crown of the avalanche at an elevation of 7,980 feet with the skier coming to a stop in the slide at 7,370 feet. The skier deployed an airbag during the slide that allowed them to stay mostly above the surface of the snow. However, due to the treed terrain and debris from the slide, the skier sustained “significant trauma from hitting trees” according to TCISAR.
The skier was stabilized by their partner and five additional skiers in the area that responded to the incident. TCISAR, with the help of the party of five, searched the avalanche with transceivers and canines, as some of the debris had covered a popular skin track into Mount Oliver.
The skier was packaged and transported to the trailhead at Hwy 33 and was handed off to Teton County Fire and Rescue for transport to Driggs. Avalanche danger at this elevation and aspect was considerable/high for the day.
Additionally, on Saturday, Jan. 13, TCISAR received a call for two overdue snowmobilers who ventured into the Big Holes the day prior. Contact was made with the party and their location was determined but due to frigid overnight temperatures, the likely onset of hypothermia and high avalanche conditions, TCISAR needed the assistance of Teton County Wyoming Search and Rescue’s new helicopter. TCSAR flew to the location and was able to safely extract the two men and fly them to the hospital in Driggs.
“This is a great example of inter-agency cooperation and the use of resources to lessen some of the risks Search and Rescue Volunteers face when serving the public,” TCISAR states via social media.
On Sunday, Jan. 14, Teton County Search and Rescue was called four times in just a few hours. This follows several calls over the previous few days as a significant storm created dangerous avalanche conditions throughout the region, TSCAR reported.
According to TCSAR, two calls on Sunday were third-party reports about avalanches on Teton Pass Mail Cabin and Taylor Mountain. After investigating the two slides, TCSAR volunteers determined that there were no burials.
TCSAR was then alerted to an avalanche fatality in Prater Canyon in the Salt River Range at 1:30 p.m. The team responded with the TCSAR helicopter and short-hauled the one surviving skier and the deceased skier out of the backcountry.
“Make sure you check the avalanche forecast, communicate with your partners about safest routes and don’t push the envelope,” TSCAR states via social media. “This is not a normal year, so please be extra conservative in your backcountry decision-making.”
According to the Backcountry Avalanche Forecast, very dangerous avalanche conditions exist due to the continued snowfall and wind stressing an already reactive snowpack making natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
“Skiers are likely to trigger an avalanche on most steep slopes, both in areas where the wind has built drifts and in areas sheltered from the wind,” the Backcountry Avalanche Report states. “Avalanches can be triggered remotely—from below, above and to the sides of steeper terrain.”
The Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center notes that an avalanche warning remains in effect for the Tetons and Greys River Zones, forecasting a danger rating of “High” above 7,500 feet in the Greys River area and a rating of “High” above 9,000 feet in the Tetons.
Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center’s current Backcountry Avalanche Forecast can be found here.
