JACKSON, Wyo. — Teton County Search and Rescue (TCSAR) has been busy in the new year.
On Monday and Tuesday, the rescue team responded to two separate incidents on Teton Pass involving backcountry skiers with lower leg injuries. According to a TCSAR social media post, both skiers’ injuries prevented them from skiing out of the backcountry on their own.
On Monday, Jan. 12, around 3:45 p.m., an alert came in of an injured female skier near the Do-It Chutes. TCSAR’s post stated that the skier was located several hundred feet above WY22 in a timbered chute.
“TCSAR responded with a short-haul team in the helicopter, and placed skiers on the ground as backup,” TCSAR wrote on Facebook. “The helicopter inserted two volunteers directly on scene, where they were able to package the patient for transport.”
The patient was then short-hauled to a waiting ambulance at the Coal Creek parking lot. The mission was completed in three hours and 17 minutes.
The second mission, which took place on the morning of Tuesday, Jan. 13, began with a page about an injured male skier near Mount Elly. The page came in at 10:28 a.m., and the team responded via helicopter to the Black Canyon area. A backup ski team was waiting at the top of the Pass. The patient was located about 400 feet below the summit of Mount Elly, and the chopper landed in an open snow field 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,” reads the post. “The heli then transported him and the rescuers to the TCSAR HQ in Jackson.”
The mission was completed in less than two hours, with all responding members out of the field before noon.
