JACKSON, Wyo. — On the afternoon of Friday, January 8, Teton County Search & Rescue (TCSAR) received a call regarding a group of skiers who’d been caught in an avalanche on a mountain just outside of Cooke City, Montana.
According to the accident report from the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center, three skiers were caught in the slide, with one sustaining serious lung and rib injuries.
With weather preventing the use of helicopters to respond from Montana, TCSAR got the call, with the pilot taking two team members as short-haulers. Flying directly to the avalanche site from the TCSAR hangar (a distance of about 120 miles), the team located the patient and successfully short-hauled him to further medical treatment in Cooke City.
The TCSAR team then flew to Cody for the night before returning to Jackson in the morning. The ship was back in action just a few hours later on Saturday, when the team was alerted to an injured skier in Pinedale Canyon just south of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. That skier was also short-hauled to safety.
