Grand Teton Rangers Rescue Injured Off-Trail Hiker

Five rangers from Grand Teton National Park conducted one of the more physically taxing ground-based rescues in the last several years during the afternoon and evening of Monday, July 22nd.

A 61-year-old Colorado woman sustained an injury somewhere below the very steep talus slope that runs from Lake Taminah to the bottom of Shosoko Falls. Dispatch was notified of the injured hiker by cell phone around 5 p.m. The woman tried to continue her descent, but her injury made it too challenging for her to bear weight.

Avalanche Canyon has some of the most difficult terrain of any of the mountain canyons in the park. There are no maintained trails through the canyon, so hikers have to “bushwhack” their way through dense marsh and vegetation in the lower part of the canyon. Higher in the canyon, hikers must scramble up long sections of steep scree and boulder fields.

Due to the challenges of the terrain, rangers were unable to use standard rescue devices such as a wheeled litter to carry the woman out of Avalanche Canyon. Instead, rescuers traded off physically caring her on their backs for short segments, slowly making their way down the canyon. Once they reached the maintained trail near Taggart Lake, rangers placed her in a wheeled litter to carry her the last two miles to the trailhead.

Both of the Teton interagency contact helicopters were out of the valley on fire assignments and unavailable. If the incident had occurred earlier in the day or if the woman’s injuries had been life threatening, rangers would have likely sought assistance from a short-haul capable helicopter.

This was the park’s 17th major search and rescue operation this year.


Jeff
Hiking in Glacier National Park

Backcountry Hiker Rescued from Webb Canyon in Northern Teton Range

Just before 9 a.m. on Thursday, July 18th, Grand Teton National Park rangers rescued a 27-year-old man who injured his foot while hiking in Webb Canyon located in the northern portion of the Teton Range. Michael Zinke of Solvang, California was with a large group of people who intended to traverse the Teton Range over the course of several days from Webb Canyon to the String Lake Trailhead.

At approximately 10 a.m. on Wednesday, July 17th, Zinke glissaded down a snowfield and had traveled approximately 50 feet when he struck a boulder with his foot in an attempt to stop. Zinke did not carry an ice axe and tried to self-arrest with one of his trekking poles, instead. Although the incident occurred mid-morning, Zinke and his party continued hiking their planned route until he could no longer apply pressure to his injured foot and the party was forced to stop.

At 7:25 Wednesday evening, Teton Interagency Dispatch Center received a call from a representative with the International Dispatch Center who reported that an individual activated a SPOT personal locator somewhere in Webb Canyon. All together, the International Dispatch Center received four "911" messages from that SPOT device over the next 11 hours.

Because SPOT locators do not allow for two-way communication, park rangers were not able to determine the nature of the emergency, and because of the late hour, rangers were not able to arrange for a reconnaissance flight before nightfall. Therefore, plans were made to summon a Teton Interagency contract helicopter for a flight at first light on Thursday morning to locate the caller and determine the emergency.

Rangers boarded the Teton Interagency contract helicopter early Thursday morning and flew to the area where the SPOT device had registered latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates. At 8:05 a.m., rangers in the helicopter spotted the hiking party, and were able to land nearby to assess the situation and begin a rescue. Rangers provided emergency medical care to the injured Zinke and placed him in the ship for evacuation to a temporary landing zone established just south of Colter Bay. Zinke was then transferred to a park ambulance for transport to St. John's Medical Center in Jackson, Wyoming.

SPOT devices utilize satellites in order to communicate. The device allows hikers, climbers and other recreators a way to contact a central response coordination center in the event of an emergency, and when cell phones and other communication devices are ineffective. In Zinke's case, he utilized his SPOT device to send out a "911" signal which was sent to an International Dispatch Center that notified Teton Interagency Dispatch Center located at Grand Teton National Park's headquarters campus in Moose, Wyoming.

Rangers remind backcountry users to be prepared for emergencies and take personal responsibility for the welfare of each member of the party. Often in the event of an accident, hikers or climbers must depend first on themselves and their own party. Factors such as weather, darkness, or unexpected hazards may delay or even prevent an organized rescue response. Rangers also urge inexperienced hikers and climbers to obtain instruction and experience in proper ice axe technique (self-arrest and self-belay) before tackling routes that require potentially hazardous snowfield crossings.


Jeff
Hiking in Glacier National Park