Rescue Teams Dispatched In Search Of Two Skiers Missing In Garnet Canyon
by Than Volk | Avalanche And Snow Safety, News | April 19th, 2011 | 623 Views | 0 Comments
From The Jackson Hole News & Guide:
Grand Teton National Park dispatched 16 rescuers Tuesday morning to search for two skiers who failed to return from a trip into the mountains Sunday night.
The teams were scheduled to head into Garnet Canyon, Glacier Gulch and to the Grand Teton’s Lower Saddle to look for signs of a 37-year-old Salt Lake City U.S. Treasury Department worker and an emergency room doctor from Montana, 31, park spokeswoman Jackie Skaggs said. The two had registered with park rangers Saturday for an overnight ski trip in the vicinity of the 13,770-foot-high Grand.
“As we always do, we still have hope they’re stranded injured, held up somewhere,” Skaggs said Tuesday morning.
Above-freezing temperatures Monday made skiing too dangerous, limiting rangers to a helicopter search in the afternoon that covered only part of the search area. Rangers were worried about avalanches and observers in the airship noticed debris from snow slides, Skaggs said.
Searchers will traverse avalanche deposits with transceiver beacons, assuming the two were wearing such locating devices.
“They are going to check debris fields,” Skaggs said. “We assume they have beacons,” because relatives and friends said the pair had the usual array of avalanche safety gear.
Skaggs said the teams were dispatched following a 6 a.m. briefing involving 40 personnel, including rangers, county search and rescue personnel and mountaineers from the Exum guide service. Below-freezing temperatures Monday night reduced the avalanche hazard.
The two registered for a backcountry camping permit at approximately noon Saturday, Skaggs said, and likely left for the mountains soon after. They told rangers their original plan to head to the Grand was likely too ambitious, given the snow conditions, and said they might go to Teepe Pillar, adjacent to the Grand.
Read The Full Article Here
Rando Steve’s Account From Garnet Yesteday
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Tags: avalanche, backcountry, garnet canyon, glacier gulch, grand teton, grand teton national park, gtnp, jackson, jackson hole, rescue, rescuers, search, ski, skiers, skiing, slide, snow, wyoming
