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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Wednesday, February 12, 2014 INCIDENTS Grand Teton NP Lost Skiers Rescued During Major Winter Storm Three skiers unintentionally ended up in the Granite Canyon backcountry on Friday, February 7th, prompting a search and rescue mission by park rangers the following day during a significant winter storm. Despite a high and rising avalanche danger, park rescuers successfully assisted the three out of the Teton backcountry by 9:30 p.m. the next day. The threesome left the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort boundary from Gate 1 at about 11 a.m. on Friday with the intention of skiing an area called Four Pines, adjacent to the ski resort. They mistakenly skied into Granite Canyon instead and became lost in Grand Teton's more remote backcountry. By 4 p.m. Friday, they realized they were lost, so they decided to dig a snow cave and stay put for the night. By Saturday morning, the group was out of food and water and only one of them was carrying an avalanche transceiver. They decided to send a text message to a friend indicating that they were lost and needed help. Teton County Sheriff's Office dispatchers received the call for help and notified park rangers at 8:30 a.m. The skiers were able to provide their location by GPS coordinates derived from their cell phone, and, through a text message, rangers determined that no one in the party was injured. Due to high winds and low visibility, a helicopter reconnaissance and rescue was not possible, so rangers prepared for a ground-based rescue. Rangers spent most of the day weighing options on how to help the trio while analyzing the risk to rescuers. With concerns that the three might not survive a second night in the backcountry, rangers ultimately decided to attempt a rescue. If rescuers had encountered signs of slope instability, or if the avalanche danger had been any higher, they would not have attempted the rescue. Ultimately, four park rangers departed the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort on skis at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday and reached the party at 7:30 p.m. The group was then escorted out of the backcountry and back to the base of the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. [Jackie Skaggs, Public Affairs Officer] OTHER NEWS The following stories are among those in today's webpage editions of InsideNPS (available to NPS employees only) and the Morning Report (available to all readers): Servicewide - The Scaling Up Team working on the Call To Action item of the same name is launching the second phase of its plan for attaining that goal, which is to help support broader engagement of NPS parks and programs at the large landscape level. Southeast Region - Southeast Regional Office and many parks throughout the region remain closed or are newly closed today due to the storm that is bringing snow, freezing rain and ice to many Southern states. Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services - The Service's Incident Management, Analysis and Reporting System (IMARS) is now available on more devices, including government iPhones and iPads. Midwest Region - Paul Labovitz, currently superintendent of Mississippi NRRA, has been selected as the new superintendent for Indiana Dunes NL. He begins his new assignment in May. Yosemite NP - Steve Thompson, branch chief for wildlife management for Yosemite National Park, retired on January 31st. He'd been with the National Park Service since 1980. To see the full text of these stories, readers should go to one or the other of the following sites: NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index Non-NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/" http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/ The Morning Report is produced by the Office of Communications with the support of the Office of the Associate Director for Information Resources. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@contractor.nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@contractor.nps.gov). --- ### --- |