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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Wednesday, May 7, 2014 INCIDENTS Grand Teton NP Snowboarder Dies Of Traumatic Injuries On Monday, May 5th, a backcountry snowboarder died, likely from traumatic injuries he sustained during a 1,500-foot fall on Teewinot Mountain. J.L., 24, of Anchorage, Alaska, and had summited the 12,325-foot mountain with two companions around 10 a.m. They were descending the snow-covered peak on snowboards and skis when the accident occurred. J.L.'s partners made an emergency call for help via cell phone soon after they reached their friend, who lay unconscious but breathing on a steep slope of Teewinot's eastern flank. J.L.'s companions worked continually to keep him warm and breathing while awaiting rescue. Upon receiving the emergency call, rangers immediately mobilized a response and summoned a helicopter from Ogden, Utah, to assist with the rescue operation. A hasty team of rangers skied 3,000 vertical feet up the eastern flank of Teewinot Mountain to reach J.L. and assist with emergency medical care while preparing him for transport. When the ship arrived around 3 p.m., snow squalls, high winds and low visibility prevented an aerial rescue attempt. J.L. died from his injuries at 4 p.m., not long after rangers arrived on scene. One ranger assisted J.L.'s companions to the valley floor while the remaining rescue personnel used a litter, ropes and pulleys to move J.L.'s body to a less hazardous area down the mountain slope. Due to hazardous snow conditions and waning light, rescuers secured the rescue litter on the mountain for the evening and returned to the valley floor at approximately 10 p.m. Rescuers returned to the mountain on Tuesday morning to retrieve J.L.'s body. Although most recently a resident of Salt Lake City, J.L. was in the process of moving to Jackson. His parents happened to be in the valley on a visit and were present for much of the park's rescue effort on Monday and recovery mission on Tuesday. According to his father, J.L. and his companions were all experienced backcountry snowboarders/skiers who knew how to handle themselves well in such mountainous terrain. J.L. was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident. [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): President's Park - On April 26th, President's Park and the Kids in Parks program celebrated the grand opening of Washington's newest TRACK Trail as part of the Service's Healthy Parks, Healthy People initiative. Great Smoky Mountains NP - The park has employed the Federated Enterprise Mapping Program to host data and map applications on centrally managed virtual servers running at the Denver Data Center, making an array of new applications available throughout the park. Booker T. Washington NM - The park has issued a fitness challenge to other parks in Northeast Region's Virginia Sub-Cluster. Park employees are working to improve their professional and personal lives by becoming more physically fit. Lake Meredith NRA - Rozanna Pfeiffer, chief of interpretation for Lake Meredith and Alibates Flint Quarries, retired on April 30th after 22 years with the federal government, 18 of those with the National Park Service. 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). --- ### --- |