Teton officials irritated with reckless backcountry skiers

JACKSON, Wyo. — Teton County officials say they're growing increasingly frustrated with careless skiers and snowboarders who prompt costly and hazardous rescue efforts by heading into remote areas despite dangerous avalanche conditions.

Earlier this month, a skier in the backcountry outside Jackson Hole Mountain Resort triggered a massive avalanche. Some 30 other backcountry skiers in the area abandoned their excursions to look for the skier they assumed was trapped in the slide.

The Jackson Hole Mountain Resort Ski Patrol and Teton County Search and Rescue responded. The search and rescue team dropped off an avalanche dog and searched by helicopter for the missing skier.

The fruitless search continued for two and one-half hours before the skier who triggered the slide called rescuers to report no one was hurt or lost. Search and Rescue never got a name.

Backcountry protocol calls for reporting an avalanche and lack of victims immediately.

"That was just incredibly rude," Teton County Commissioner Bill Paddleford said of the delayed report.

Commissioner Hank Phibbs said he sees the incident as "beyond rude."

"Our volunteers put their lives on the line out there in those circumstances," Phibbs said.

Rescue costs have increased tenfold in eight years, from $15,000 to $160,000. The rescue missions, meanwhile, are growing more dangerous as snow enthusiasts push the limits.

Some county leaders are pondering how to force rescued skiers and snowboarders to pay the costs of helicopter flights necessary to get them out of the woods. Others are debating whether the area needs a European-style insurance program to cover rescue costs, or whether skiing or snowboarding on federal lands in the backcountry should require a permit.

All the parties seem to agree that there needs to be public discussion about how to prevent future careless accidents.

When Doug Meyer started with Search and Rescue in 1992, he expected one search and rescue event a year. He expects the agency will respond to at least 10 this winter.