Backcountry skier spends the night on Mt. Owen before rescue

JH Press April 1, 2022

70 2 minutes read

An unidentified solo backcountry skier found himself cliffed out and stranded on Mt. Owen. (NPS)

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — Park rangers and Teton County Search and Rescue (TCSAR) responded jointly to rescue a stranded backcountry skier on the East Prong of Mount Owen at approximately 10:30am this morning in Grand Teton National Park.

On Thursday, a local 27-year-old man solo skied a couloir on Disappointment Peak. Afterwards, he climbed the Koven Couloir on Mount Owen, planning to ski it next. But once at the top, he decided he wanted to attempt the Cathedral Traverse in reverse from the top of the Koven Couloir towards Mount Teewinot.

In doing so, the man climbed the East Prong. The East Prong climb is somewhat technical in nature and before long the man realized he would be unable to reverse course and climb back down to the top of the Koven Couloir. The man was not carrying a rope. To make matters worse, once he reached the top of the East Prong, the weather began to deteriorate and the man found himself in whiteout conditions with wayfinding becoming increasingly difficult.

Teton Interagency Dispatch Center received a call around 7:30pm Thursday evening from the backcountry skier who reported he was unable to make it out of the mountains due to whiteout conditions. Park dispatch put the man in touch with a Jenny Lake climbing ranger to discuss his situation and plan accordingly. The man told the ranger he had dug a snow cave on top of the East Prong and would stay in it overnight. He planned to wake up the next morning and make his way down once visibility improved.

Overnight the mountains received over a foot of new snow, making the conditions more hazardous.

Friday morning the man sent a text message to park rangers at approximately 6:30am to let them know he was awake and doing okay. Rangers advised the man to keep them updated on his progress and his plans for the day.

At 7am the man called rangers to inform them he would be unable to safely proceed due to the technical and high consequence terrain he was stranded in.

At approximately 10:30am park rangers and TCSAR jointly responded in the TCSAR helicopter to rescue the man. Rangers and TCSAR short-hauled the man out of the backcountry to the Jenny Lake Rescue Cache. The man was uninjured and able to self-transport.