Woman ‘seriously injured’ in weekend avalanche
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MOOSE, Wyoming — Officials rescued a woman who was seriously injured in an avalanche on Sunday.
It happened sometime Sunday afternoon on Prospectors Mountain inside Grand Teton National Park, according to a news release from Teton County Search and Rescue.
A 29-year-old local woman — whose name has not been released — was skiing with four unidentified men about 10,800 feet up near the top of the Banana Couloir.
Somehow, the group triggered an avalanche. Details about how it happened were not specified, but it pushed one of the men about 500 feet down the mountain. The woman fell about 1,500 feet. Neither of them were buried in the avalanche. The rest of the skiers avoided the avalanche and made it out on their own.
Officials didn’t say how long the skiers were trapped, but a rescue helicopter eventually came to their aide.
“The crew flew up into the Banana, a prominent couloir on the east face of Prospectors Mountain. The volunteers were able to short-haul the injured skier off the mountain and fly her to a waiting National Park Service ambulance at Windy Point Turnout,” the news release explains.
A short-haul rescue is for steep terrain when landing is not an option. In this situation, the victim and the rescuer are attached to the belly of a helicopter through a rope and flown out of the backcountry.
The news release didn’t elaborate on the woman’s specific injuries or whether she was hospitalized.
Teton County Search and Rescue is grateful to Grand Teton Park rangers for their assistance in the rescue operation. They’re reminding skiers to be aware of the daily avalanche forecast and plan accordingly.