Stranded Skiers Rescued From Backcountry

Chris Buechley, 29, and Dan Myers,  27, both residents of Jackson, Wyoming, took a wrong turn after exiting an out-of-bounds gate at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort around 2 p.m. on Sunday, January 25th, and spent an unexpected night in the mountains without adequate clothing or shelter. The two men intended to ski south into Rock Springs Bowl, but inadvertently turned north and entered Granite Canyon. They did not realize that they were off course until they had traveled some distance into Grand Teton’s backcountry. When darkness overtook them, they tried to camp for the night. Since they lacked extra clothing or any basic emergency gear to warm themselves, though, they became cold and decided to keep moving. As they were following Granite Creek downstream, Buechley fell through a thin bridge of snow and landed in knee-deep water. In addition to getting wet, Buechley lost one ski in the process of scrambling out of the streambed, which hampered his ability to continue skiing. The two men used their cell phone around 6:30 on Monday morning to make a 911 call for help, and that call was received by a Teton County dispatcher. The men reported that they were stranded somewhere south of the ski resort, as they still believed that they had skied toward Rock Springs Bowl, but a GPS locator on the cell phone pinpointed their position as being in Granite Canyon within Grand Teton National Park — several miles north of where they claimed to be. Shortly after making their emergency call, the cell phone lost service. Teton County dispatch alerted rangers of the situation and a search and rescue operation was begun. Two rangers snowmobiled to Granite Canyon, left their snowmobiles on the valley, floor, then skied into the canyon. Meanwhile, patrol staff from Jackson Hole Mountain Resort skied into Granite Canyon from the summit of Rendezvous Mountain and searched the canyon’s upper reaches. Both rescue parties reached the stranded skiers around noon and provided Buechley with a spare ski to assist him in skiing out. The two men were located about two miles west of the mouth of Granite Canyon.