By Jim Stanford on January 28, 2008
The News&Guide has a front-page story this week about growing concern among Teton County officials over the cost and frequency of backcountry rescues, particularly of skiers in extreme terrain.
One source of irritation, not mentioned in the article, stemmed from the all-night rescue of snowboarder Toby Kuznia on New Year’s Day. Kuznia, 23, walked out on a cornice on the edge of Unskiabowl, in the southern Tetons, and triggered a slide that carried him several hundred feet over cliffs. N&G reporter Cara Froedge wrote a gripping narrative of the ordeal, with Kuznia, who suffered a broken pelvis and other injuries, pictured flashing the “hang loose” sign from his hospital bed.
Turns out that on one of the four helicopter trips needed to shuttle Kuznia’s party and rescuers off the mountain, a ski belonging to one of Kuznia’s friends fell out of the chopper and was lost. The friend allegedly asked the Teton County Sheriff’s Office, which oversees Search and Rescue, to buy him a new pair of skis.
Dude, thanks for saving my buddy’s life. How about a new set of twin-tip Salomon SPKs to go with that heli ride? And a fresh coat of wax.
(In fairness, I’m told the guy in question is a ski instructor and thus needs his boards to make a living.)
It’s important to keep the SAR costs in perspective. The Search and Rescue team’s annual budget is $160,000, $120,000 of which pays for keeping a helicopter on call. Even when that fixed cost is factored in, Search and Rescue accounts for only 3.6 percent of the Sheriff’s Office budget of $4.5 million.
Still, it’s easy to understand the frustration. As SAR chief Doug Meyer said, “Skiers are showing no respect for the mountains and no respect for avalanche conditions.”
There have been two fevered debates on these pages recently — etiquette on Teton Pass (30 comments and counting) and the Taco Bell slide (Taco Boarder wrote in to say he wasn’t disturbing habitat because he didn’t see any wildlife) — in addition to a cyberbrouhaha on The Snaz over the recent Rubberneck huckfest/slide/false-alarm search south of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.
Meyer’s comment speaks to the heart of all three of these issues: respect.
How do we regard the mountains? Do we move through them with reverence, like the many cultures that hold mountains as sacred, a bridge between heaven and earth?
Or are they a playground? An outdoor gym for the super-fit and self-indulgent?
Are these two viewpoints mutually exclusive?
I do not presume to judge the actions alluded to above. But in any case, a little more respect — for the hills, rescuers, each other — and there’d be far less acrimony.
Posted under avalanches, backcountry, county government, skiing, snowboarding
Indeed, let’s talk a little about respect, or rather, lack thereof. For a good model of complete and utter lack of respect for the backcountry, other skiers and Teton Pass commuters, let’s look at the individual who triggered the avalanche in Twin Slides on Mt. Glory on Monday morning. This guy (or gal) did the following:
1. Disregarded the BT avalanche report of a HIGH danger at both mid and upper elevations.
2. Decided to snowboard in a known avalanche path. The simple fact that the name of this run has the word “slide” in its name should have been some indication to its avalanche potential, but given he went down it at all under those conditions illustrates his complete lack of forethought.
3. Obviously didn’t think (or didn’t care) about people below him. I.e., skiers walking up the highway back to the parking lot, the passengers on the START bus and other commuters (like myself) on the roadway who were just trying to get to work safely. Driving Teton Pass twice a day is dangerous enough WITHOUT the prospect irresponsible backcountry users and trailer-hauling poachers.
4. Didn’t think about the fact that his actions would cause thousands of dollars in lost wages to the aforementioned commuters (like myself) who couldn’t get to work, not to mention endanger the safety of the WYDOT workers and Teton County Sheriff’s deputies who had to clean up his mess in whiteout conditions.
So yes, there just isn’t enough respect on Teton Pass these days. There’s plenty of words I’ve refrained from using to describe this individual, none of them really that nice, some quite profane. The above points speak for themselves. There should be some consequence for acting so foolish and making such poor decisions. The kicker is that this probably could’ve been avoided, and simply amounts to is a lack of respect and responsibility. I fear that someday sooner than later these types of irresponsible decisions will cause someone innocent to get hurt, or worse.
Dude!
Is that Ripping Rebecca??
Yup, ripping!
hello it’s so quiet at the village without all you there , the runs dont mogul as quickly and all the freaks headin’ south leave room to ski the trees. thanks . please get over yourselves do any of you know that tele bowl and shivers ridge were once serviced by a rope tow, that teton pass was considered for a tunnel to connect wilson with victor or that teton pass could have become sun valley if you answered no to any of these questions then you need schoolin’ the tunnel would have eliminated all the angst thats brewin up there. so be greatfull for what we have . respect your elders (pat, siobahn, kelly, and shane) have you heard the phrase follow in their footsteps? please and thankyou. are you running away from something and you don’t want anyone to know your name. man up dog and come out from behind that computer name ( its so booring)
i too am tired of being slandered by annomous bloggers http://www.skiingthebackcountry.com/blogs/Where__039_d_Ya_Get_Those_Packs_.php i’m writing this mostly because im sick of anonymous bloggers hiding in closets, take your skirt off. if your going to slander someone at least have the gumption to put your name and reputation on the bottom line benjamin west wilson JHAF