Skier plunges 100 feet from ledge in out-of-bounds Grand Teton backcountry, rescuers say
A skier fell from a broken cornice and plunged 100 feet in an out-of-bounds area of the Grand Teton backcountry, rescuers said.
The 27-year-old from Washington was skiing a ridgeline off Mary’s Nipple from Grand Targhee Ski Resort when the cornice broke under him and sent him plummeting 100 feet into the basin below, Teton County Search and Rescue said in a Wednesday, Feb. 21 post on Facebook.
The resort is about 45 miles northwest of Jackson, Wyoming.
While a team of rescuers flew to his location, ski patrol packaged the injured skier for a short-haul helicopter ride out of the backcountry, meaning he was secured to the belly of the chopper with a long-line, officials said. Then they transferred him to an ambulance at the base of Targhee.
Information on the skier’s injuries wasn’t provided.
Officials included a photo of the cornice failure and warned “backcountry users to be extremely cautious of cornices while approaching or traversing ridgelines” in the post.
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