The Fine Line

By Backcountry Zero

What's The Fine Line about?

The Fine Line is a podcast that tells real stories of adventure, risk and rescue in the backcountry of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The podcast is produced by Backcountry Zero, a vision of the Teton County Search and Rescue Foundation to reduce fatalities in the backcountry.

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LAST EPISODE

Breaking Point in the Spoon...

01.22.2020

The wind. It’s a dangerous variable, stripping snow from one zone and then loading up another. Even when danger is moderate and a ski route, well known, wind can be a wild card. With a heavy dose of wind in ...

The Fine Line episodes:

01.22.2020 Breaking Point in the Spoon Couloir, Encore Episode The wind. It’s a dangerous variable, stripping snow from one zone and then loading up another. Even when danger is moderate and a ski route, well known, wind can be a wild card. With a heavy dose of wind in ...
12.16.2019 Rescue on the Reef (Episode 25) On February 20, 2018, IFMGA-certified mountain guide Paul Rachele was trying to set up a winter climbing route on a sharp crag off Teton Pass called The Reef. As he was setting the final anchor, he ran out of rope ...
09.23.2019 The Search for Bernhard Rietmann (Episode 24) Bernhard Rietmann had a great sense of wanderlust. His drive for adventure landed him in Jackson Hole in the 1960s. Back when tourists only came in summer and innkeepers routinely hung up a gone fishing sign after Labor Day. After ...
08.19.2019 Struck by Lightning on the Grand Teton (Episode 23) The forecast looked promising the day before. But when climbers set out to summit the Grand Teton on July 21, 2010, a thunderstorm blasted the iconic peak. As repeated lightning strikes pinned climbers to steep, exposed terrain, rangers suddenly found ...
06.07.2019 Trapped Underground (Episode 22) Spencer and Jessica Christiansen knew once they rappelled into the Darby Canyon Ice Cave they couldn't turn back. Spencer had done what he could to research the route, but the maze-like caves are mostly unmapped and ever changing. As clues ...
04.17.2019 Once Is Enough (Episode 21) An experienced athlete, Sally Franklyn started skiing with her parents before she could even walk. On March 24, 2012, she and three friends headed for a steep couloir called Once is Enough south of the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort boundary. ...
03.14.2019 Lost in a Whiteout(Episode 20) After taking a wrong turn on his snowboard in a whiteout, Pierre Bergman ended up stranded and alone in the backcountry. The 26-year-old works at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort where he skis everyday, but even experienced skiers can lose their ...
01.02.2019 Dogleg Couloir: A lesson on choosing ski partners (Episode 19) Greg Epstein cut his teeth skiing the backcountry of Jackson Hole. Along with friends, he had explored every nook and cranny of Granite Canyon just outside resort boundaries in Grand Teton National Park. As part of his job at Teton ...
10.25.2018 Gothic Couloir: Blinded by desire (Episode 18) As avalanche season approaches, here's a re-play of our most popular episode ever. When you move to Jackson in your 20’s, you can suddenly find yourself thrust into an extreme playground where the stakes are literally life and death. Accomplished ...
10.09.2018 Lost Hunter (Episode 17) In October of 2012, Jackson architect Paul Duncker met up with friends for a fall hunt in the heart of the Gros Ventre mountains. When Paul didn't return to hunting camp that night, his friends called search and rescue. Early ...
08.23.2018 Buffalo Fork River Rescue (Episode 16) Chuck and Brenda Markham were vacationing with friends when they decided to kayak the Buffalo Fork River. The most experienced kayaker in the group, Steve Fretz, took the lead. What they didn’t know that day was that the river was ...
06.13.2018 Rock Slide in the Tetons (Episode 15) In August of 2017, Will Grenier, his younger sister Cassie and their friend Erin Gibbs were headed up the Middle Teton. They were all experienced hikers. At the time, 24 year old Cassie worked as a recreational therapist and her ...
03.21.2018 Lost Snowmobilers: Stranded Overnight on Togwotee Pass (Episode 14) Caty Harris loves being outdoors and that's how she wanted to spend her birthday. So she and her boyfriend, BJ Appell rented snowmobiles to explore the trails around Togwotee Pass. Although they followed the map, they took a turn onto ...
02.15.2018 Gothic Couloir: Blinded by Desire (Episode 13) When you move to Jackson in your 20’s, you can suddenly find yourself thrust into an extreme playground where the stakes are literally life and death. Accomplished ski racers Jim Ryan and Connor Nolan had the skills to tackle some ...
12.19.2017 Surviving the Widowmaker (Episode 12) A Jackson resident with a long history of rescuing others suddenly finds himself at the mercy of a community of strangers on Teton Pass in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Once the head of the Himalayan Rescue Association in Nepal, Dr. David ...
08.03.2017 Hiking Blind Date Turns Into High-Stakes Rescue (Episode 11) What happens when a hiking blind date turns into a rescue and the person at your side is someone you just met? Grand Teton National Park employee, Millie Jimenez, recalls how she was hiking on her day off with a ...
06.28.2017 Dangers of Descending Dissapointment Peak (Episode 10) On a Sunday in late June in Grand Teton National Park, rescue rangers started fielding multiple calls. The first call came at 5:55 p.m. An exhausted hiker was stuck on a steep snowy slope in Upper Granite Canyon. Just 35 ...
05.23.2017 Marsh Creek Tests Swiftwater Savvy (Episode 9) In this episode, two Jackson Hole boaters recall an epic spring when big water lured them to the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho. With the traditional boat launch closed, they put in at Marsh Creek, a tributary ...
05.03.2017 A Maverick Heli Rescue (Episode 8) An ideal ski day on March 3, 2017, turns into an epic rescue and stunning revival on Maverick Peak in Grand Teton National Park.
03.09.2017 Breaking Point in the Spoon (Episode 7) Rene Etter-Garrette had been living in Jackson Hole for six winters. He'd found mentors willing to share their backcountry knowledge and skied challenging lines in Grand Teton National Park. On Feb. 4, 2016, Rene and two friends decided to ski ...
01.12.2017 The Black Hole (Episode 6) Backcountry skiers call the Mosquito Creek Drainage, "The Black Hole." It's a place where the terrain looks disarmingly similar, luring skiers downslope, away from Teton Pass, until it's too late and you're at the bottom. It's an easy mistake to ...
12.06.2016 Few Clues Lead Search for Missing Sisters (Episode 5) It's a parent's worst fear. Your children, all three of them, vanish in the wilderness. In 2015, three sisters, Megan, Erin and Kelsi Andrews-Sharer, embarked on what started out as a dream backpacking trip into the Gros Ventre Wilderness. This ...
10.24.2016 Sisters Trapped By Vanishing Trails, Unexpected Terrain(Episode 4) It's a parent's worst fear. Your children, all three of them, vanish in the wilderness. In this episode, we talk with three sisters, Megan, Erin and Kelsi Andrews-Sharer, about what started as a five-day backpacking trip in the Gros Ventre ...
09.21.2016 September Snow Triggers Grand Rescue (Episode 3) A sudden, prolonged snowstorm on Sept. 11, 1985, stranded two parties on the Grand Teton. One party included Greg Findley, Nils Green and John Atthowe, all in their early 20s. Findley and Atthowe met at a National Outdoor Leadership School ...
08.14.2016 A Grizzly Encounter (Episode 2) This episode of The Fine Line features long time Grand Teton National Park backcountry ranger John Carr and Bear Management Specialist Katherine Wilmot. Carr tells of a harrowing encounter with a mother grizzly and two cubs and discusses the behaviors ...
07.12.2016 A Single Step (Episode 1) In the first episode of The Fine Line, ski mountaineer Jessie Stover describes how a single step on Teewinot mountain turns the perfect ski day into a fight for survival. We also hear from Teton County Search and Rescue volunteer ...

The Fine Line

What's The Fine Line about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The Fine Line episodes:

Breaking Point in the Spoon Couloir, Encore Episode

Rescue on the Reef (Episode 25)

The Search for Bernhard Rietmann (Episode 24)

Struck by Lightning on the Grand Teton (Episode 23)

Trapped Underground (Episode 22)

Once Is Enough (Episode 21)

Lost in a Whiteout(Episode 20)

Dogleg Couloir: A lesson on choosing ski partners (Episode 19)

Gothic Couloir: Blinded by desire (Episode 18)

Lost Hunter (Episode 17)

Buffalo Fork River Rescue (Episode 16)

Rock Slide in the Tetons (Episode 15)

Lost Snowmobilers: Stranded Overnight on Togwotee Pass (Episode 14)

Gothic Couloir: Blinded by Desire (Episode 13)

Surviving the Widowmaker (Episode 12)

Hiking Blind Date Turns Into High-Stakes Rescue (Episode 11)

Dangers of Descending Dissapointment Peak (Episode 10)

Marsh Creek Tests Swiftwater Savvy (Episode 9)

A Maverick Heli Rescue (Episode 8)

Breaking Point in the Spoon (Episode 7)

The Black Hole (Episode 6)

Few Clues Lead Search for Missing Sisters (Episode 5)

Sisters Trapped By Vanishing Trails, Unexpected Terrain(Episode 4)

September Snow Triggers Grand Rescue (Episode 3)

A Grizzly Encounter (Episode 2)

A Single Step (Episode 1)

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