The Fine Line

In Chapter 2, James Moore and his brother, Jake Peasley, describe the intensity of the grizzly attack, and their hasty retreat from the wilderness via horseback to get to help. Photo: TCSAR team member Lizzie Watson was medical lead in responding to Moore's injuries. James' wife, Betsy, stands in the middle.

James Moore had experience hunting in grizzly country. And if the Teton Wilderness is anything, it's full of grizzly bears. Moore struck out for the Whetstone Mountain area with his brother, Jake Peasley, and good friend Brent Bongers. It didn't take them long to spot their first grizzly. In a three-part series, The Fine Line follows Moore and his party through the hunt, the attack and the fight for survival that all unfolded on Sept. 25, 2017. Photo: TCSAR team member Lizzie Watson was medical lead in responding to James Moore's injuries. James' wife, Betsy, stands in the middle.

On Jan. 18, 2019, Jackson skier Jenny Karns fell upside down into a terrain trap during a powder day at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. With her ski partner well ahead and unaware, she became trapped, with just one ski sticking out of the snow. Just seconds from suffocating, she was found and dug out by three people who happened to be skiing by. One of those skiers joins Jenny in the studio, as well as Kirk "Sparky" Speckhals, a longtime JHMR ski patroller, who was first on scene and offers perspective on Snow Immersion Suffocation, a danger that lurks on powder days.

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 weather this month, we replay an episode about skiing the Spoon Couloir.

Rene Etter-Garrette had already started questioning the risk of dying in an avalanche when he and two friends headed into Grand Teton National Park on February 4, 2016.

But that day, avalanche danger had been rated moderate. And Rene planned to ski a line that he'd already successfully tackled several times before.

He'd been living in Jackson Hole for six winters. During the ski season he worked at a local shop tuning skis. He'd found mentors willing to share their backcountry knowledge.

This time, he lead the way as he and two friends headed for the Spoon Couloir.

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 and fell 100 feet, sustaining numerous severe injuries. His call for help set in motion a rapid response as rescuers raced against the clock to get him to safety before nightfall. Conversation includes TCSAR members Phillip Fox and Alex St. Clair. Photo: Paul Rachele

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 decades of exploring the valley, Rietmann knew the Granite Creek Drainage well. He often went hunting there solo. On Sept. 23, 2015, carrying a sandwich, a water bottle and a rifle, the 84-year-old went looking for deer. When he didn't return, a massive effort mobilized to find him.

In this episode, Rietmann's son, Max, and longtime TCSAR volunteer Alex Norton give an inside look at how the search panned out.

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 themselves racing to save 17 people, even as the mountain remained shrouded in storm clouds. The incident turned into the largest rescue effort ever undertaken on the Grand.

This podcast is produced by Backcountry Zero, with support from the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole. Backcountry Zero is a project of the Teton County Search and Rescue Foundation.

You can support this project and the volunteers at Teton County Search and Rescue by making an online donation today at tetoncountysar.org/donate.

If you like listening to the Fine Line, considering sharing us with a friend.

Host: Rebecca Huntington

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 pulled them in misleading directions, the couple found themselves trapped underground for two mentally and physically grueling days in August of 2018.

You can support this project and the volunteers at Teton County Search and Rescue. Make an online donation today by going to tetoncountysar.org/donate.

This podcast is produced by Backcountry Zero, with support from the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole. Backcountry Zero is a project of the Teton County Search and Rescue Foundation.

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.

When the 26-year-old dropped into the couloir she took a life-altering tumble more than 800 feet down chute. Friends call her Superwoman Sally, not only surviving that day but for fighting her way through what's been a painstaking recovery.

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 way in blowing snow. Not knowing if rescuers would come for him, Bergman started hiking back up the mountain through waist-deep snow.