• The Cathedral Group from the Teton Park Road

    Grand Teton

    National Park Wyoming

  • Bears are active in Grand Teton

    Black and grizzly bears are roaming throughout the park--near roads, trails and in backcountry areas. Hikers and backcountry users are advised to travel in groups of three or more, make noise and carry bear spray. Visitors must stay 100 yards from bears. More »

Search for Walker Pannell Kuhl and Greg Seftick to Resume Saturday

Avalanche on Nez Perce
North face of Nez Perce where avalanche began.

Subscribe RSS Icon | What is RSS
Date: April 22, 2011
Contact: Jackie Skaggs, 307.739.3393

April 22, 2011

11-21

Grand Teton National Park rangers plan to resume the search for Walker Pannell Kuhl and Greg Seftick on Saturday, April 23. A forecast for better weather conditions this weekend prompted rangers to prepare for another sizeable search period. Several rescuers and search dog teams will be airlifted to a helispot in the Platforms area of Garnet Canyon. Search teams will focus their attention on a large avalanche debris field that lies in Garnet Canyon Meadows.

Adverse weather completely grounded search operations all day Thursday. As clouds clear today, April 22, rangers will conduct a helicopter overflight of the area to determine whether avalanche control work needs to be done in preparation for inserting rescue teams tomorrow.

Grand Teton rangers intend to continue searching for the missing skiers-as weather and snowpack conditions allow.

Garnet Canyon is a popular backcountry area for skiing and mountaineering; therefore, rangers request that anyone traveling into Garnet Canyon over the next days or weeks to be on the lookout for items such as skis, poles, backpacks and other gear. If such items are found, please leave them in place and contact rangers as soon as possible with a good description or GPS plot of their exact location. This information will help direct further progress in the ongoing search.

If any items are found, please call Teton Interagency Dispatch Center at 307.739.3300.

Did You Know?

Close-up of a lodgepole pine cone

Did you know that lodgepole pine trees grow on glacial moraines in Jackson Hole? Glacial moraines are ridges of rocky debris left behind as Ice Age glaciers melted. The soil on these ridges retains moisture and is more hospitable to trees than the cobbly, porous soil on the outwash plain.