JH Mags - Do you know this hero?
Can you help me identify someone?
It started this afternoon about 3:00pm. I was in my office in Jackson and got a call from a friend. He was up on Teton Pass and had overestimated his dog's ability to go along with him on an AT tour. The dog conked out at the top of Christmas Tree bowl and wouldn't go any further. Not one more step, period.
It was late in the day, no one else was around, and the dog weighs 90 pounds. Not having a better alternative, my friend left the dog, hustled out to the top of the pass, and called me. I went to K-Mart and got a big plastic sled, threw my gear (a lot of gear plus ropes and webbing) in my pack, and drove to the top of the pass.
We were headed for the last known location of the dog when he got a call on his cell phone (has his cell phone # on the dog's tag). A skier (his name, TR, I know and will be forever grateful for all he did) had found the dog and was making his way down toward the bottom of Christmas Tree with the dog. We skied down to the intersection and met up with him.
I had this theory that we could load the dog on the plastic sled and skin back up out of the drainage to the pass. That turned out to be impossible. TR suggested we go down the drainage and try to haul him to the road however we could.
About that time two other skiers came by and started gearing up to skin back to the pass parking lot. They asked if we needed help but we THOUGHT we could get out ourselves.
Well, the sled thing wasn't working downhill either, so TR put this enormous dog over his shoulders and skied down the gully in fading light until we could tell we were as close to the road (but well below) as we thought we were going to get. At that point, our only choice was to load the dog on the sled and carry him, postholing the whole way, up the very long, very steep hill to the road.
TR put out enormous effort in hauling this dog (a dog he had never seen before in his life and whose owner he didn't know from Adam) up that slope. We would walk up fifty steps or so and then I had to stop and gasp for a few minutes before going on.
We did that for thirty minutes or so before the second hero showed up. As we were stopped for breath, we heard a voice above us in the dark. He asked if we were below him and if we had a headlamp on. We yelled that we did and he said "hang on". Before long, he came postholing down the slope to help.
It was one of the two guys who had seen us starting down the drainage at the bottom of Christmas Tree. Once he got to the pass, he'd decided we might need help and for almost an hour he had been looking for us by stopping on the highway, looking over the edge, and shouting to see if we were there.
Once he reached us, we had more help. Even more important for morale, we knew how much further up the slope the road was. I know his name was Sean and without him we might still be trying to get up that hill.
Once we got to the highway, his friend came and got Sean and we never saw him again. My friend would like to express his gratitude, but we don't know how to reach him. I know that his name is Sean, he skied the Glory Gut earlier in the day and then Edelweiss. If someone knows how to reach him, please let me know.
The dog is fine. The dog's owner feels horrible, knows how badly he f*cked up, and is enormously grateful. TR is one of the strongest people (and skiers) it's ever been my good fortune to meet. TR, if you read this board you know who you are and I'm in awe of your compassion and dedication. Sean, you too. I hope the karma train brings loads and loads of good things to both your lives.
One moral of the story: Dogs get tired too. Don't wear them out.
