Snowboarder finds new route in Granite Cyn, Jackson
When the Ski Patrol rapped him off the cliff...
Anybody see this one? At least it wasn't a slide report!
[i've been away for a couple days, hope this wasn't already posted...]
http://www.jacksonholenews.com/article.php?art_id=1497
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Jackson Hole Daily
by Amanda H. Miller
March 1, 2007
A snowboarder stranded above a Granite Canyon cliff late Wednesday afternoon made it off the mountain safely after Jackson Hole Mountain Resort ski patrollers rescued him.
Patrollers lowered the snowboarder from his perilous position, just north of the resort in Grand Teton National Park, to a low spot close to the helicopter landing zone padded out Sunday to rescue Adam Smith, a skier seriously injured nearby in an avalanche.
The snowboarder was not injured and arrived safely by helicopter to Teton Village before 5:30 p.m., said Jackie Skaggs, Grand Teton National Park spokeswoman. Skaggs said a helicopter was used because patrollers worried the snowboarder wouldn’t be able to move quickly enough along the flat trail out of the backcountry to make it out before dark.
An off-duty ski patroller spotted the stranded snowboarder and called it in about 2:45 p.m. Three Jackson Hole ski patrollers came to help while Teton County Search and Rescue personnel stood by with snowmobiles and equipment.
The snowboarder was stranded near the Northwest Passage, even with the Endless Buttress, Skaggs said.
Rescuers had not released the snowboarder’s name Wednesday evening and they did not know if the snowboarder was in the backcountry by himself or if he had been skiing with others.
“This is not unheard of,” Skaggs said. “Once or twice a year, it seems, someone gets into a predicament like this.”
Meanwhile, Smith, the 32-year-old Jackson skier injured Sunday in an avalanche in Granite Canyon’s T&T Couloir, reportedly remained in critical condition Wednesday at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, The Associated Press reported.
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