Avalanche kills 36-year-old skier, injures another near Jackson, Wyoming
Officials in Wyoming confirmed the death of a 36-year-old skier following an avalanche at a mountain pass over the weekend.
The avalanche occurred on Saturday at Togwotee Pass in Teton County, which is northeast of Jackson. Local search and rescue crews were alerted about the tragic incident around noon involving a group of four individuals.
Teton County Search and Rescue (TCSAR) responded to the scene on skis just before 4 p.m. near Breccia Cliffs. Due to weather conditions, the team members responding via helicopter and snowmobiles couldn't get to the area, according to a news release released by the volunteer organization.
"The team learned that it was a party of four skiers who’d triggered the slide as they were ascending a skin track," the post said. "The avalanche partially buried one skier and fully buried another."
According to the organization, the other skier who was partially buried suffered from a lower leg injury.
Victim identified as 36-year-old man, coroner says
The search team treated the surviving skiers and worked to recover the deceased victim.
"The volunteers worked into the evening, skiing the injured skier out of the backcountry in a litter to a waiting ambulance from Grand Teton National Park. The team also skied the deceased skier out via a (stretcher)," the statement continued, later adding, "TCSAR extends its most sincere condolences to the family and friends of the deceased skier."
The organization did not release the identity of the deceased skier, but Teton County Coroner Brent Blue told Paste BN on Monday morning that the victim was 36-year-old Kenneth Goff of Lander, Wyoming.
Goff was "calm and caring" and "chronically positive," Sarah Martin, NOLS Rocky Mountain campus director, told the Associated Press.
The Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center is investigating. Paste BN reached out to Teton County Search and Rescue for comment.
Taylor Ardrey is a news reporter for Paste BN. You can reach her at tardrey@gannett.com.