Meditations
I AM Dangerous A couple of summers ago, Steve Markusen was found high on the Exum Ridge of the Grand Teton. Bloody, staggering, disoriented and solo, he asked the party of three who found him where he was. Hours later, Jenny Lake ranger Nick Armitage flew in beneath the rescue
Avalanche
Two winters ago, a party of self-described expert skiers and snowboarders exited a ski area to center punch a very steep and committing untracked bowl of almost-thigh-deep powder. It was bluebird, and the stoke was high. Most of the party had been through a Level 1 avalanche class; they had
Meditations
Take any owl feather and whip it through the air. Know the sound it makes? It makes no sound. This is not the sound of a raven’s wing. The Trickster has a deep, low beating sound of feather against air; a “whoop whoop whoop” that can often be heard
Avalanche
Six people are deeply buried in an avalanche in the Wilson Glade. One is caught but holds onto a tree, safe but not sound. Three of the six burials are from a completely independent party, strangers he never knew but soon will. He acquires the first signal, digs and gives
Search & Rescue
For some climbing rangers in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park, every ridgeline holds the memory of a rescue, every peak a body bag. It's more than they can handle alone. “Rachel, where are you?” I yelled into the void above. A fellow Grand Teton climbing ranger,
Avalanche
Back when I started working at Jenny Lake, I would spend mornings in meditation on the west porch of the rescue cache with retired ranger Tom Kimbrough and an old Exum mountain guide, George Gardiner. We sat in silence, the incense burning. Sometimes we’d look over the broad expanse