WELCOME
The Jenny Lake Rangers are Grand Teton’s team of elite search and rescue professionals. They protect resources and visitors in the park’s vast backcountry. Their duties include walking trails, educating visitors, assessing route conditions, and issuing permits for overnight camping. Search and rescue is their primary function, although it only accounts for about twenty-percent of their time. They will drop everything else to respond to someone in need—it is their most critical responsibility.
August 21st, 2024
The 911 call came in at 9:40 am, just as the Jenny Lake Rangers were preparing for a routine short-haul training. Two experienced climbers were on the North Face of the Grand Teton, when a hand hold dislodged while the leader was climbing. The resulting ten-meter fall caused the climber a head injury and to lose consciousness. Thanks to the partner’s quick response and the Jenny Lake Ranger’s technical ability, both climbers were safely evacuated off the technical face. The extensive technical and medical expertise of the Jenny Lake Rangers enabled smooth rescue operations and prevented further tragedy.
SEARCH AND RESCUE
Grand Teton National Park has one of the most diverse search and rescue (SAR) programs in the National Park Service due to high visitation in a rugged environment.
Jenny Lake Rangers are highly skilled climbers and rescuers who undergo rigorous training. They respond to all types of emergencies, from sprained ankles on hiking trails to lightning strikes high in the peaks. Their partnership with expert helicopter pilots brings speed and agility to remote rescue operations, completing rescue missions in hours instead of days.
To many visitors in Grand Teton National Park, rescue means a complex and dangerous attempt to reach injured climbers. However, rangers may also be crossing a swollen river toward a stranded boater, extricating an unconscious motorist from a wrecked car, or coordinating a 100-person search for a missing child.
- Average 83 search and rescue missions a year
- Spend up to 280 hours per summer training in each discipline: law enforcement, emergency medical services, firefighting, technical rope rescue, and helicopter short-haul
- Staff includes 7 permanent and 12 seasonal climbing rangers
INTERAGENCY AVALANCHE FORECASTING
During the winter, Jenny Lake Rangers add a meteorological technician to the team who integrates with the Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center. This position adds to a partnership between Grand Teton National Park and the BTAC that provides snowpack assessments, maintenance of two park stations, and contributes park-specific information to the daily avalanche forecast. The data is used by skiers and mountaineers in Grand Teton National Park, ensuring recreationists have relevant snow and weather information before entering the backcountry.
PUBLIC EDUCATION
Jenny Lake Rangers conduct educational programs aimed at raising backcountry safety awareness. Climbing rangers staff the Jenny Lake Ranger Station daily during the summer months, answering questions about routes and conditions to help climbers and hikers find suitable objectives within their abilities. The team also maintains an Instagram account with up-to-date route and trail conditions for those who do not visit the ranger station. In addition, the park collaborates with Teton County Search and Rescue's Backcountry Zero program, which aims to reduce fatalities in the Tetons through outreach and education programs.
"I cannot imagine a scenario that would have resulted in our survival short of the heroic rescue efforts that were made. . . . many of them putting themselves at substantial risk."
- Steve Tyler, 2010 Owen-Spalding SAR
CLIMBING RANGER INTERNSHIP POSITION
Training the next generation of rescue professionals is a new priority for the Jenny Lake Rangers. The team has hosted interns for the last several years but lacked funding to formalize the effort and truly support these young, aspiring professionals. This initiative provides the opportunity for a young adult to join the Jenny Lake Rangers for the summer to gain a wide- range of skills and on-the-ground experience.
“I was the Jenny Lake Ranger intern in 2020, and I can say with confidence that it is the reason I am now working in this field,” Jenny Lake Ranger Zack Little said. “The opportunity to embed within a team that functions at such a high level is completely unique, and I have yet to encounter another opportunity like it.”
TRAINING AND EQUIPMENT
To support year-round, mountain rescue operations, rangers train on a regular and recurring basis. These trainings include supporting guest instructors traveling to Grand Teton that share their expertise as well as sending rangers to specialized courses across the country. Grand Teton’s ability to procure and replace specialized equipment, personal protective equipment, and technology as it becomes available is also a critical element for safe operations, ensuring that the Jenny Lake Rangers are always ready to respond for whatever conditions are presented during a rescue.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Contributions to Grand Teton National Park Foundation's Jenny Lake Rangers program will provide the highest-quality alpine search and rescue training to rangers, enhance the park's ability to procure and replace SAR equipment and acquire new technology, and assist the park's public education programs that promote safety. Grand Teton will not use donations to pay for rescue operations, the National Park Service funds rescue mission.
CONTACT INFORMATION
For more information about how to support the Jenny Lake Rangers, call Grand Teton National Park Foundation at 307.732.0629
For current climbing conditions and route information, call the Jenny Lake Ranger Station at 307.739.3343