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Wyoming search and rescue teams bailed out hikers the most in 2024

Four people stand alongside a red helicopter on a concrete pad. The sky is overcast and mountains loom in the distance behind them.
Dante Filpula Ankney
/
Jackson Hole Community Radio

This story is part of our Quick Hits series. This series will bring you breaking news and short updates from throughout the state.

Hikers were the most rescued recreators in 2024, according to Teton County Search and Rescue’s end-of-year report.

That’s a change from the past decade, when skiers and snowboarders had been the most rescued.

The organization received its second highest call volume in its more than three decade history. Search and Rescue attributes the high call volume to its multimillion dollar helicopter, acquired in October 2023.

The helicopter allows the organization to help others throughout the region, including in Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Colorado and Idaho. Those assists nearly doubled flight rescues from 2023.

Annual rescues continue to trend up as the county grows and more people from around the country file into the backcountry.

Statewide, 329 search and rescue missions were reported in 2024, with the vast majority in the state’s western mountains and the Bighorns, according to the Wyoming Information Sharing Platform (WISP). The state mirrored Teton County’s trend of hikers and backpackers requiring the most responses.

Dante Filpula Ankney comes to KHOL as a lifelong resident of the Mountain West. He made his home on the plains of Eastern Montana before moving to the Western Montana peaks to study journalism and wilderness studies. Dante has found success producing award-winning print, audio and video stories for a variety of publications, including a stint as a host at Montana Public Radio. Most recently, he spent a year teaching English in Bulgaria through a Fulbright Fellowship. When he isn’t reporting, you can find Dante outside scaling rocks, sliding across snow or winning a game of cribbage.

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