I was struck by the blend of old and new technologies used in this operation at Grand Teton National Park: (from the NPS Morning Report).

Rangers rescued a 28-year-old climber just before dark last Friday after he became stranded near the top of the Grand Stand below the North Face of the Grand Teton. Jesse Selwyn of Florence, Montana, and his climbing partner intended to climb the Black Ice Couloir on the northwest side of the Grand, but they couldn't find the entrance to the couloir and got off route. They ended up on the Grand Stand instead, a common route-finding mistake. Just before 5 p.m., the Teton Interagency Dispatch Center received notification from the county sheriff's office that a SPOT rescue locator had been activated somewhere on the Grand Teton. Rangers flew to the area by helicopter to assess the situation. A ranger inside the helicopter used a white board with the words "OK?" written on it to ask the climbers if they were all right. The climbers gave a thumbs down sign, so rangers responded by writing the word "rescue?" and the climbers gave a thumbs up, indicating they were in trouble and needed help. Based on the climbers' location, rangers flew to a landing zone on the west side of Teewinot Mountain. From there, one ranger was inserted via short-haul to Selwyn's location just after 8 p.m. Once on scene, the ranger prepared Selwyn for a short-haul evacuation off the mountain to the Lupine Meadows rescue cache on the valley floor. Selwyn was uninjured and released soon after landing. After rescuing Selwyn, the helicopter made one last flight to retrieve the other rangers from the landing zone on Teewinot. The ship landed back at Lupine Meadows at 8:47 p.m., just two minutes before it was required to stop flying due to darkness. This time is called "pumpkin hour" and is 30 minutes after official sunset. By the time rangers reached Selwyn, his climbing partner had begun to backtrack the route in hopes of reaching the Lower Saddle before it got too dark to continue. After realizing it was too dark to safely backtrack across the Valhalla Traverse, Selwyn's partner decided to spend the night on the mountain and begin his retreat again at first light on Saturday. The climbing partner reached the Lower Saddle of the Grand Teton early on Saturday morning.
[Submitted by Jenny Anzelmo-Sarles, Public Affairs Specialist]