Two Jackson Locals Fall And Die While Climbing Wyoming’s Teewinot Mountain In Grand Teton National Park
On Saturday, August 22, 2015, two female climbers in a party of three suffered a fatal fall of approximately 200 feet while climbing Teewinot Mountain in Grand Teton National Park. The climbers who fell were Tyler Strandberg, 27, of Raleigh, NC and Catherine Nix, 28, of Port Chester, NY – both residents of Jackson, Wyoming.
Rebecca Anderson, 26, was the third climber in the group. She did not fall and was able to call 911 to detail this climbing accident at approximately 11:15 am.
The Jenny Lake Rangers, the Teton Interagency Dispatch Center, and other rescue professionals reached the climbers by helicopter at about 11,500 feet. Strandberg and Nix were pronounced dead on scene after consultation with the park’s medical director, Dr. Will Smith. Anderson was short hauled by helicopter to the Lupine Meadows Rescue Cache at about 4:19pm.
The group was trying to climb the East Face of Teewinot – the easiest route to the summit. The National Park Service calls this a 4th class route. It is often climbed without ropes, but is very exposed. The party had lost the East Face route during the climb and were in much more difficult terrain when the fatal fall occurred.
During this rescue, the rangers were called to another evacuation call in Avalanche Canyon near Lake Taminah. A busy and sad day in Grand Teton National Park.
Teewinot Mountain sits at 12,325′. It is the lowest peak in the Cathedral Group of the Teton Range and it towers over the popular Jenny Lake on the east side of GTNP. Read more about Teewinot Mountain in Tom Turiano’s Select Peaks of the Greater Yellowstone.
Read more about this untimely tragedy at:
- National Park Service News Release
- Teton Gravity Research
- Travel Pulse
- Jackson Hole News & Guide
- Yellowstone Insider
- Outside Online
- Time Magazine
