BOZEMENA — Rescuers with Gallatin County Search & Rescue assisted two skiers who were injured in separate incidents near West Yellowstone on Tuesday.
The injured man and woman were among the thousands of skiers attending last weekend’s West Yellowstone Fall Ski Camp, according to a Gallatin County press release.
At around 3 p.m. on Tuesday, a 67-year-old Montana man fell and sustained a severe upper-leg injury while cross-country skiing on the South Plateau trail, about seven miles southwest of West Yellowstone.
A 60-year-old Idaho woman fell and injured her hip at around the same time, and emergency responders met both her and the injured man near the scene of the two incidents.
The woman was then taken to Madison Memorial Hospital in Rexburg.
The man had a possible femur fracture and after being brought down the mountain was flown via helicopter to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center.
The injured skiers were initially treated at the scene by Hebgen Basin EMS personnel.
No further information about the condition of either skier has been released.
Personnel from the Sheriff’s Search and Rescue in West Yellowstone, Hebgen Basin Fire Department, and Yellowstone National Park responded to the incidents.
Gallatin County Sheriff Brian Gootkin offered his thanks in the press release to “all of the rescue organizations that came together to execute a successful backcountry rescue of these two individuals.”
Sheriff Gootkin also noted that race organizers played a significant role in the rescue.
