By Lauren M. Whaley

On Sunday, Granite Canyon demonstrated yet again why it is a place to be regarded carefully, as it flushed a Jackson skier down the length of one of its 1,000 foot avalanche paths.

Despite multiple life-threatening injuries, including a broken femur, slide victim Adam Smith is alert and awake in Salt Lake City’s LDS Hospital, friends reported Monday.

Smith’s friends, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort ski patrol, Teton County Search and Rescue, Bridger-Teton National Forest avalanche forecasters, Grand Teton National Park rangers, an interagency helicopter and a park ambulance collaborated to rescue Smith, who triggered a three-foot slab Sunday in the canyon’s T&T Couloir. Avalanche hazard that day had been rated moderate.

Friends and rescuers agree the rescue went as perfectly as it could have under the circumstances.

“I’m astounded by it all,” said Renny Jackson, Jenny Lake subdistrict ranger, who flew on the helicopter and rode in the ambulance with Smith. “There were so many pieces that fell together and stars that aligned. This is what we call ‘the good stuff,’ where everything clicks.”

Like many others on Sunday, Smith’s party was confident in the stability of Granite Canyon, and decided to explore the Air Force Couloirs, beyond resort boundaries.

Waiting his turn, Smith’s friend Eric Cole watched his first three friends, including Smith’s wife Heather, make turns down T&T couloir.

Smith, 32, was the fourth skier to go.

Cole watched Smith make a couple turns before he went out of sight. That’s when Cole heard a thunderous “jet plane sound” and saw snow pouring over rocks.

The three previous skiers, stopped in “safe zones,” watched as the avalanche roared passed them.

Friends found Smith buried with only two things above snow: a “wiggling hand” and his head.

“He was responsive and breathing,” said Cole, who soon left the scene in search of cell phone service and help.

Teton Dispatch received the emergency call at 2:40 p.m.; park rangers and resort ski patrollers started coordinating both an air and ground rescue operation because of possibly foul weather.

Patrollers reached Smith around 3:50 p.m. While they gave him emergency medical care and loaded him onto a backboard, other rescuers and skiers packed down a landing zone.

“We had a bit of a scramble getting things together and trying to figure out whether or not we’d be able to use the helicopter,” Jackson said. The air cleared just as pilot Ken Johnson steered the ship into the canyon. “Ken, of course, did an outstanding job and put the aircraft down right where we wanted it and kept the rotors turning.”

Smith was transferred from St. John’s to Salt Lake early Monday morning. Cole said Smith will undergo surgery to have a rod inserted in leg to help his femur heal.

“He’s in stable condition and he’s actually conscious,” Cole said Monday afternoon. “A lot of his organs are beat up, but it sounds like everything is working. He’s definitely a really strong, young kid.”

Three of the many Granite Canyon Couloirs have slid recently, despite being frequently skied. Since winter’s return on Feb. 9, the Tetons have received five feet of snow and more than five inches of moisture.

“‘Five and Five’ often begins a cycle of slides that run on various old, suspect layers in the snow pack,” reported the Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center.

“Use is no guarantee of stability,” avalanche forecaster Jim Springer said. “I guess the question I have is – are they all going to slide?”

Friends set up The Adam Smith Recovery Fund at the Jackson State Bank and Trust Wednesday. For more information, click here.