Subtle avalanche hazard killed Lander rescuer

JACKSON (WNE) — It hit hard when Cody Lockhart learned that Kenneth Goff, the 36-year-old man who died Saturday in an avalanche on Togwotee Pass, was a member of Lander Search and Rescue.

“It makes it feel more real for all of us,” said Lockhart, who has been a member of Teton County Search and Rescue since 2009 and now serves as the outfit’s chief advisor.

On Saturday, Lockhart was part of the 20-plus-person search team that removed Goff’s body from the bottom of the 600-foot slide path and extricated his injured ski partner from the scene.

All told, the operation took about 10 hours. The weather made it impossible to use a helicopter, and the terrain near Breccia Cliffs was too snowy, too steep and too tightly treed for a snowmobile to access. Instead, first responders went out on skis and sledded the victims out.

Goff was a registered nurse at Sage West Health in Lander and an experienced guide with the National Outdoor Leadership School and the American Mountain Guides Association. Kirk Billings, the co-commander of Lander Search and Rescue, said Goff was “an absolute asset in the field."

Available information indicates Goff was traveling below Breccia Cliffs with three other backcountry travelers around noon Saturday. Goff and another member of his party were caught about 500 feet below the crown, said Frank Carus, director of the Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center, which forecasts avalanche hazards in western Wyoming. They were carried 100 feet downhill.

Goff was buried about 12 feet deep in the snow, in part because he was carried into the creek drainage below.

This story was published on January 8, 2025.