Gregory Seftick, Minnesota skier, found dead after Jackson Hole avalanche

Gregory Seftik grew up in Minnesota.

​Teton National Park, Wyo., rangers dug the bodies of Gregory Seftick and Walker Kuhl out from under 13 feet of avalanche debris on Sunday morning.

They were in their tent, which had been pitched in an avalanche runout zone in Garnet Canyon at about 9,000 feet, just south of the Grand Teton. Backcountry bloggers reported the pair had planned to climb the 13,770-feet mountain.

TV and newspapers here in the Twin Cities have been quick to localize the story by pointing out that Seftick, an ER doctor who lived in Columbia Falls, Mont., was an Afton native who went to Stillwater Area High School. Kuhl was a Treasury Department worker from Salt Lake City.

NPS

A rescue chopper heads to Garnet Canyon, which can be seen in the background to the left of the Grand Teton, the tallest peak in Teton National Park.

​There's another link between Seftick and Minnesota as well. The young man was a 1988 high school classmate, friend, and soccer teammate of Stillwater native Jon Francis, who also died in the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains in 2006. Francis vanished during a 2006 hike in Idaho, and his body wasn't found until a year later.

The National Park Service reported that dozens of rescue workers combed Garnet Canyon and the immediate area looking for the two men after they were reported missing last Sunday.

They eventually discovered the bodies in an area that had already been searched, after picking up faint signals from an avalanche transponder worn by one of the skiers.

Rangers say the avalanche most likely hit Seftik and Kuhl's tent while they were sleeping last Saturday night.

Approximate location of Garnet Canyon:

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