The summit of Teton Pass, like many trailheads and access locations across the west, continues to see an increase in users. Ease of side-country terrain access at ski resorts, better equipment, increasingly available information, and the overall surge in popularity of backcountry skiing within the past decade are all contributing factors to the area’s popularity. The next time you see lines forming or vehicles jockeying for a soon-to-open parking spot, you may also see a familiar face.
Brian Siegfried, an Associate Broker with Jackson Hole Sotheby’s International Realty since 2008, is in his third winter serving as one of twelve volunteers within the Teton Backcountry Alliance Volunteer Backcountry Ambassador Program. The volunteer ambassador program was initiated in 2020 to support the work of Jay Pistono. Pistono, as Teton Pass Ambassador, is a Forest Service employee and has served as the “protector of the pass” since 2005. Teton Backcountry Alliance sought to augment “a presence where there is pressure on the resource,” according to Siegfried.
Siegfried, who has been an avid skier of Teton Pass for thirty years, says the position is rooted in education. “It’s Wyoming Department of Transportation’s world. We’re just living in it,” he quips when referencing that the sometimes-contentious parking area atop the pass is actually a turn-out intended for brake checks and highway operations.
While a lot of the volunteer ambassadors’ direct support takes the shape of acting as an enthusiastic and creative parking attendant, Siegfried points out that the pass is a multi-use area with a lot of different entities represented. The pass adjoins Bridger-Teton National Forest and Caribou-Targhee National Forest lands near the border between Wyoming and Idaho. WYDOT is tasked with the responsibility of keeping the state highway open, and Wyoming Highway Patrol officers and Teton County Sherriff’s deputies are tasked with enforcement. When an emergency happens, responders from Teton County Search and Rescue or Jackson Hole Fire/EMS may be dispatched as well.
Access here is concentrated and exists in a delicate balance—one that is more directly concerned with interstate travel than with recreation. “If we can’t control ourselves, we could lose access to this great resource,” said Siegfried. “I want to keep this preserved, and to make sure everyone is working together.”
Siegfried sees one lesser-known benefit of the volunteer ambassador positions to be in support of our commuters. A skier-triggered avalanche is never an ideal situation, but one affecting the highway has broader implications than immediate safety concerns alone. Should the highway be closed, economic and social impacts to individuals, families, and businesses create secondary ramifications to residents on both sides of the pass.
Siegfried checks with skiers about safety equipment and terrain decisions when he encounters them in the parking lot, the skin track, or on the bootpack. Almost all of his interactions are positive. “You just want to help everyone,” he says, “people are relieved to see a smiling face and I tend to know a lot of people up there.” He recounted watching someone limp back into the parking area, where he was able to assist the skier into the truck and help to get him warm. It’s the little things and the personal connections that have made the experience so satisfying for him.
You can typically find Siegfried volunteering as an ambassador one or two days per week throughout the winter, as enthusiastic as ever about backcountry skiing and preserving access on Teton Pass.