A 21-year-old Connecticut hiker was found dead near Montana’s Granite Peak on Thursday, ending a nearly three-day search that drew rescue crews, aircraft and military resources from across Montana and Wyoming.
Jackson Gregory Slimak apparently fell in the rugged terrain surrounding Montana’s highest peak, the Park County, Montana, Sheriff’s Office reported. Searchers located him at about 11:45 a.m. Thursday.
Authorities found no evidence of suspicious activity and described his death as accidental.
Among those searching was Jake DeWilde of Park County Search and Rescue in Wyoming, who flew around the summit Thursday morning carrying a helicopter-mounted device capable of detecting wireless signals from cellphones, smartwatches and other electronics.
The device did not locate Slimak. DeWilde had returned to the command post and was processing its data when word arrived that other crews had found him.
Slimak’s family remembered him as an explorer, gamer, world traveler, adventurous eater and young man who brought laughter wherever he went.
“He passed doing what he loved, in a place he loved, the wilderness of Montana,” his family wrote in his obituary.
The Search
Stillwater County dispatchers received a report of an overdue hiker in the Granite Peak area at about 7:40 p.m. Aug. 24.
Granite Peak rises in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness near the convergence of three Montana counties and only about 10 miles north of Wyoming. Its location quickly turned the search into a sprawling regional response.
Crews came from the Stillwater, Carbon, Park, Gallatin, and Yellowstone county sheriff’s offices in Montana. Park County Search and Rescue and Big Horn County Search and Rescue responded from Wyoming.
The Montana Army National Guard, U.S. Air Force and Central Copters also joined the search.
Crews looked for Slimak throughout Aug. 25 and Aug. 26 as word of the mission traveled through the close-knit search-and-rescue community on both sides of the state line.
DeWilde learned about the missing hiker on the evening of Aug. 26.
The circumstances sounded painfully familiar.
Park and Big Horn county rescuers had been heavily involved in the unsuccessful search for missing Minnesota hiker Grant Gardner on Wyoming’s Cloud Peak. During that mission, crews were introduced to the BlueFly system, which searches for the wireless signals emitted by electronic devices.
Big Horn County later bought one of the receivers. When the Granite Peak search began, however, the county did not have an experienced operator available.
Park County did.
DeWilde and other Wyoming rescuers understood there was no time to waste. Park County contacted the Montana crews and offered the device. Search leaders accepted, and DeWilde was placed aboard a helicopter the next morning.
“So they lent it to us, and I took it out there to Granite Peak,” DeWilde told Cowboy State Daily.
Brutal Terrain
Granite Peak towers 12,799 feet in the Beartooth Mountains, making it the highest mountain in Montana.
It is surrounded by exposed rock, alpine lakes and broad stretches of treeless tundra. The Beartooth Ranger District contains Montana’s 41 highest peaks and more than 300 lakes.
Reaching Granite Peak’s summit is not simply a long hike uphill.
“It’s rocks — just rocky granite, thus the name Granite Peak — and it’s boulder hopping,” DeWilde said.
Parts of the route can reach fourth-class climbing, a level beyond ordinary hiking in which climbers must use their hands and a fall could have severe consequences.
“There are sections of it that you cannot walk, and you can hardly even step up to,” DeWilde said. “You would have to extend your arms up and pull yourself up over rocks.”
“It gets that vertically challenging,” he added. “Pretty brutal terrain.”
The altitude presents a second danger.
A climber can be physically strong and still become exhausted as the available oxygen thins, DeWilde said.
“It doesn’t matter how strong you might be,” he said. “When there’s less oxygen in the air, you get tired faster. You get fatigued easier.”
That makes the decision to turn around one of the most important — and sometimes most difficult — decisions a climber can make.
“There comes a point when you’ve got to acknowledge, ‘I’m not physically able to proceed, and I need to turn around and go back" said DeWilde.
An Explorer
Slimak was born Feb. 23, 2005, in Southington, Connecticut, to Michelle Beauregard and Gregory Slimak.
His love of the outdoors began early at YMCA Camp Sloper, first as a camper and later as a lifeguard.
As he grew older, that curiosity carried him far beyond Connecticut.
“Although he was only given 21 years with us, he saw more of the world than most of us will ever see,” his family wrote. “He was an explorer and adventurer.”
Slimak explored outdoor areas around the world during his teens and early adulthood. He loved to travel and was an adventurous eater who could always be counted on to help someone finish a meal.
He was also a devoted gamer who particularly loved Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars: Commander and Magic: The Gathering. His passion took him around the world for gaming tournaments.
His family remembered him as honest, direct and independent. He could also be silly and brought joy and laughter to those around him.
A GoFundMe benefiting the Slimak family has been established to help ease the family’s burdens as they grieve.
His family plans to hold a celebration of life in spring 2027.
'Always Willing'
Park County’s Wyoming rescuers do not cross into Montana often, DeWilde said, but the state line means little when someone is lost in the Beartooths.
Trails and roads weave across the border. Locations provided during initial calls are not always accurate. A stranded motorist who appears to be hours away from a Wyoming crew might be only 30 minutes from rescuers in Red Lodge.
The agencies call whichever team can reach the person fastest.
“Search and rescue is a pretty close and small community,” DeWilde said.
In this case, that community stretched across two states, seven county agencies and several military and civilian aviation units.
The Wyoming technology did not provide the breakthrough crews had hoped it might but getting it into the air over Granite Peak before the remaining batteries went silent gave searchers one more chance to find Slimak.
For DeWilde and the other Wyoming rescuers, that chance was reason enough to cross the state line.
“We’re always willing when they request assistance,” he said.
Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com.
