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Rich Grout of Flat Creek Towing works to attach a cable to a tractor-trailor that ran off Highway 191 and plunged into the Hoback River on Tuesday morning. The driver escaped serious injury. Other traffic accidents in the area Tuesday closed Teton Pass and killed a driver near Gros Ventre Junction. NEWS&GUIDE PHOTO / BRADLY J. BONER

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A winter storm that closed Teton Pass and caused a serious crash in Hoback Canyon is being blamed for the death of an Idaho motorist in Grand Teton National Park on Tuesday morning.

John Peter Balderson, 55, from Freedom, Idaho, died after his pick-up truck slid out of control just south of the Gros Ventre bridge on Highway 89. He died at the scene of the crash, Teton County Coroner Bob Campbell said.

A passer-by spotted Balderson’s truck about 40 feet from the road near the boundary with the National Elk Refuge about 9:30 a.m., said park spokeswoman Jackie Skaggs. The passer-by called for help.

Balderson was thrown from the truck and didn’t appear to have been wearing his seat belt, Skaggs said. An off-duty Jackson Hole Fire/EMS volunteer stopped when he saw the crash and performed emergency CPR on Balderson, Skaggs said.

But he stopped when emergency responders from the park station in Moose arrived and determined that Balderson suffered injuries too severe to survive. Medical personnel declared Balderson dead at the scene.

Morning temperatures were in the high 20s and low 30s in and around Jackson on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. While most parts of the valley reported less than an inch of snow, some areas, particularly north of Jackson, were harder hit by the storm that swept through late Monday and early Tuesday.

Authorities believe Balderson was southbound on Highway 89, crossing a bridge just south of the Gros Ventre intersection when he hit some black ice and spun out of control, causing his truck to roll, Skaggs said.

There was a German shepherd in the truck. The dog survived the crash, but was taken to Spring Creek Animal Hospital for treatment, Skaggs said.

Balderson’s wife was having an operation at St. John’s Medical Center Tuesday morning, Campbell said.

Balderson’s crash was only one among many dangerous traffic situations caused by icy roads Tuesday morning.

A semitruck driver lost control of his rig while driving south on Highway 89 through the Hoback River Valley, said Eric Kaiser with the Wyoming State Highway Patrol in Pinedale.

“He just lost control and took a dive off a nice little embankment,” Kaiser said.

The cab of the truck landed in the river, with the back of the trailer resting high on the embankment. The driver was taken to St. John’s Medical Center with minor injuries, treated and released, said Highway Patrol Lt. Tom Kelly.

Teton Pass was also closed periodically throughout the morning, commuters said. Drivers who slid off the road and got stuck trying to climb the pass snarled traffic early in the morning, one commuter said.

The barricade on the west side of the pass was down for at least 45 minutes starting at about 9:30 a.m., another commuter said.

“Up on the pass there wasn’t anything serious,” Kelly said. “There were multiple slide-offs and people getting stuck. We had to shut it down for a bit so we could get it cleared up and get a sand truck up there. But there wasn’t a crash.”

Kelly said drivers need to be aware of conditions.

“This wasn’t our first snow of the year,” he said. “But it was the first time we’ve had these kinds of problems with all the mayhem.

“I think it’s a combination of things – people forgetting how to drive throughout the summer, equipment,” he said. “Mainly it’s people just not slowing down for the conditions.”

Kelly urges drivers to get their vehicles ready for winter and allow extra time to get where they’re going.

A semitruck was stuck on Huckelberry Hill in Grand Teton, Skaggs said. It was colder there, and rangers reported almost 3.5 inches of snow.

Rangers had to sand the roads and help the truck driver gain traction.

Balderson’s death was the second fatality in the park this year, Skaggs said. The first was Eliot Ramsay Kalmbach, 24, from Pennsylvania, who died in a fall on Teewinot Mountain in September.