JACKSON, Wyo. — Teton mountain guide and avalanche expert Rod Newcomb, who climbed the Grand Teton more than 400 times in a 48-year career, died in Jackson, Wyoming, on Thursday at the age of 91.

A family member said Newcomb, former co-owner of Exum Mountain Guides, died of natural causes surrounded by family.

Newcomb first came to Jackson Hole as a teenager in 1953, leaving his family’s citrus nursery in California’s Coachella Valley for a seasonal food-service job in Grand Teton National Park.

In 1954, his second summer in Jackson Hole, the plucky youngster made his first ascent of the 13,775-foot high Grand Teton, an undertaking he would repeat again and again. By the end of his mountain-guiding career, Newcomb could only guess how many times he had been atop the peak.

“He was never

See Full Page