Frank Ewing 1934-2024

Frank Ewing, age 89, died July 20, 2024. He was a rafting pioneer who helped protect the Snake River and shape the modern outfitting industry in Jackson Hole. Born Aug 11, 1934, he was native of Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Ewing first came to Jackson Hole in 1955 and two years later became a boatman for Grand Teton Lodge Co., which offered raft trips on the Snake River using World War II surplus bridge pontoons. He would steer with a rudder on the back of a 27-foot-long “sweep” boat.

Ewing was an early ski patrolman on Snow King who extensively explored the region’s mountain ranges on skis. He was also the first ski patrol director of the Jackson Hole Ski Patrol when the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort first opened in the 1965.

Frank and his wife, Patty, started their own float trip business in Grand Teton National Park and in 1965 formed a partnership with Dick and Barbara Barker to form Barker-Ewing into the biggest float trip operator in the 1970s and ’80s, running scenic trips in the park and whitewater trips in the Snake River Canyon above Alpine.

From the early 1970s, Ewing was active in numerous conservation, community planning organizations and was part of initiatives to obtain a federal Wild and Scenic designation for the Snake. He was a key figure in the campaign that finally succeeded in 2009 with passage of the Craig Thomas Snake Headwaters Legacy Act, which protected nearly 400 miles of the river and its tributaries.

Ewing co-founded the nonprofit Snake River Fund in the late 1990s and served on the board of the Jackson Hole Land Trust when it was formed in 1981.