JacksonHole skier 2009

WINTER VISITOR’S GUIDE FREE . . . Inviting you to our 35th Anniversary Shearling Sale

20 W. Broadway Downtown Jackson Across from the Wort Hotel Est. 1973 www.jollyjumbuckleathers.com 307.733.6562

Experience the Old West in a New Way.

Mesquite grilled Steaks, Game, and other New West selections, all served in our authentic lodge. Enjoy our extensive collection of scotch, bourbon and draft beer & extensive wine selection. 862 W. BROADWAY • 733-3287 STEAK & GAME HOUSE

2 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 CUSTOM JEWELRY BY JETER CASE

In the log cabin next to Teton Theatre just off the town square 132 N. Cache Jackson Hole,

307-733-5933 www.jcjewelers.com 800-358-5715 www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 3 H

SKI • BIKE • BOARD • HIKE “The Locals’ Shop” , BOOTS, 520 W. BROADWAY & BINDINGS: OPEN DAILY Volkl • Rossignol 733-5335 r e

• g Dalbello Tecnica e L

On Broadway f f e J

• • : Marker Salomon Full Tilt across from r e i k Bubba’s S s n o i

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Nitro • Salomon• Vans / y o K c M e

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4 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 32 years of inspiration at 6,000 feet

Jewelry Originals Downtown Jackson 125 N.Cache, Gaslight Alley 307.733.2259 www.DanShelley.com [email protected] ALL DESIGNS COPYRIGHTED

jackson hole skier 2008/2009 the resorts 24 Jackson Hole 34 The Tram Builders 38 Vertical-Foot Records 40 Open-Boundary Protocol 41 Terrain Park & 42 Snow King 46 Grand Targhee 52 White Pine the backcountry 12 Teton 54 Mountain Guides 64 Teton Pass Ambassador 66 Avalanche Education 68 Helicopter & Snowcat Skiing Skiers: Cover—Jason Tattersall Contents—Lynsey Dyer staff other stuff Publishers: Bob Woodall and Wade McKoy 8 Wildlife and National Parks d.b.a. Focus Productions, Inc.(FPI) Editors: Wade McKoy, Bob Woodall, Mike Calabrese 17 Activities Beyond the Slopes Copy Editor: Mike Calabrese Photo Editors: Eric Rohr, Wade McKoy, Bob Woodall 18 XC Ski Centers Art Director: Janet Melvin 20 Made in Jackson Hole Advertising Sales: Kyli Fox, FPI y o Distribution Manager: Jeff Leger 72 Snowmobiling K c Editorial Assistant: Eric Rohr M

e 76 Mushers & Sled Dogs d a contributing photographers W

: 79 Business Directory s o

t Wade McKoy, Bob Woodall, Henry H. Holdsworth, Jimmy Chin, o h Jonathan Selkowitz, Tristan Grezsko, Reed Finlay, Matt Haines 82 Lodging Directory p s t n The JACKSON HOLE SKIER annual winter visitor’s guide is free when picked up at e

t 84 Resort Maps n one of 160 distribution points throughout Jackson Hole. Receive one in the mail by o c sending $5 to Focus Productions Inc, P.O. Box 1930, Jackson, Wyoming 83001. d 86 Town of Jackson Map n a Copyright—2008/2009 by Focus Productions, Inc. (FPI). All rights r e v reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form See JH SKIER online @ focusproductions.com o

C without written permission from the publisher. and jhskier.net Watching Winter

Story by Ben Kinkade o other region in the country can touch the breadth of natural Nwonders, wildlife, and scenery embraced by the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). The GYE, 18 million acres of the largest intact temperate-zone ecosystems on earth, comprises the National Elk Refuge, and Yellowstone national parks, and six national forests. The GYE is home to a breathtaking diversity of flora and fauna, includ - ing the country’s largest free-roaming herds of bison and elk, and a recovering population of large predators, including grizzly bear, gray wolves, and mountain lions. With so much to see, where does one start? A good place is near the picturesque mountain town of Jack - son, Wyoming. The town lies on the south end of Jackson Hole, a 50-mile-long valley dividing Grand Teton National Park, and is bor - dered by the National Elk Refuge, the Caribou-Targhee and Bridger- Teton national forests. The jump-off spot for wildlife viewing is the National Elk Refuge. The nearly 25,000-acre refuge was established in 1912 to set aside shrinking critical winter habitat for elk and other species. Rocky Mountain elk make their way to the refuge starting in Octo - ber and will often stay until early April. During the most severe months, refuge personnel, working from horse-drawn sleighs, pro - vide feed for an average of 7,500 wintering elk. Visitors can see the process up close and personal by hopping on one of the sleighs, which leave several times daily across from the National Museum of Wildlife Art. Alternatively, drive or travel with an area guide service onto the east side of the refuge to view red fox, golden eagles, bighorn sheep and, possibly, gray wolves or a mountain lion. The refuge is also winter home to an impressive herd of bison, and its buttes keep deer within easy range of predators all winter long. More adventurous winter enthusiasts might consider guided dog sled runs or snowmobile trips. Outfitters depart from Jackson or Teton Village and journey onto area national forests, where boun - tiful pristine wilderness vistas await. Next stop north, Grand Teton National Park (GTNP). Created

Bison crossing the steaming landscape of , Yellowstone National Park. Below: Pelican, beaver, owl.

8 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 Photos by Henry H. Holdsworth, Wild by Nature Gallery In Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks

From top: Elk herd on the National Elk Refuge; bison herd on the run in Yellowstone National Park; sleepy coyote in Grand Teton; travertine terraces and dead lodgepole pine trees, Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone; black fox, magpies, and moose in Wilson.

in 1950, it has been voted the best park in our country for wildlife viewing and tabbed the "Alps of North America." One could easily spend an entire vacation here. Even in winter countless opportunities and destinations attract all types and levels of skiers, climbers, hikers, and snowshoers. See a park ranger at the stunning new Moose Visitor Center for more details and to schedule an informative, ranger-led hike in the park. Winter is the best time to see moose in and around Grand Teton Teton National Park. Because of the cold temperatures and extensive mountain snow cover, these ungainly but appealing ungulates move to the sagebrush flats to feed on bitterbrush and rabbit brush. Red fox, long-tailed weasels (ermines), the occasional bison, and coyote can also be seen here. Scan high perches for rough-legged hawks and eagles. If your time in the southern GYE hasn't knocked your (two lay - ers) of socks off, you're in for a treat should you decide to journey north to the world's first national park, Yellowstone. Every inch of Yellowstone's more than two million acres is phe - nomenal. And though it's one of the coldest spots in the Lower 48, Yellowstone truly blossoms in winter. Board a snow coach or snowmobile at Flagg Ranch (north of GTNP), the only way in from the south. Travelers can also enter through West Yellowstone and Mammoth, Montana, however. Driv - ers and guides provide a thorough overview along the trip. The main destination for many visitors, regardless of the sea - son, is Old Faithful, in the Upper Geyser Basin. Yellowstone boasts approximately half of the world's hydrothermal features and these warm areas are the destination for many wintering bison, elk, and moose. The heated thermal springs keep snow cover at bay and ed -

www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 9 Grand Teton National Park has been voted the best park in our country for wildlife viewing and tabbed the "Alps of North America." One could easily spend an entire vacation here.

ible plants exposed, making travel and dining a bit easier for animals. Hydrothermal basins can be risky, however. Weak spots in the crust occur and wildlife sometimes crash through, scalding themselves with superheated water and steam. The same goes for humans. Pay at - tention to the warnings posted around the geysers and thermal areas. Appealing as the accommodat - ing thermal areas are to large ani - mals in winter, there might be a downside. Scientists have recently discovered that a concentrated From top: at sunrise; wolf, moose, bighorn sheep in Yellowstone; bison in Jackson Hole. amount of fluoride present in hy - park and Montana Department of tumn saw over 4,000 bison, while y r e

drothermal basins shortens by five l Livestock personnel have gone to post-winter numbers dropped to l a

years or more the lifespan of elk expensive measures to drive bison just over 2,500. Slaughter and a G e

wintering here. The waters’ concen - r

back into the park. The fear is that hard winter are culprits. u t

trated fluoride wears elk's teeth a

bison could spread disease to Finally, visitors and wildlife en - N

down at a much faster rate than y nearby domestic cattle. Bison re-ex - thusiasts can drive or join our b d

those animals not wintering here. l iting the park are often shipped to guides to journey to the legendary i

If gregarious mega fauna isn’t W slaughter. Although disease is a Lamar Valley in Northern Range / h

your main thing, snowshoe around t valid concern, it's interesting to note Yellowstone. Dubbed "the r the geyser basins and check out the o that several private property owners Serengeti of North America," this w s d multi-colored bacterial mats that have taken legal action against the l

is the best place to see the gray o appear to be crawling along the government agencies in defense of wolf. Re-introduced in 1995 and H y r

edges of thermal features. Ther - bison and property rights. slowly making a comeback, this al - n e mophiles, heat-loving microorgan - This bison problem has been most mythic species remains in - H isms like bacteria, live in these made more newsworthy by the triguing and controversial. sub-boiling zones with a variety of large decrease in Yellowstone's Our only prerequisites are that algaes and archaea. bison population this year. Last au - you have fun and travel safely. A newly discovered enzyme Being prepared with survival tools called Xtreme Xylanase, also found like blankets, food, water, chains, in Yellowstone’s waters, can tolerate etc., is key. Give animals and other extreme temperatures and very vehicles plenty of space. Winter is acidic environments. This enzyme hard on everybody and staying at may help us produce an alternative least 50 yards away from most win - fuel and other chemicals using bio - tering animals is a good rule of mass. The findings are fascinating thumb when viewing and enjoying and the idea of one day replacing the amazing array of winter polluting and foreign fuel by a dis - wildlife.  covery made in the park is thrilling. Onto Mammoth, the lowest el - Ben Kinkade is a wildlife biologist evation spot in Yellowstone, where guide with Wildlife Expeditions, a freelance photojournalist, and a wintering pronghorn antelope and ghostwriter. In his spare time, he bison often wander just outside the works on photography shows, park. A concern for many years, songwriting, and volunteering.

10 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 Wildlife ExpeditionsMMMMMMMMMM

WILDLIFE DISCOVERY EXPEDITION A fascinating full-day among the animals with an expert wildlife biologist. SUNRISE AND SUNSET EXPEDITIONS A family-friendly four-hour introduction to Wildlife Expeditions western wildlife and their spectacular habitat. WILDLIFE ART AND SLEIGH EXPEDITION PO Box 7580 • Jackson, WY 83002 TOLL-FREE: 1.888.945.3567 An exciting day that features wildlife viewing, BOOK ONLINE! exploring the best wildlife art in the country and a sleigh ride on the National Elk Refuge. www.wildlifeexpeditions.org MULTI-DAY EXPEDITIONS 307.733.2623 Call for information. YEAR-ROUND EXPEDITIONS CUSTOMIZED AND PRIVATE TRIPS ALSO! www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 11 Stories from the Wild Teton Skiing “Many mountain buffs enter the Tetons during winter and spring. With skis as their mode of transport, these wayward adventurers set objectives as spectacular as the mountains themselves. And though skiers have wandered among these walls and spires since the 1930s, each trip feels like a pioneering effort.” — Tom Turiano, from his book Teton Skiing, A History & Guide to the

North-facing couloirs hold good snow for skier Dave Coon. Among the massive jumble of granite on the sky - line: the , , Grand Teton, Nez Perce, and other peaks.

12 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 Pepi Stiegler Backcountry touring is the kind of sport that doesn’t need any promotion, it seems to me, like mountain climbing doesn’t need any promotion. It promotes itself by the people that are doing it. Promotion, advertisement, commercial - ization spoils the whole thing. The citizens who appreciate this kind of quiet and remote activity, they don’t want it pro - moted. They just go up and enjoy it. The conditions last year were exceptionally good. How - ever, sometimes, like in late winter, you could get yourself into breakable crust, which I did. The funny thing is, when you tour up the mountain, breakable crust is just fine. It makes you actually go faster. Then, when you turn around— my god! It took me coming down as long as it took me going up. Just about every turn, my butt went into the snow. Ha! That’s something backcountry skiers will do, though. They don’t just go up for the quality of skiing. They go up for the quality of the experience. Seeing the mountains, blue sky or not, it’s a great experience. As long as you don’t get hurt. I never had a close call with an avalanche. I never put myself into an iffy situation. I may ski onto a slope that’s not good, by misjudging. But when the conditions are iffy, if they ever were iffy last year, then I wouldn’t ski. If the snow amount is so enormous, I wait a day or two. Because if you go too quick, the danger is high. I don’t play the risky game at all. That’s not the point of my touring. If you wait another day, so what? It doesn’t matter. Dave Coon A lot of my ski tours are a mix of nature and skiing. With so much of the day spent in tour mode, we see stuff not nor - mally noticed from the car. Like hundreds of giant, glisten - ing hoar frosts at our feet, untouched by the sun. Or the hue of the moon setting over the Tetons while the sun’s first light illuminates the highest peaks. Most days feature endless soli - Joe Egolf follows his friends into the wild. s o t o h p y o Coner Horigan hikes a windswept ridge in the K c southern Tetons. M e Left: Dave Coon and Gail Jensen admire the view d a of Buck and Wister mountains. W

www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 13 Nate Siegler in powder snow, southern Tetons.

Steve Romeo in tude, untracked snow, and countless wildlife observations. You see such the Southeast cool stuff. Couloir, Buck One morning last May we got an alpine start for a day trip into the Mountain. Tetons. The skinning was easy, the snow hard enough to support us but not n i

Kit DesLauriers in too hard for our skins to bite. We picked up a set of wolverine tracks at h C

the Ford Couloir, about 9,500 feet. It had walked up the ridge and we followed its tracks for y Grand Teton. about a mile. It was ducking in and out of rock crevasses on either side of m m i the ridge with no apparent regard for the exposure. It’s amazing that J ; y r

wolverines can cover that much ground on steep terrain, and go all day, all e l l

night long. a G e

At one point on top of the ridge, the tracks took a steep line down into r u t

Avalanche Canyon via a line we deemed to gnarly to ski. We picked up the a N

tracks again after skiing a more reasonable line down through excellent y b

powder and stopping near the forks of . d l i

While we didn’t have an actual sighting, it was a special experience to W /

witness the romp of a wolverine in search of food. It made us look a little h t r

wimpy after realizing how much terrain they can cover without skis. o w s

That day was special. d l o H y Dustin Varga r n e H

Me and my buddy Rocky decided we would the Northeast ; l l

Ramp of Mount St. Johns, an amazing line in the Tetons I’ve been looking a d o

at for almost 20 years. Unfortunately, the night before we went up there o we got six inches of snow—this was early April—but we decided we’d go W b o

ahead and go for it. B ;

We left the car at 4:30 a.m., but by the time we got to the plateau below y o K

the east face we were already in waist-deep powder and we were like, “Uh- c M

oh,” and I said, “Rocky, we’re a little out of control.” It took us four-and-a- e d a W

Sunrise can create ethereal light on the Tetons, like this alpenglow on ; y a

Cloudveil Dome, the Middle and Grand Tetons, Mt. Owen, and Teewinot. l n i F d e e R : t f e l p o t m o r f e s i w k c o l c , s r e h p a r g o t o h P that rule is kind of “Most days feature endless out the window solitude, untracked snow, these days. It was quite and countless wildlife strange and ran - dom. I remember observations. one kid saying, You see such “Holy Smoke! I had no idea where I cool stuff.” was!” And Rocky —Dave Coon and I are like, “Dude!” Steve Romeo This was our Jeff Leger on a steep southern Teton pitch. third attempt on half hours to get to the bottom of the ramp—that’s the Southeast Couloir of . Reed a long time—but conditions looked pretty good. Finlay and I decided not to climb the route this We were getting our crampons on and getting time, but to go up the standard East Face route ready to start, looking up there…and that entire instead, mainly to reduce our exposure in the thing rips. The entire thing! And I said, “This couloir. With moderate-to-considerable ava - thing’s gonna come and kill us right now!” And lanche danger that day, we didn’t want to be in the the next thing you know, I see some dude ripping direct line of snow and rock above the couloir turns all the way down that sucker—man— when the sun came out. releasing the biggest avalanches that came pour - Everything went smoothly on the climb. We ing over that thing. The whole time he’s skiing it, began our descent and peered down the couloir, we’re like, “Holy crap!” looked at each other, and said, “Well, are we About an hour later, after four more people gonna do it?” came down and kicked every bit of snow that was It’s always a mystery, not climbing what you up there down onto our heads, it made me stop ski, especially if it’s a rappel situation. You’ve got and think about the way we used to ski things in to find clues: What are you getting into? What is the mountains: you climb what you ski. I think the availability of anchors? What are the snow

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EST 1970 On the Town Square 80 Center Street Jackson Hole, WY 307-733-5599 www.hinesgold.com www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 15 conditions? It’s a little nerve-wracking standing “It’s cool to look up at your the East Face They looked puzzled about where up there wondering what to do. our tracks went, wondering what in the world was But Reed said he was up for it. He made a few tracks when you’re done, a going on there. turns and went down into the couloir. We slowly leap-frogged our way down. We had a little bit of real satisfying feeling of ac - Kit DesLauriers excitement when a six-to-ten inch slab ripped out I skied the Grand with Jimmy Chin in June on on one of my turns. It could have done some dam - complishment.”—Steve Romeo the six-month birthday of my newborn-daughter age. Reed ducked behind a safe zone—which Grace. Afterwards, I called it Triple Tribute in luckily was truly safe—and got out of the way. we built the anchor, the weather deteriorated a bit. honor of Bill Briggs, Doug Coombs, and Grace. Luckily for me, it didn’t rip higher up in the That’s stressful—freezing your rear end off, build - We paid tribute to Bill by climbing his origi - couloir. If it had, there is a good chance it would’ve ing an anchor, doing all the rope work. nal route, the Stettner Couloir, instead of the usual taken me down with it. It’s cool to look up at your tracks when you’re route of the Stettner, Chevy, and Ford couloirs. The couloir rolls over steeply at the lower cliff done, a real satisfying feeling of accomplishment. Jimmy was leading, and when he suggested we band. It was a little intimidating, so we played it Another Teton descent off the tick list. We saw keep going up Briggs’s route I laughed, because it safe and skied one-at-a-time down to the edge. As other people hiking, following our boot-pack up gets really steep at the top of the Stettner. On the other climbs I’d look up and say, “Whew! I’m glad I’m not going that way!” But I took a deep breath Wine Shoppe RNAN Trading and said, “Okay.” I knew I was not in over my over 1600 O ’S Post head. It was so filled-in that it was much easier Different Wines D Grocery & Gas than usual.” We summited and skied the normal route, Cabins Gift Shop and it was unbelievably gorgeous. At the bottom 1 & 2 1 & 2 X-Country Ski & of the Ford Couloir, Jimmy wanted to rap the Bedrooms SPURSPUR RANCHRANCH Bedrooms Snow Shoe Rentals Chevy with his skis on, and I’m like, “Why?” It can with/full baths CABINSCABINS Internet Access & kitchens be awkward. He wanted to because he had done it ATM with Coombs, and that was good enough for me. Access to It took some advanced yoga moves, the two of us cross-country trails Pizza & Pasta moving around each other while half hanging and Teton views Restaurant from the anchors and half standing on our skis, 307-733-2522 taking turns facing down the slope in the figure- 12 miles North of Jackson in Moose www.dornans.com 307-733-2415 11 position. But the rappel with skis on was the second tribute, to Doug. And it was fun, just like he would’ve found it to be. I called it the Triple Tribute because I was home by 2 p.m. to breast feed my little baby, who’d survived on puréed peaches and water since I’d been gone. I’m not running off on huge expedi - tions right now, and my alpine starts have been of a different sort, getting up numerous times at night with her. So I paid tribute to Grace for pick - ing me as her mom—as I walk the line of moth - erhood and mountain mama. 

Wildlife Friendly

k Driving Tips r a P l

a • Expect wildlife on our roads. This is Jackson n o

i Hole and we share this valley with wildlife. t a

N • If you encounter an animal on a road with high e

n snow banks, allow it to move down the road at o t

s its own pace, until it finds a place to jump off w o

l the road. l e Y • Scan the sides of the roads for wildlife. f o

e • Stay alert while driving; be prepared to stop. e t t i • Wildlife cross roads primarily during dawn, dusk, m r

e and at night. P • If you see one elk, deer, or moose along a road - way, you are likely to see more. • If you see an animal on the road, expect the un - expected. It doesn’t instinctively know how to react to your car. Give the animal time and room to move off the road. Do not try to outrun it. • If you see a wildlife-crossing sign, pay at - tention. It’s there for a reason.

16 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 Beyond the Slopes Other activities and events to enjoy during your ski vacation By Mike Calabrese

Stroll the boardwalks on Jackson’s Town Square and see the elk arches, shops, and on Snow King Mountain. Shopping? whole shebang can be arranged at the center. And Dancers’ Workshop Country Western Dance Pro - It may not be at the top of everyone’s list, but don’t forget the camera! gram sponsor free instruction to anyone showing it is on everyone’s list! And why not? I’m still ship - Wildlife Safari up before the band hits the stage. ping out Hungry Jack’s logo mugs and Mangy If you landed at our airport, or drove into our Ice Skating Moose t-shirts to relatives and friends after 35 valley from any direction, more than likely you Broomball league fanatics can take a turn for years of living in Jackson Hole. And my wife and spotted some of our internationally famous the better at the indoor rink housed in the Teton I are still buying outdoor gear, art, and jewelry wildlife: the obvious notables, the big ones–the County Fairgrounds Arena, right next to where proffered right here in the valley. Sure, some of the elk, the deer, the moose, the cowpokes test their mettle all summer. Teton national chains have cast bison. The very fauna that County Parks and Recreation Department also down their lot among the make Jackson Hole the cen - maintains rinks for everyone: one at the base of Jackson Hole enterprises, but ter of the universe for wildlife Snow King Ski Area in Jackson, the other at Owen local businesses have created viewing. But the complex Bircher Park in Wilson. Both are local family fa - and maintained their own Yellowstone/Teton region is vorites. For more info. call 733-5056. niches—all to the benefit of home to an ecosystem’s Another indoor rink, this one at the Snow shoppers searching for that worth of equally impressive King Center, is open to the public for one-and-a- special something for them - smaller residents, including half-hour sessions. Call 734-3000 for a complete selves or the folks back home. wolves, lynx, bald eagles, ot - rundown of hours and fees. No mega-malls in our valley— Prancing to the tune of life: a coyote

) ters, mountain lions, bighorn e Hockey t just real commerce, with real (above) and dancers (below). o sheep, creatures that may be y people, in real stores, in down - You’ll hear it soon enough: “Go Moose!” the o revealed only to a persistent few, or those smart c ( town Jackson or right in the heart of Teton Village. battle cry for the y enough to sign on to r e Jackson Hole l l a tour with Teton a Elk Refuge Moose, who play G Science School’s

e The only thing perhaps more breathtaking r full-check hockey u Wildlife Expedi - t around here than the Tetons is the wildlife that a in the Elite Senior N inhabits the surrounding valley. To take them tions. Start here: y A division of the b both in—at the same time, no less—climb aboard www.wildlifeexpedi - d USA Hockey Asso - l i a horse-drawn sleigh and glide gracefully through tions.org or call 1- W ciation. Grab all the / thousands of majestic elk wintering on the Na - 888-945-3567. h

t home action on 20 r o tional Elk Refuge. Sleighs are run seven days a Friday and Satur - w Western s week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. by the same folks d day nights at 7:30 l o who provide food and fun at their Bar T Five Dancing

H p.m. in Snow King’s y chuckwagon shows all summer. Adults pay $18; Restless legs? r Ice Arena/Center. n e youngsters 6-12, $14; and tikes under 5 pay noth - Work ‘em out with a

H $8 for adults and $4 ;

) ing. Visitors can call 733-5386 or go online at two-step or cowboy

2 for children. Call ( l l BarT5.com to reserve a seat on the sleigh. No waltz at the Cowboy 734-5300 or go on - a d need for reservations, though, unless a large pri - Bar on Thursday o line at jacksonhole - o vate tour would better fit the bill. Or simply drop evenings between W moose.com. b by the Greater Yellowstone Region Visitor Center 7:30-9 p.m. The o

B on north Cache, right next to the elk refuge. The Cowboy and the Continued next page

www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 17 Jackson Hole: from a paraglider! And the experts children over eight. Reservations are recom -

Paragliders fly at the at Jackson Hole Paragliding take full advantage of mended. Call 739-3399 for more info. Jackson Hole Mt. Resort these conditions. They’ll happily help launch novices and veterans alike over the valley in tan - Tubing Park dem paragliding flights that lift off from the top of Save the river running for summer; hop an the resort’s Bridger Gondola. This breathtaking inner tube and run the King in winter. Tons of fun experience requires no athletic ability and the ex - at Snow King, Mon.-Fri. from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., perienced pilots with Jackson Hole Paragliding weekends from noon till 8 p.m. Adults pay $16 for can even help those a bit daunted by heights. The one hour or $21 for two hrs., kids 13 and under outfit offers flights from 10 sites in the area. Call pay $13 for one hour and $18 for two hrs. 690-tram or visit jh - paragliding.com. Cross-country skiing at JHMR’s Nordic Center

Snowshoeing Walk softly but carry a good cam - era, especially in mountain country! Grand Teton Na - Recreation Center tional Park offers Of course we have heated indoor recreation ranger-led snow - outlets! Even the hardiest of locals come in from shoe hikes at 2 p.m. the cold every now and then. Located two blocks every day, from late north of the town square on 155 East Gill, Jack - December to March, son’s first-rate rec. center has a gymnasium with weather and condi - full-size basketball and volleyball courts, an tions permitting. A aquatic center, locker rooms, and a public meet - $5 donation is re - ing room. The aquatic center consists of an eight- quested but snow - lane competitive-workout pool, a therapeutic shoes are provided. Park rangers touch briefly pool, a leisure-water pool, a hot tub, a water slide, on the lore of snowshoeing and the winter adap - Cross-country Skiing a teaching pool, and sauna and steam rooms. tation of plants and animals in the park as Yellowstone and Grand Teton Open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Friday, trekkers cover the one-and-a-half miles along National Parks from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday, and noon to the river bottom in about two hours. Dress Two of the nation’s most famous parks are 7 p.m., Sunday. For daily fees, call 739-9025. warmly, using the layer system, and wear warm true wonderlands under winter’s white mantle. In case you haven’t noticed, our playground footwear. For those who would prefer to wan - The solitude and spectacle of landscape will leave in winter boasts a lovely white wardrobe. The re - der around indoors instead of outdoors, the vis - indelible memories on those who venture out in it gion is blessed with snow and lots to do out there, itors’ center houses exhibits on the natural during winter. especially for those donning skinny skis, skate history of the park . Grand Teton boasts 15 miles of stunning, skis, or . The snowshoe outings leave from the stun - groomed cross-country skiing from Taggart Lake ning, brand-spanking-new Craig Thomas Dis - trailhead to Signal Mt. and a skied-in track north Paragliding covery and Visitor Center at Moose, just north along Cottonwood Creek. Trails and trail maps Clear days and light winds in Jackson help set of the Jackson Hole Airport. No experience is can be viewed and downloaded at the stage for another, equally astonishing view of necessary. Groups are limited to 20 adults and www.nps.gov/grte . For info, call 739-3300.

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CCallall TToday!oday! DDepartseparts FromFrom JJacksonackson HoleHole VVisitorisitor 3307-733-027707-733-0277 oorr CCenterenter 800-772-5386 553232 N.N. CCacheache SSt.t.

18 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 instruction at this groomed site, just south of town and off the South Park Loop Road. For a trail map and more info. visit the website: teton - Jackson’s Great wyo.org/parks. Dial up the activity hotline, 739- Breakfast 6789, for track grooming schedules and ski Breakfast conditions, or call 733-5056 for more informa - & Lunch tion about skate-skiing instruction. Serving All Day! White Pine Resort Nordic Trail Sixty km of trails (25 km of groomed, 40 km of skied-in track) originate from Skyline Drive (Fremont Lake Road), and some trails start right from the White Pine parking lot. Access to over 2 million acres of public land, including the famous Adaptive Snow Sports Wind River Mountains. 307-367-6606 or visit the at Jackson Hole website: www.whitepineski.com. Lessons and equipment rental also available. The Jackson Hole Mountain Sports School offers opportunities to “Ride the Big Bakery & One” to individuals of all abilities, from EVENTS first-day beginners to advanced levels, in - Shriners’ All-American Cutter Races Restaurant cluding the disabled. The J.H. Adaptive Pro - This Western version of horse-drawn chariot gram serves people of all ages and any form racing always draws a huge crowd during Presi - udly Pro Br dent’s Day Weekend every February. Teams run e ew of disability, including, but not limited to, W amputees, and those with autism, cerebral two abreast in a 1/4-mile sprint to the finish at the palsy, developmental and cognitive disabil - polo grounds south of Jackson. Teams are auc - tioned in a Calcutta wager before each heat, so ities, hearing-impairments, spinal cord in - ® juries, traumatic brain injuries, strokes, and high stakes and excitement mark this event. 733- visual impairments. All lessons are one-on- 3316, jacksonholechamber.com. Open 7 Days a Week one, with specially trained instructors in ski - World Championship Snowmobile Hillclimb Breakfast & Lunch: 7am-3pm ing, , XC skiing, and Coffee & Pastries: 3pm-7pm snowshoeing, and include an all-day, all- 2009 marks the 34th year for the World 130 N. Cache 734-0075 mountain lift ticket, and the use of any Championship Snowmobile Hillclimb, held an - equipment needed. Please call Ryan Burke nually on Snow King’s slopes. Starting from the www.bunnery.com at 307-690-4774 for more information. bottom of the resort’s steepest ski run, contest - ants throttle their way straight up the mountain, trying to nail the speediest high-mark. Competi - In Yellowstone, over 100 miles of skied-in tors come from all over the country to vie for cross-country track adorn the park. Use snow - “King/Queen of the Hill” in a four-day world-

) class event that benefits St. John’s Hospital in i coaches as access to more remote parts. Informa - WESTSIDE k s tion: 307-344-7381; Web: www.nps.gov/yell; Jackson Hole. Slated for March 26 through e v i March 29, this year. Call 734-9653 or go online

t roads: 307-344-2117. p a at snowdevils.org.  d WINE & a

( Jackson Hole Resort Nordic Center t r

o Seventeen km of groomed skating and classic s e lanes. Alpine lift tickets are also valid for the R

n SPIRITS i Nordic Center. Lessons and rentals available for a t n cross-country, skate skiing, telemarking, and u o snowshoeing. Guided nature tours into Grand M

e The biggest l Teton National Park are available, as well as o

H overnighters and lunches at the OB Rock Springs

n and best o Yurt. 739-2629 s k c selection of a

J Teton County / Jackson Parks ; )

C and Recreation Dept. fine wines, - X ( It’s just about the best and busiest rec. outfit R beers and

M this side of the Mississippi. In addition to its rec. H

J center, the department maintains seven cross- / spirits on the n

a country tracks, about 15 miles of both classic and m l i skate, snow conditions permitting: 10 km in West Bank G

s Cache Creek, 8 km in Game Creek, and shorter a Located at c sections on the Snake River Levee (starting at u

L The Aspens,

; Emily’s Pond), the Russ Garaman Trail, the Wil - )

3 Teton Village Rd. ( son Centennial School Trail, and the Melody l l a

d Ranch Trail. To make tracks under the lights, drop 307-733-5038 o o by the trail between the valley’s middle school and [email protected] W

b Summit High School, illuminated nightly from 5-

o westsidewineandspirits.com

B 10 p.m. Novices can also sign up for skate-skiing World Championship Snowmobile Hillclimb

www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 19 MADE IN JACKSON HOLE

The Tetons have inspired many to explore, some to skis, resort passes, and after-ski hobnobbing? settle. But making ends meet while putting down roots These entrepreneurs have made it in Jackson Hole by in Jackson Hole has always been a challenge. How to actually creating something in Jackson Hole. Or at least keep the belly full, the rent paid, the car running, and by transforming a Teton-inspired idea into a regular Christmas presents under the tree without neglecting paycheck! CLIMBING SKINS DIRECT

Principal: Rick Liu developed Business Plan: Sell climbing ’s first cable bind - skins directly to backcountry ing in 1981 and was Life-Link’s skiers while minimizing packag - Head of Product Development ing and trash. from 1986 to 1995. He then be - Years in Business: Three came a partner in Ascension En - terprises, manufacturer of the Reach of company: Worldwide successful "purple climbing Market Innovation: Providing skins." In 2004 he developed tough skins without making Climbing Skins Direct: climbing them stiff and heavy. skins with direct Internet sales. Future Vision for Product: Product: Continue to innovate, make Climbing skins for skis skins lighter, tougher, and easier Mission Statement: to take on and off in the field. Provide tough, lightweight climbing skins directly to the Climbing Skins Direct owner Rick Liu backcountry skier.

POWDERHORN Product: Compre - Business Plan: Bring back the Powderhorn hensive collection of brand with the same spirit, innovation, and base and mid-weight Western design as the original classic layers, and outer - pieces. wear tops and bot - Years in Business: Reborn two years ago toms utilizing after a 15-year dormancy technical fabrics such as Schoeller, Reach of company: Worldwide—North waterproof corduroy, America, , Germany, Austria, natural alpaca wool, France, , Australia, United Kingdom, and Primaloft and Asia, Russia, Sweden down insulations. Market Innovation: Introduced many Powderhorn origi - new features to ski apparel, including: nally staked its claim powder skirts, high collars, inside pockets in the world of ski for goggles and stashes, zipper flap, Velcro Powderhorn Marketing Manager Katie Jackson fashion with West - closures on cuffs, incorporating down fab - ern-inspired down-filled ski parkas, notable ric into ski jackets, and, of course, the ever Principal: Switzerland’s Christian Baettig for their colorful shoulder yokes. In the re - famous zip-off sleeves! was living in Mammoth, California, “back birth of the brand we continue to be in the day,” wearing original Powderhorn Future Vision for Product: We will al - meticulous about the fashion details with clothing designed and sewn in Jackson ways keep a collection of Western fashion our contrast stitching, Western rivets, and Hole. Still passionate about the brand and with flare, but as we grow, we will create jean-snap button closures. his heroes who wore it, he bought the li - other collections that trend away from l l

cense in 2006 and reopened the Jackson Mission Statement: Open new terrain in Western styling in order to appeal to a a d o

shop. ski fashion and functionality, answering the broader market. o W

call of every hardcore skier with true per - ; y

formance outerwear. o K c M

20 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 JACKSON HOLE BUFFALO MEAT COMPANY

Principals: Dan and Suzanne Years in Business: The company Marino has been in business since 1947. Product: Buffalo and elk steaks, We have owned Jackson Hole Buf - jerky, salami, whole tenderloins, falo Meat for the last 11 years. sausage, burgers, prime rib, Market Innovation: The most brisket, ribs, all cuts available. significant market innovation we Mission Statement: To provide, at have come up with is our Wild a fair price, highly nutritious and Times Buffalo Jerky. It is like a well-prepared food items using Power or Energy Bar in jerky only quality ingredients. To edu - form. Fortified with white gin - cate the public on the health bene - seng and the highest grade vitamin fits of buffalo and elk products. B12, this product is healthy, nutri - tious, tastes great, and may really Business Plan: To continue to grow help increase energy levels. the company and educate the public on our healthy and nutritious prod - Future Vision for Product: Fran - ucts. To franchise the business in the chising the business to make the future with outlets in selected areas product more readily available to around the USA. Promote sustain - other markets around the country. Dan and Suzanne Marino, owners Jackson Hole Buffalo able made-in-Wyoming, made-in- Meat Company the USA products.

www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 21 MADE IN JACKSON HOLE

Jason Tattersall

IGNEOUS

Principal: Michael Parris quit his job building robots for NASA to live in a cardboard box and make skis. Product: Handcrafted custom skis, , and skateboards Mission Statement: Igneous strives to produce the finest skis on the planet. Business Plan: Continue to refine our product through extensive testing. Our ability to design, manufacture, and ride in Jackson Hole allows us to innovate and customize to meet specific needs. Each pair of skis is cus - tom-designed and built to the specifications of an individual rider. De - veloping relationships with our riders informs our design and construction processes. Our craftsmen are lifelong skiers with passion that is evident in the product. ) e g Years in Business: We’ve been making skis since 1994; we hesitate to call a p g

it a business. n i c a f Reach of company: 60% Jackson Hole, 25% other Rocky Mountains, ( l i e

10% Northeast, 4% , 1% Japan v d u o Market Innovation: The concept of custom skis handmade by skiers. l C y

Ski-shape geometry to match the style of the turn: Carver, GS, FallLine, s e t StraightLine. Custom-tailored construction to dial in the feel of the ride: r u o

hardwood maple and ash cores, custom-profiled to stiffness and flex pat - c ; ) e

tern; stitched triaxial fiberglass to adjust torsion and stability; Aramid g a

fiber to deflect rock shots; oversized edges for durability and tuning p s i h

longevity; wood veneer top-sheets for good looks and a lively ride. t ( y

Igneous owner Mike Parris o

Future Vision for Product: 100 Igneous riders aboard the new tram K c M

22 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 CLOUDVEIL MOUNTAIN WORKS

any outdoor adventure in the Tetons and that Future Vision for Product: Continue pro - no one else in the U.S. outdoor apparel indus - viding gear that people are psyched to wear try was providing this innovative fabric, we for their outdoor adventures, whether it’s a created our first jacket prototype, the yurt trip in B.C. or simply throwing on a fa - Serendipity. Since then we’ve progressed with vorite puffy to get a coffee. We love Jackson other great fabrics, distributors, and styles, but Hole, and being able to make it work in this the soft-shell fabric is still our calling card. valley is the icing on the cake.

COME BY THE CLOUDVEIL STORE TODAY TO GET READY FOR THOSE DEEP SHOTS Brian Cousins and Stephen Sullivan, co-founders Cloudveil THIS WINTER! Principals: Brian “Cuzz” Cousins, president and co-founder; Stephen “Sulli” Sullivan, vice president and co-founder Product: Technical Backcountry Apparel Mission Statement: Dedicated to producing the highest-quality, technically innovative performance mountain apparel in the world. Business Plan: At this point we have a good grasp on the intricacies of cash flows and supply chains, but if anyone who’s trying to start up their own business knew all of this before they started, there’s a good chance they’d be scared off and probably never do it. It was a “learn as you go” operation and get - ting to this point has definitely been a trip. Years in Business: Twelve years and running with our outdoor apparel line, three years 120 West Pearl with our angling program. JACKSON, WYOMING Reach of company: Worldwide 307-739-3930 Market Innovation: The spark was ignited across from when a friend brought over a pair of stretch- Pearl Street Bagels woven climbing pants from Chamonix, Free Parking Available France. Realizing these pants fit the bill for Gabe Rogel www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 23 Jackson Hole Mountain Resort Ski stories from a phenomenal winter

The testimonials are unanimous: last winter Jackson Hole skiers and snowboarders saw the Nordic Ski God, Ullr, every day! “The conditions were so exceptionally good,” says Pepi Stiegler. “I could rave about it on and on and on, and everybody does. It was just heavenly.” Fellow former Olympian Tommy Moe saw it too. “After living in Jackson Hole for thirteen years, it seemed like I skied more powder last winter than ever before in my life,” he says. “The whole season, everywhere we went, the backcountry, inbounds, it was all good. A dream-come-true winter.” The dream continues. A new tram. A fresh winter. Reliving old ski sto - ries as we make new ones. The heart of our existence ringing out like the chorus once sung by the U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division: “Two boards upon cold powder snow, Yo Ho! What else does a man need to know?”

24 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 Tommy Moe Charlotte Moats Jeff Leger Last year I skied a lot with my wife One day it was so deep, it was eerie. I I managed to get first tracks in Corbet’s Megan, who was pregnant. We laughed be - sunk down to my shoulders when I and S&S on the same day, with a Bamboo - cause the baby was skiing powder—not stopped. I remember standing there in the zler in between! Everybody was lagging, not born yet, but already skiing a lot of powder. beautiful silence in total disbelief that so wanting to get after it too quickly because And ever since she was born, she likes to be much snow could be so perfectly stable. we’d had so much snow all winter. So after bounced around a lot and taken on bike And yet, it was. I was with two friends and Corbet’s, instead of doing the sneak back to rides. I bet it’s from all the movement of ski - no matter how fast we lapped, Mother Na - East Ridge chair, I had time to hit Meet ing while she was in the womb. Our baby ture was faster. We had first tracks on the Your Maker, Broadway, and Toilet Bowl—a girl, Taylor, is going to be a tough little Tom- same favorite line, over and over and over, combination I like to call The Bamboo - girl. I’m looking forward to getting out with no one and nothing in sight except the zler—then ride three lifts back up to the top, there and skiing with her in a backpack. very top of my partner’s pom pom. and still get first tracks in S&S! Sweet! continued next page y o K c

M Kevin Brazell, JH Resort backcountry

2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 25 DATE INCHES NOVEMBER 14 5 15 0 16 0 17 5 18 7 19 2 20 1 21 4 22 0 23 0 24 0 25 0 26 0 27 0 28 5 29 2 30 8

DECEMBER 10 21

32 Conor Horigan drops into the “chasm” known as S&S Couloir. Jeff Leger skis the vast expanse below . 46 Jess McMillan 51TOTAL Every skier in Jackson Hole has a list of lines we’d like to SNOW ski someday. We start talking about our lists in September 66FALL 105” and try to have them finished by April 5—an impossible task, 79 since Jackson contains a lifetime of ski lines. That’s what keeps skiers skiing in Jackson, year after year. 85 One line on my list from the beginning, a rite of passage for 91 me, is S&S Couloir. Maybe we shouldn’t even call it a line. It’s more of a 25-foot-crack drop. From the top it looks like you are launch - 10 1 ing yourself into oblivion. If that is not intimidating enough, you must first sign in with patrol to ski the line. This is really weird, be - 11 4 cause you are basically letting the patrol know that you are throw - 12 0 ing caution to the wind and about to huck yourself into a really big chasm. 13 2 One morning, after it had snowed a couple feet, we walked into the patrol shack, signed our lives away, and headed to the 14 2 drop. 15 1 When we arrived, local ski legend Wild Bill was already there, peering into the chasm. “Do you think it’s soft?” I asked. He gave 16 7 us that crazy look of his and dropped in. We couldn’t see him land but heard his shouts at the bottom of the couloir. “It must be soft,” 17 1 we all said. Next, Eric Seymour launched himself without hesita - 18 7 tion and Bob Kilmane followed—lemmings hucking off the cliff. Everyone had jumped. Now I was up there by myself, peer - 19 4 TOTAL ing into the crack that seemed to have no bottom. It would SNOW have been easy to back away and save it for another day, but 20 10 DEPTH 53” I really wanted to check it off my list. I stepped away from the 21 9 lip of the drop and took a deep breath. I gave myself a little pep talk, counted to three, and skied off the edge. 22 2 26 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 The free-fall was quick, the landing soft. Calendar of Snowfall My body buzzed with adrenaline and my I stepped away from mind was relieved. Maybe lemmings do Our snowfall calendar lists some of the know something that few humans will ever weather data posted last winter by the Bridger- experience: a sense of complete and unfet - Teton National Forest Backcountry Avalanche the lip of the drop and tered freedom. Hazard & Weather Forecast. The current daily forecast can be viewed at jhavalanche.com or Chris Figenshau took a deep breath. I One day, a powerful storm blew in from heard by calling 307-733-2664. It includes: the south. It didn’t dump a lot of snow and area Mountain Weather Forecast and General actually scraped snow off most aspects. But it Avalanche Forecast; past 24-hour tempera - gave myself a little pep blew in S&S Couloir as deep as I’ve ever seen ture and wind data from a weather station near it. Just unbelievable! Four or five feet deep in the tram’s summit at 10,400’; snowfall/precip - talk, counted to three, there. I jumped in and the snow was so deep itation data from two weather stations—the it took my ski goggles from my face and Raymer Plot between the Headwall and pushed them halfway up my head. Casper Bowl at elevation 9,300’, and the Ren - and skied off the edge. That was the first of three times I did S&S dezvous Bowl Plot at 9,580’. that day. I had it to myself for some reason. It was one of those great moments where you luck out, make the right call and nobody else seems to clue into it. I remember calling my friend Marvin be - cause he wanted to go in. He was on the gon - dola, trying to get up there as fast as he could. I went in a second time and called him again from the Thunder lift line. We hooked up and went to the top. He looked into S&S and said, “It’s all bombed out, you can’t go in there.” So we skied away, but I went back around and found one more little nugget in there and did it a third time. Then I called Marvin again ! Kevin Brazell It was a mid-February morning, and we began our ski patrol day in the dark, as usual, going up the lifts to do snow control. We got to the bottom of Thunder chair lift and it was closed due to high wind at the saddle. We ra - dioed our bottom-feeder base patrol for a tow and skijored behind his ‘bile up to Ren - dezvous Bowl. There, on the leeward slope, it was nice, and calm, and quiet. We rode the East Ridge chair lift and assessed the snow-control situ - ation. The stiff north wind seemed to be re - solving our snow-stability issues within the resort. The wind just kept going and going, and sure enough, nothing but the gondola opened. We stayed at the Top of the World and did our daily jobs: checking the status of touring gates, mending tattered boundary lines and other blown-away signage, digging out toboggans, and preparing rescue equip - ment. The work finally done, the wind still blowing hard out of the north and still totally calm in Rendezvous Bowl, the East Ridge lift spinning, we finally got some of the white stuff under us, over us, and in that pocket we probably left open. The breakable wind slab in the bowl led

s us to start lapping Corbet’s Couloir. A steady o t

o 35-to-40-mph wind blew straight up the h p couloir, scouring and hardening the snow y o and making the entrance a virtual wheelchair K c M 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 27 DATE INCHES DECEMBER 23 3 24 3 25 7 26 1 27 2 28 1 29 3 30 15 31 4

JANUARY 1 .5 20 30

40TOTAL SNOW Kevin Brazell, Moran Face 5 14 FALL 210” ramp. The snow inside was chalky 68 and buffed smooth. It didn’t matter how we skied it—blind - 76folded, hands in pockets, right side, left 82side, old-school-skiers’ entrance, new- school entrance off the nose—it was all but - 9 14 ter! Every turn was like ripping Bounce softener sheets from the box—into the cave, 10 8 over the fin, spray a wall, scope Piggies—it 11 9 was all moist! Hanging a right-hand turn at 12 10 TOTAL Tensleep, the wind was nuking es - SNOW pecially hard. We opened our arms 13 8 DEPTH 98” and held our poles out—full spread- 14 1 eagle style—and the wind pushed us uphill on the low-grade Marky Mark Tra - 16 5 verse, back around to the East Ridge. 17 1 And we had it to ourselves all morning! After awhile, we started talking to some of 18 1 the old-dog ‘trollers who hadn’t been in the couloir for a good 10 or 15 years. It took a 19 1 bit of money on the table, but we got them 20 11 in. Epic! Charlotte Moats, Four Pines 21 9 Hannah Horigan One day I was skiing alone and I went 22 0 over to Corbet’s. A man there from North 23 0 Carolina was just looking in, and he said, “I don’t know if I’m going to do it.” And I

24 0 TOTAL was like, “Oh come on, it’s easy. Just SNOW watch me.” So I jumped in and he 25 3 FALL said, “I don’t know if I can do it.” 305” 26 7 And I said, “Come on, you got it!” And I totally encouraged him and he 27 2 flopped his way in. He did it! He was so ex - cited, he took our picture together! He said, 28 12 “I wouldn’t have done it if you hadn’t made s

me.” And I said, “Well, now you can check o 29 7 t o

it off your list.” One of the magazines listed h p

30 3 it in the “Top 100 Things You Should Do y o

Before You Die.” K Jess McMillan, The Crags c 31 4 Continued page 30 M

28 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 HF < DATE INCHES

FEBRUARY TOTAL SNOW Lance Cygielman 1 15 DEPTH I skied in a hurricane. 105” 26 Yeah, we get storms in Jackson and we get winds. Sometimes big winds! But this particular ) n

35 mid-January morning, it went off the charts. o s

It had snowed 12-to-14 inches overnight, so I w e

4 11 N

got in the “Gondi” line early. I figured on a late ( l l

opening, but lo and behold, the lift loaded on time a 52 d o

and I was only nine cars back. “Stoked” is an un - o W

63 derstatement. ; ) 2 I did my usual routine, hitting the Study Plots ( 73 y from the Gondola, and the snow was deeeep! As o K I rode up Thunder, it began to get a little windy. I c 8 16 TOTAL M SNOW 97FALL 404” 10 1 11 3 12 1 13 1 14 7 15 0 16 1 17 6 18 0 19 0 20 0 21 0 22 0

23 1 TOTAL SNOW 24 3 DEPTH 100” 25 13 Danny Felice, Little Fat Bastard Chris Newson, Pepi’s Bench 26 10 Peter Pilafian 27 0 One of the ironies of filming my Corbet’s 28 .1 movie: I spent many hours hanging out at the top of the couloir, filming people going in, 29 0 trying to capture the feeling of first-time Cor - bet’s skiers. Day after day I’d find myself up MARCH there right after first tram, looking at fabulous conditions. But I was so dedicated, just hang - 10 ing out with the camera, and shooting and 2 12 shooting. By the time I’d get my stories Cor - bet’s was totally tracked out. Unskiable! I paid 3 .1 my dues on that one. 47 Darrell Miller 54 April Fools Day…remember in Sleeping Giants , the shot of Cora’s Couloir and the 20- 62 foot air out of it? But this year it was totally a ski-through. So I went back and did that 70 again, and that felt really good. Still, definitely 81 the scary stuff, the first top few turns, but once you’re in, it’s more manageable. And 90 then the fact of no air at the bottom from such an insane snow year that filled it in, it was 10 .1 kind of heartwarming. Jeff Leger, Zero G 30 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 jumped into Laramie Bowl and looked across at could experience it from all three dimensions, this air that I had to jump while standing on rocks and the Sublette chair to see if was running—it’s highly incredible storm out there on the flats. pushing off with my poles. It was a pretty awk - susceptible to wind closure and the winds were And then the power went out. ward move. definitely increasing. I had done a variation of the route a couple It was running, so I fast-tracked down times: ski down Shirley’s Face and, right before the Laramie Bowl, traversed to yet another epic un - Mike Tierney big cliff, sneak around a little corner into Igneous tracked run under the Alta Chutes, and beelined I ski some crazy lines. Sometimes I get into Rocks. It looked like I could come in from the for the chair. We loaded—no singles allowed, the trouble—and then I have to get myself out of trou - other side: ski Talk is Cheap, traverse across a wind now howling—and off we went, envisioning ble. I had one of those moments while skiing Talk ledge, and jump into a deep pocket of snow in the untracked runs down Cheyenne Bowl and the to Rocks, a line off the front of Cody Peak that had top of Igneous Rocks. Hobacks. never been done before. All I can say is, I would - It was a beautiful day, super sunny. I had some Then it hit. The wind went nuclear! The chair n’t really recommend it. really good friends in town that are rad skiers who lift stopped, our chair over a cliff, and we started It’s a connect-the-dots route and includes were hitting Central for the first time, and, you swinging. Now it really had my attention and I some really sketchy rock scrambling and a 40-foot know, I couldn’t let them down. But when I skied started praying for this chair not to loop over the cable. We finally started creeping uphill very slowly and we all prayed we would get to the top, because if this lift went down, ours would be one sick evacuation. Finally, we got off at the top and my first in - stinct was to ski into the woods and out of the wind and enjoy the pow’. I was 110-percent sure Sublette chair was going to close. The light, the snow, the wind—it was all sur - real. I got back to the bottom of Sublette chair lift, and not only had the lift closed, but I was advised that the entire mountain was shutting down and the ski patrol had recorded 90-to-100 mph winds. I skied a lower face, the wind screaming like a freight train chasing me down the mountain, and took shelter indoors.

“en it hit. e wind went nuclear! e chair lift stopped with us swinging over a cliff. I started praying for this chair not to loop over the cable.”— Lance Cygielman

Mike Maples The Friday Afternoon Ski Club was in ses - sion. The chair lifts were all closed from fierce upper-mountain winds. It was blowing so hard as we rode up the Gondola, the consensus was, “Boy, I don’t think they’re going to be able to keep the Gondola open either.” And sure enough, before we left the top, they stopped sending people up that lift, too. The mountain was closed. We did the Blowzinski Traverse, went way around to the south side of the mountain, and the storm was raging so hard you couldn’t hear any - thing but the wind. We skied Sublette to the bot - tom and it was untracked, just like first thing in the morning. Ski tracks got blown in right behind the last person who skied it. But no one was ski - ing it. No one was up there but us. I got home by three o’clock, then they closed the Village Road and a lot of people got stuck out there. It was such an intense storm, so violent in our neighborhood. I climbed up on my roof so I www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 31 DATE INCHES MARCH out for the rocks at the bottom, and do the 11 0 final jump, an 80-footer. “Sweet, I’m home free.” 12 0 I made my way down to the jump at the 13 0 bottom, trying to be smooth about it. Then it got crazy again right before the takeoff. It 14 18 turned to sugar snow and I poked through and scraped some rock. I’d done the air before and 15 9 TOTAL had landed it, but this time, even though I SNOW thought I might still pull it off and was like, 16 7 FALL 505” “Oh sweet,” at the last second my body just 17 0 shifted, and I was like, “Uh oh!” I hit and just exploded . 18 6 ) I dropped a pole—my lucky poles—so I R G T

had to walk back up to the landing zone to get (

19 14 l l

it. I didn’t get hurt. I was real fired up. My a d

friends were stoked. Definitely my most magic o

20 9 o

moment of the winter, for sure. I was super W ; )

21 10 2 bummed that I didn’t land the jump, so I ( y

wanted to go back and do it again. o

22 6 K But not that way. Not Talk to Rocks. c 23 0 Conor Horigan, The Diagonal M down the face, the snow in Talk is Cheap was 24 0 TOTAL heavy. It was a bad place to be and I wanted to get SNOW 25 11 DEPTH off the route quickly. 130” I got to the ledge and realized it was too steep 26 6 to ski across. There were corners that roll off, way more 27 7 severely than they appear to from below. It’s so steep, and those ledges are really narrow. All I could see were 28 7 the cliffs below me and the really big set of cliffs at the bottom. “Oh, man! Whew! What have I gotten my - 29 5 TOTAL self into?” SNOW I took my skis off and started rock climbing. 30 4 DEPTH 140” I’m across, and I’m like, “Holy smoke, I 31 5 hope this works. I hope I know what I’m “It’s so steep, and APRIL doing.” I had one of those panic moments, those ledges are 13 but still tried to main - 21 tain focus so I could really narrow. do the scramble 32 moves. Free climbing. Oh, man! No protection. Whew! What 40 I made it to the 53 jump and had to have I gotten TOTAL put my skis SNOW 64FALL back on while myself into?”— 605” standing on 72 rocks. I made those Mike Tierney 84 moves very delicately, not wanting to lose my balance, kick a ski and have it 91 go shooting off, or drop it. I couldn’t see the jump very well, and I thought, “Oh, my god, it’s a lot bigger than I 10 1 thought.” Even though I’d seen my landing zone from 11 1 the other side and I knew it was deep, I thought, “That better be deep.” Because if I punched through and hit 12 .1 rocks, I’d be crushed up there with no way anyone could get to me. I’d be really bumming. I’d shatter my hip, be - 13 0 cause it’s one of those jumps where you have to hip check to spill all your speed. It’s a pretty steep lit - 16 6 TOTAL SNOW tle pocket. I was like, “Oh, man! I hope I don’t 17 .1 FALL bounce. I hope I don’t punch through to rocks.” 615” and on But it was primo. It was super deep. I made like this that jump count. Didn’t fall. Absorbed all my speed. I till was wedged into the top of the Igneous Rocks hanging mid-June snowfield. I was psyched, in familiar territory from then on. All I had to do was make some steep turns, watch 32 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 Eric Roner, TGR, Pucker Face this is a day to go skiing!” I tucked the camera dropping in over those cliff bands—they seem so Lisa Watson away for awhile and just enjoyed a bunch of deep big from far away and then you drop in and Two years ago, Kit DesLauriers and I did a powder runs. they’re not that big. “countdown to Central,” skiing Once is Enough, Next we hiked back up over the north flank Twice is Nice, Shady Lady, and Horseshoe. She Lynsey Dyer below Rendezvous Peak, toward Saint Patty’s, helped me make sure I had the skills to do Central Early in the season I did a huge 12-hour day in and—it’s just so amazing how many different and the ability to deal with any problems I might the backcountry, from boarding the Gondola at snow textures you can get in one run—it looked have on tele’s. But that year the weather turned 8:00 to finally into the bar at 8:00. The bushwhack like the moon. Sastruga and blue ice. If you took bad on the day I was planning to go in, and since out was like wilderness trekking. We got out in the a tumble there you’d be in big trouble. then I’ve been dying to do it. dark and squished eight people in a little Subaru. Jensen Canyon was really spooky. Across the So last year I asked my friend AJ Cargill if And, of course, we had to finish it off with a beer canyon everything had ripped earlier that day. We she’d take me in. She’s skied it every year, pretty at the Coach, which went straight to the head. got down in there and heard a ‘whumph.’ It was a much. Tristan, my co-worker, went first, then I I had been peering at the North Shore from big ‘whumph,’ too! That beer at the Coach never climbed down into it and put my skis on. Then AJ afar for so long, for years. The skiing was great, tasted so good!  went and, because it’s so steep, she disappeared

Jason Tattersall, Four Shadows out of sight. At the very top it was pretty nice, but in the crux it’s so super steep you couldn’t make a turn. I saw how I needed to line up and jump out of the crux, and I did it and landed where AJ and Tristan were waiting. People were in front of and behind us, so we had to keep moving. From there it was great—really nice powder turns down to the bottom, where you had to back up and line up your exit. At that point, I was just so excited and wasn’t even remotely scared for Optimal warmth, light weight, maximum freedom of movement. some reason and just went flying out. A harmonious interplay between material and fit. A cut which is I did two front flips, landed on my skis, and consistently oriented to the movements of the skier. fist-pumped my way out of it with blood running Characteristics which are common to every KJUS product. down my lip from a ski hitting me in the face. Without compromise. It wasn’t easy, but I didn’t feel like I was going to die. It’s a tough one. I’m not running back to do it again. Greg Von Doersten One storm I remember was incredible, it was puking so hard. I pulled my camera out and tried JACK DENNIS PEPI STIEGLER to shoot on the Sublette quad lift. By the time I got to the top, the whole thing was just caked. It OUTDOOR SHOP SPORTS snowed an inch while we were on the lift. 2 LOCATIONS: LOCATED IN TETONVILLAGE It was one of those quintessential Jackson ATTHE ALPENHOF • 733-6838 ATTHE PEPI STIEGLER SPORTS PLAZA Hole powder days where you go, “You know, man, ON THE TOWN SQUARE • 733-3270 307-733-4505 www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 33 Living Legends: The Tram Builders By Lauren M. Whaley

They braved lightning, snow, winds, sleet, and dizzying heights to construct the western ski world’s newest living legacy: the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort’s replacement tram. Nothing less than a team of the world’s best tram builders would do. The resort had decided to decommission its signature tram because it had simply worn out and safety would have become a chief concern for the 40-year-old symbol of high-mountain skiing. After the legend was removed, the real work of constructing the area’s next landmark began. The Swiss-made replacement tram would transport 100 skiers at a time to ’s 10,940-foot summit in about eight minutes, nearly doubling its predecessor’s capacity and cut - ting the ride time by about three minutes. The new car #1 goes up in October. Tim Mason, vice president of mountain op -

erations for the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, speaking boss, indicated that all the Swiss work - One day on top of Tower Three, as ice pellets, ) p o

helped turn the blueprints and renderings into ers won’t soon forget Jackson Hole either. snow, and sleet battered their faces, a bolt of t ( l l

brick-and-mortar-and-steel. With his Puritan “I like it very much here,” Eberhard said, his lightning hit the crane. The hair on their arms a d

work ethic, gentle sarcasm, and deep knowledge white hardhat shading his light-blue eyes as he and the back of their necks tingled. Time stopped o o

of all parts electrical, Mason became the prover - spoke through replacement interpreter and Swiss for a second. W b

bial player-coach. crewman Heinz Schneider. “I’m thirty years in the “One of our guys got a small shock,” Schnei - o B ; “We’re all really proud of this der remembered. “And then we went ) e g

crazy, big effort,” he said. “Every - running fast, fast as we could down a p

one did their part and we all the mountain.” His eyes twinkled as g n i

helped each other out.” he described the harrowing feats that c a f ,

Swiss workers from Gar - come with such work. t f e l

aventa—the company that manu - Because of the steep location of ( o

factured all the tram’s Tower Two, crews had to winch its k z s

parts—completed much of their pieces up for assembly rather than e r

work from the sides of cliffs or using the crane. One of Schneider’s G n a

hanging in midair. Wearing wool coworkers found himself in the pre - t s i r

caps under hardhats, chain-smok - carious position of having to free a T ing cigarettes and downing soda five-ton piece of steel from a tree. by the 2-liter bottle, Garaventa’s Schneider said the piece leapt up and crews worked 12-hour days, six fell down, almost crushing his days a week. coworker. “The Swiss,” Mason said, “He had to run for it!” Schneider “work in any weather, in any con - said, smiling. dition.” He was especially im - Austrian born Hans Burkhart pressed with Aschi, Garaventa’s had the unenviable role of crane op - interpreter (many of the Swiss did - erator. He lifted up tower pieces, n’t speak English). “Aschi had the formed the top terminal, and as - ability to work fourteen hours a Norm Duke splices the haul cable. sembled a temporary bridge on the day, seven days a week,” Mason said. “We can’t business and think it’s like Switzerland to work track ropes for local Norm Duke, a cable techni - forget him.” Unfortunately, a car accident forced here. The culture is the same, so I prefer this to cian of international renown, to splice the haul his premature return to Switzerland for recovery. other job sites.” rope in midair. Hanspeter Eberhard, Garaventa’s Swiss- The weather always challenged the workers. Perched in a 90-ton crane above a cliff, the

34 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 same one rived by Corbet’s Couloir, at what Jackson Hole workers call “The Top of the World,” Burkhart delicately hoisted giant pieces of aluminum sheets to be bolted down as decking for the new upper tram terminal. “Operating a crane in the parking lot is one thing; operating a crane on the mountain is another thing,” said the 73- year-old. “You’d like to get as close to a tower or platform as you can. Most of the time, you can’t. So you have to take chances by being on the edge of some - thing very steep.” Taking chances has led this tall, tanned, world-renowned crane expert to balance his machine on loose rock near the upper terminal, to perch in a tiny nee - dle crane stuck to the side of the moun - tain beside Tower Two, and to pivot on a boom crane at the base. Burkhart has worked in the ski busi - ness for 45 years, and helped raise trams for Squaw Valley, Snowbird, and Vancou - ver. He was also instrumental in con - structing Squaw Valley’s 1998 : a “complicated lift” of 46 28-passenger cab - ins with a capacity of 4,000 passengers an hour.

One day on top of Tower Three, as ice pellets, snow, and sleet battered their faces, a bolt of lightning hit the crane.

Yet after 45 years as a crane operator, 20 of those spent as general manager for Squaw Valley USA, Burkhart found him - self drenched with snow, operating on the side of a mountain in Wyoming’s Teton Range. “This Swiss guy comes out to Squaw o

k Valley and says, ‘We are having difficul - z s ties building at Jackson Hole. We need e r

G you. Would you come out?’” Burkhart re - n a t called. “I got three daughters, and they s i r say, ‘Dad you’re crazy. Why the hell do T A worker scales Tower One.

www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 35 The New York Times reported that no major tram in the has been built since 1992; Snowbird, Sandia Peak, and Squaw built trams in the ‘70s.

you want to go to Jackson?’ And, of course, when they tell me I’m crazy, that’s when I say, ‘Then, I have to go.’ ” Jackson Hole Mountain Resort crews spent most of April plowing roads and chopping ice. By mid-May there were still 122 inches at the bottom of Rendezvous Bowl. “We built Tower One, Tower Three, and Tower Four in the snow,” Burkhart said. “But we just kept working no matter what. Every day, we were in the snow fighting the weather. Crews plowed the road up on top in mid- June with snow banks ten feet high.” Shane Ward, Rick Grant, and Curt Willard, locally born Jackson Hole High School classmates with a combined 60 years of service at the resort, re - built the roads with materials imported from gravel pits in the valley. They also used this material to fashion a road into Tower Four so crews could get a crane to the site. Jake Elkins, self-proclaimed “dirt guy” who directs the ski patrol in win - ter and in-house construction in summer, said the whole area turned into a quagmire. "The sub base of our road pretty much went to mud," he said. "Once that goes away, you can't get the heavy trucks through." After several weeks of setbacks, Elkins and resort crews finally rebuilt the road and put a crane in to Tower Four just in time for a three-day snowstorm that brought seven-foot drifts to the area. Elkins and ski patrollers also intentionally triggered two avalanches in mid-June, so the snow wouldn’t slide on its own. The debris again wrecked the access roads. “Winter never quit; it just kept coming and coming and coming,” Elkins said. “We were in the business of snow removal until about the fifteenth of June. May and June were a significant struggle.” Still, Elkins, who came here in 1973 to “ski bum for a season,” said the tram is the most exciting project he’s ever worked on. New Tower One, old Tower One “To see this one through two construction seasons, including a winter, is really incredible,” he said. “I think everybody on the crew has been pretty jazzed about working on a project of this magnitude. We’re each doing our lit - ) e

tle portion of it.” g a As these men worked 12-hour days for the icon's resurgence, the hype p g n built in a country where only 19 public tramways exist, including those for i c a f

sightseeing. The New York Times reported that no major tram in the United ( l l

States has been built since 1992; Snowbird, Sandia Peak, and Squaw built a d o

trams in the ‘70s. o

Resort President Jerry Blann said the new tram is an “engineering feat.” W b o

And lift maintenance mechanic Jeff Wilson noted that there is “nothing B ; )

human-sized about the tram.” p o t

Not only are the new tram cars nearly twice the size of the old ones, com - ( y

ing in at 15,700 pounds each, but all the tram components feel giant com - o K pared to the old ones. c M

The drive room under the lower terminal houses the bollards—huge ce - e d ment spools lined with Beachwood that anchor the track and haul cables. The a W ; electrical systems for the tram live in this room. Resort electrician Troy Stoker ) m o

worked with other contractors to install the system’s wiring and drive. When t t o

everything is blinking and pumping and grinding, the room feels like it’s set b ( o

deep in the heart of a mountain. k z

Up above, the loading platform at the lower terminal glides back and forth s e r

with effortless grace . G n a

Mason credits Jackson Hole general contractor Stan Zaist for coordinat - t s i ing about 25 different trades to construct the top and bottom terminals. r Installing the slack carriers T

36 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 Old & New The original tram cars (left) carried 63 skiers. Replaced with larger cars in 1989, the number of passengers was eventually reduced to 52 to further alleviate crowding. The new cars (artist’s rendition right) carry 100 skiers.

Anchored in the bottom terminal and “Whenever anything breaks, I fix it,” said the wound up costing over $31 million. That’s over 12 stretching up the mountain are the 100-ton ca - vehicle maintenance manager. “I helped support times the original tram construction cost of $2.5 bles. The four enormous track ropes and one haul all the equipment that went to ‘The Top of the million in 1966. rope are strung taut between each of the five gal - World.’ ” “What is the market value of such a ma - vanized-steel towers, each of which is bigger than One of Parker’s biggest projects was to help chine?” pondered resort president Jerry Blann. its predecessor. fix a crane axel that broke in June en route be - “The economic return is hard to calculate, but it’s Three backup systems, including a massive tween Towers Three and Four. It broke just be - worth it because of the icon factor.” generator, are in place at the lower terminal so fore the Laramie traverse. Parker’s co-worker The workers that have dismantled the old red tram riders never have to evacuate the cars. But Tim Carberry helped him by driving up a Cat to legend and built a new one will never forget the despite the tram’s brutish feel, it is run on delicate investigate. snow that wouldn’t stop, the roads that washed controls, said Nic Gladd, former lift electrician. “We just kept everything going up the hill,” out, and the six-days-per-week work schedule. “The operation will actually be taking place said Carberry, a Wyoming native. “All summer, I “These guys are the hardest workers I’ve seen in an incredibly sterile, medical-like lab, complete just used the 730 rock truck with a flat bed. I’d in my life,” Mason said. “And we’re all here for with white lab coats,” he said, describing the con - make several trips a day: load, drive, unload, and the same reason. We all love this incredible trol room in the lower terminal building. “That’s drive. I was a trucker.” mountain.”  how you have to operate a thirty-million-dollar “If it wasn’t for the dump trucks, nothing Lauren Whaley is a writer living in Jackson machine.” would have gotten done,” Mason said. Hole. She wrote “Tram Diaries” on the resort’s The big machine brings out the sentimental After an estimated $25 million, the project TramFormation website. side of some tram builders, like Chuck Melichar, a charismatic storyteller with a bushy mustache and a big laugh. Melichar built lifts all over the Serving Jackson’s finest pizza since 1980 country in the 1980s. “To be building one of the top tramways in “Homemade” Subs the world, it’s something you always dream Traditional, Salads about,” Melichar said. He added that the new Wholewheat, tram has reignited in him the pride he felt in Sandwiches those early days of being part of something new or Deep Dish and innovative. Crust Calzones “The tram is unique; it’s like a Phoenix for 100% Real Cheese Gyros me,” he said, smiling and looking up the moun - Fresh Meats tain. “This is the firebrand of Jackson Hole rising and Vegetables Beer & Wine out of the wreckage of the old tramway and flying people up to the top of the mountain again.” To help the Phoenix rise, unsung heroes like WE DELIVER! 733-3646 “Big Steve” Parker have to work out the kinks. 120 West Broadway • One Block West of the Town Square • Open Daily NOTEWORTHY MUSIC BOOKING AGENCY • The finest live music acts in T the region • Jazz, Swing, Rock, Country, Solos, Duos,Trios & Big Band • Impeccable references

Michael Calabrese • 307-733-5459 P.O. Box 289 • Wilson, WY 83014 E-mail: [email protected] www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 37 ) r e t s o p i p e P ( n a y R l u a P ; ) t r ( y o K c M ; ) t f e l ( l l a d

World Marathon Ski Records o o W Chris Newson Jackson Hole tram inspires vertical-foot tallies Seekers of maximum vertical have long em - champion continued, saying, “We finished skiing Sployed the Jackson Hole Aerial Tram. To this day, at about 3:45, and if you also consider the lost thousands of skiers and snowboarders celebrate time at the beginning, we could have done two or their lofty achievements by wearing testimonial three more runs. Afterward, I felt a little bit tired, pins and belt buckles awarded by the Jackson Hole but not more than skiing with Pepi Stiegler at a Resort for logging 100,000, 300,000, 500,000, or a Nastar Trial Handicap on Après Vous—10 runs in million vertical feet. a row, and 35 degrees below!” In 1968, one quest set the benchmark. A team And where was Stiegler, Jackson’s of five Jackson Hole skiers claimed the World director and Austria’s Olympic Gold and Silver Marathon Ski Record: 25 trams, 103,475 vertical Medalist? “Pepi was going to join us that day, but feet, in eight hours. This topped a 1966 record set his Porsche wouldn't start,” said Morley in a quote at Taos Ski Valley, New Mexico, when ski instruc - from Jackson Hole on a Grand Scale . When asked tor and lodge owner Jean Mayer skied a total of about it recently, Pepi concurred, saying, “That’s 97,200 vertical feet by completing 60 rides in one how things were with the Porsche. Air-cooled. day on the area’s high-speed chair lift. Not exactly a winter vehicle.” The record day in Jackson got off to a rough The 1968 event inspired many personal at - start, though. Ski instructors Ferdi Fettig, Paul tempts, one such by ski guide Dave Miller and in - Perner, Bruce Morley, Dean Anderson, and structor Chris Leveroni in the 1980s. mountain manager Dick Randolph lost a half- “Dave Miller and I did one, impromptu, on a hour’s time on the first two runs. crummy day in April,” said Leveroni. “Conditions “Morley came out of his bindings on the first were lunar—frozen coral reef, nobody else on the trip down and broke his skis,” the 1968 press re - hill. I did 20 trams, starting and ending with ski lease revealed. “Anderson fell and broke his skis patrol cars at 8:00 and 3:40. We did a no-repeat 1960s-vintage poster of Pepi Stiegler on the second run. Then the five skiers completed day, including Tower Three, Lower Faces, Corbet’s Speckles each racked up 107,614 vertical in the 23 straight runs without a single fall.” to the Cirque, the Hobacks. We were going all the February 2001 event, a fundraiser for Teton In a recent letter, Ferdi Fettig wrote his mem - way over to Jackson Face, even onto Ashley Ridge. County Search and Rescue. ories of the event: We went at a furious pace, and it was a panic each “We asked for a quarter, fifty cents, a dollar, “The route of the descent was Rendezvous time. We made every tram, except Miller missed five or ten dollars per run, whatever people could Bowl, Laramie Traverse, Amphitheater, and lower one when he threw a shoe on the Hobacks. It was - afford,” said Janssen, “and we raised four or five Tramline. The fastest run I made was about 4 n’t anything official, though.” thousand dollars.” minutes, 30 seconds. One time I skied Ren - Surprisingly, over 30 years passed before the They began at 7:00 a.m. and skied seven dezvous Bowl straight down! It was a fantastic day next official event. In a tribute to Pepi Stiegler, a trams at downhill-racer speeds before the moun - of skiing, flying down the mountain with almost team of three men skied a whopping 26 trams. Ski tain opened at 9:00, after which they rode the no turns, enjoying the speed.” School Assistant Director Doug Perieni, ski in - same public car all day long. The former German National structor Mike Janssen, and ski patrolman Curt “We always did the same run: the Bowl, to 38 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 East Ridge Traverse, into Tensleep, the Downhill Chute, Amphitheater, and the Gros Ventre,” Janssen said. “The day was pretty nasty. High winds up top. Sublette blew down a couple times, and the tram ran slow at some points. Up high we had limited visibility, blowing snow, fresh powder. Below The Cirque it was groomers all the way down. It was really, really fun. People would join us for a few runs here and there, and if there was no tram line they could lap with us.” Two years later, the unimaginable happened. Jackson Hole lost to Snow - bird, Utah, in a SKIING magazine contest billed in epic terms. “With their snow, vertical, steeps, and trams, Snowbird and Jackson Hole have become legends in American skiing,” the press release announced, and continued with a bold challenge: “But which resort has the toughest skiers and riders? In what will begin the greatest rivalry in skiing, four Snowbird athletes riding the Snowbird tram will race four Jackson Hole athletes riding the Jackson Hole tram in a head- to-head, most-vertical-skied-in-a-day-wins competition: SKIING magazine’s Tram Off!” A Tram Off! On January 7, 2003, the Snowbird team skied a record 30 trams on the groomed Chip’s Run, from 9 a.m. to 3:45 p.m., receiving mas - sages on each afternoon tram ride. “Massages on the tram? We didn’t have that,” said Nordic Center Direc - tor Scott McGee. “And skiing groomers top to bottom isn’t really an option here. We’re just a little rougher and tougher up here in Jackson Hole, I guess.”

Surprisingly, over 30 years passed before the next official event. In a tribute to Pepi Stiegler, a team of three men skied a whopping 26 trams. Tommy Moe The Snowbird team of four women skied and snowboarded a combined total of 348,000 vertical to Jackson’s team effort of 347, 676. Each team con - sisted of two alpine skiers, one telemark skier, and one snowboarder. Jackson’s ski ambassador and Olympic Gold Medalist Tommy Moe, freeski champ AJ Cargill, snowboard mountaineer John Griber, and McGee competed against Snowbird’s pro alpine skiers Shannan Yates and Nora Pincus, pro telemark skier Kasha Rigby, and Sarah Clemensen. “I remember skiing untracked powder,” said McGee, “following Tommy Moe down Hoppy’s Hole, into Lonnie’s Chute—that was a beautiful thing. We were following Tommy Bartlett around, he was our rabbit, we were the grey - hounds. Brilliant weather, good powder, good groomers, no wind, traffic was low, Christmas rush over. Tucking down the Gros Ventre, pointing ‘em, put - ting my arms out to the side for a little air brake, then going into a tuck again. The groomers were like butter.” “I didn’t drop Corbet’s on the tele’s,” McGee said of the race route, “but Inc. Wide, World © 2008 Wolverine Merrell Footwear and Apparel available at the others did a few times. Mostly we did the Bowl to East Ridge, the Down - select retailers including: hill Chute, to Amphitheater, to the Gros Ventre. We also did some variations, Teton Village Sports Hoback Sports going to Lonnie’s, or Broadway, or The Cirque. It didn’t really matter after a Teton Village 520 W. Broadway Ave. while because we knew we could make every tram. Bartlett got 26 that day.” 307.733.2181 307.733.5335 “But you know how everybody hangs back, trying to get the window seat,” Jackson Bootlegger McGee lamented. “That cost us about thirty seconds each tram, so we prob - 36 E. Broadway on the Square ably could have gotten one more. That’s all it would’ve taken to win.” 307.733.6207 Or a bigger, faster tram. Jackson, with its new tram, has challenged Snow - bird to a rematch this winter. Stay tuned. — JH Skier www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 39 Beyond Resort Boundaries

By Lauren M. Whaley Movie skiers regularly and purposely trig - advised. “Knowledge of ger avalanches, their edgy feats neatly packaged the terrain, where they’re Mon film to the beats of remixed hip-hop. But real going, the most recent life out-of-bounds skiing may not be so enter - weather, a stability taining and often paints a potentially chilling evaluation. They picture. should have Those who venture beyond the boundary knowl - gates at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort should edge know that Teton County has led the nation in of trans - avalanche deaths since 2000, said Bob Comey, ceivers and ski patroller and chief avalanche forecaster how to use at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and di - them and know rector of the Bridger-Teton National the weather forecast.” Forest Avalanche Center. If you’re the least While this startling figure will bit unsure of your send some snowplowing back to knowledge or your part - Aprés-Vous, others will still ners’, hire a guide, sug - crave the open-boundary gested Comey. They are freedom. knowledgeable, and local If you do choose to and cool to boot! They can leave the ski-area bound - lead you to deep cowboy ary, you should know the powder with less risk than if risks of skiing on terrain you venture out on your own. the ski patrol does not Sometimes, though, you manage. If necessary, don’t even need to leave the ski Teton County Sher - area to find the best snow, Comey iff’s Office and said. Grand Teton Na - “I’ve been skiing here for twenty- tional Park–not five years and often the best snow is the ski patrollers not in the avalanche paths,” he added. on the moun - “Being open terrain, avalanche paths are tain–will co - subject to wind deposition and the effects ordinate a of the sun.” rescue. Comey also noted that even if you’re a Jake great skier, know the area and weather con - Elkins, ditions, have perfect equipment and knowl - ski pa - edgeable partners, you’re still not guaranteed a trol di - no-avalanche ski run. rector, “What’s really important is knowing when summed up not to go, and who not to go with,” Comey said. risk-management advice for out-of-bounds ski - “Know the limitations of your partners, know l l

ing in one word: knowledge. the risks, and manage those risks. The really big a d

“The best thing they can do when they head thing is not getting caught. Some people die in o o

out into the backcountry is have knowledge,” he a shallow burial, with no trauma.”  W ; y o

Big: Jeff Leger, No Name Peak K c

Inset: Jess McMillan, Once is Enough; hikers on Cody Face; Corey Felton, No Name Face M simple fresh italian

CAFé R M H J /

o Terrain Park k z s PONZA e r and G n a t RISTORANTE s i Gideon LeGros r Superpipe T PIZZERIA& Beginning skiers and riders could visit the Lit - “The pipe is a full-size superpipe, extra long tle Britches terrain park on Antelope Flats, which for being able to link together all your tricks,” Wine features rails, little jumps, and mini-table tops. Kingwill said. “The great thing is, you can ride the seafood “The mini-park is one of the big attractions pipe all day and never hike once, thanks to the Gourmet Pies on any given day at Jackson Hole, where all levels handle-tow right next to the pipe. This lets you Pizza by the Slice of people can come through and hit some small, focus on your tricks and not your cardio.” Pasta fun jumps and rails,” pro snowboarder Rob King - Resort administrators remind skiers and rid - Sandwiches will said. ers that skiing and riding in control applies to Experts can check out the Rodeo Grounds park and pipe areas too. They advise park and Fine Dining terrain park off the Aprés Vous lift. “There is a pipe visitors to look before they leap, make sure “Best Steak & Tiramisu in Jackson” great assortment of rails and boxes to choose landings are clear, and clear themselves out of the voted by locals from,” Kingwill said, “all linked together with fun landing area after sticking their tricks. medium-sized jumps. The park is a great place to For more information on the two terrain Lunch & Dinner Delivery & Take-out get some experience under your belt before you parks, superpipe, and upcoming competitions and Pink Garter Plaza 50 W. Broadway Downtown Jackson head off into the backcountry to build that big events, visit jacksonhole.com/info/ski.freeride.asp (307)734.2720 www.cafeponza.com jump and land the trick of your dreams.” — Lauren M. Whaley Tips for Safe(er) out-of-bounds travel Come in and see what’s new! For a daily avalanche-hazard forecast go to www.jhavalanche.org or call 734-2664. Knowledge: • Know the area and the terrain where you plan to ski. • Know the area above and below where you plan to ski; sometimes small avalanches carry people over cliffs or into terrain traps. • Know the weather and weather forecast. • Know how to use your rescue equipment (and make sure your partners do too). • Know how to read snow conditions and terrain. • Know how to ski expertly; out-of-bounds terrain is expert skiing, even in the sunniest of conditions.

Equipment and Companion: • Always check jhavalanche.org or call the hot line before venturing out of bounds. ® • Always wear a transceiver and carry a probe, We’re so much more than Big Macs and world famous fries. shovel, and extra layers. Unwind, rewind and plan new adventures. • Always check your transceiver’s batteries be - fore venturing out. ® • Always ski with a partner. McDonald’s of Jackson Hole • Always tell someone in-bounds where you’re Open and serving your favorites 5:00am - Midnight Daily going and check in when you return. Free Wi-Fi with purchase. • Always go with someone who knows what they’re doing. If unsure, hire a guide. 1110 W. Broadway • Jackson, WY • Never go alone! 1 mile west of Town Square • 307-733-7444

www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 41

T Jess McMillan, who grew up running gates on the King, returns on a pow’ day. Below: The resort’s proximity to town, the elk refuge, and the Tetons paints a pretty picture. Snow King Resort by Jeff Burke

The backdrop for much of the valley’s history, Snow King has witnessed it all. But for Jackson Hole’s town hill, the future begins now. Snow King got its first lift from Neil Rafferty in 1939, when he moved a rope tow across the valley from nearby Teton Pass. Its lifts and fame grew slowly over the decades as the hill gained a devoted following of ski jumpers and racers. More recently, though, an exploding mountain-lifestyle culture has helped earn Jackson Hole a reputation for ) 2 (

its world-class recreational opportunities, rife with wildlife, adventure, and wide-open l l a

spaces. At the center, poised to take advantage of that culture, is Snow King itself. d o

At a glance, the resort has been undergoing a facelift. The proliferation of Love o W

Ridge condominiums over the last few years has changed the landscape of the hill’s base b o

area. And this coming spring, Snow King will launch the Grand View Lodge and Spa B ; ) t at Love Ridge, a sophisticated property featuring an 11,000-square foot wellness spa— f e l

“Spa Verde”—in an eco-luxury setting, “creating a natural, modern and environmen - p o t tally friendly responsible retreat,” says Erin Ennis, Director of Sales and Marketing. ( z t “The spa’s contemporary design incorporates a water feature from a natural hillside i w o

spring, encouraging harmony with our environment.” k l e

A destination itself, Spa Verde is also designed for the local community to take ad - S n

vantage of all its offerings. “The luxury property will offer a unique Jackson Hole ex - a h t

perience,” says Ennis, “featuring a fine-dining restaurant, fireside lounge, 25,000 sq. ft. a n o

of [special] function space, including outdoor venues with expansive views of the Na - J tional Elk Refuge and Teton Mountain Range.”

42 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 For Over 30 Years Lunch 11:30-2:30 UNIQUE SANDWICHES PHYLLO PIES, HOMEMADE SOUP & SALAD Dinner 5:30-9:30 VEGETARIAN SPECIALS LAMB, FRESH SEAFOOD, TROUT & STEAK Extensive wine list Full Bar Open 7 days a week sweetwaterrest.com Call 733-3553 Corner of King & Pearl Sean Clark, another homeboy and four-time Town DH champ, carves up the untracked groomers. AwardWinning Brews & Incredible Food! Future King makes its own history

Part of Snow King’s walk into the future is in - snowboarders, and telemarkers in pro and vari - troducing a new director of recreation, Tom For - ous recreation categories. “Fat and Baggy” tops tune, who comes to Snow King from Schweitzer the list of colorful competitions, but feature names Mountain in Idaho. “I’m excited to be here,” says like “pro bump,” shitz n pantz,” and the “steil - Fortune. “I’ve never worked on a community ski hung,” help create something of an Olympic- 265 S. MILLWA RD ST. 307.739.BEER (2337) hill, and I’m looking forward to moving to Jack - sounding event. The top speed so far, reached by www.snakeriverbrewing.com son Hole.” local competitor Josh Daigle, is 76 mph. F OOD SERVED 11:30am - 11:00pm But stepping into a new position will have its The ski area’s manager from 1984-2008, Jim H APPY HOURS 4:00pm - 6:00pm challenges. “Definitely,” says Fortune. “Growing Sullivan first raced the Town Downhill in 1982. DAILY SPECIALS! the business is always a challenge. But I’m seeing He’s missed the race only once (in 1993) and has big opportunities for summer activities. For win - been on skis an average of 100-plus days a season ter, I’d like to get some glading done (thinning for the last 35 years. “And I’ve never had a bad forested areas between established ski runs) to year,” he says. “It feels like a whole new mountain keep things fresh for the locals.” Jacksonites who each season.” milk every little secret line through the woods In addition to racing, Snow King is expand - could soon have many more options for skiing the ing its terrain park to attract all mountain enthu - trees. And while Fortune focuses on increasing siasts. “The expansion gives skiers and riders of business and creating efficiencies on the expenses all abilities the opportunity to develop their skills end, “I’m also looking forward to integrating into in a spacious, centralized location,” says Ennis. the community,” he adds. “We are proud to work closely with the Jackson There are some things, however, that won’t Hole Ski and Snowboard Club to support up-and- change. The Town Downhill, a favorite local coming local skiers and riders.” event, is held every March and welcomes skiers, In his second year as head coach for JH Ski

www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 43 ) t h g i l h c r o t ( l l a d o o W b o B ; ) t f e l ( z t i w o k l e S n a h t a n o J

Torchlight parades on Snow King are impressive from all over town. With two new and Snowboard Club, Todd Travis lauds Snow King’s service to the club. “They pretty much bend over backwards for us,” he says. snowcats for “And you just don’t get that anywhere else.” With two new snowcats for grooming, The grooming, King maintains prime conditions for guests and racers alike. “It’s one of the best training The King venues anywhere,” he adds. “It’s great snow for training and racing.” Ennis echoes Travis’s maintains sentiments: “We want to continue our progress with gains in grooming capabilities prime and , striving to provide a better snow experience for skiers and riders.” Despite the changing times, Snow King conditions for also maintains friendly prices for locals and visitors. Early season pass prices total $129, guests and including either a patch or pint. Enjoy $2 pints at The Lounge, the King’s in-house bar, racers alike. 3-6 p.m daily when you purchase an early season pass. Day tickets are still an affordable Gladed tree runs—a Town Hill feature with a future

SKI JACKSON HOLE 3 Days Skiing • 4 Nights Lodging • Starting at $269

Great Ski and Snowmobile Packages Complimentary Ski Shuttles Fireplace Suites . Log Cabins . Hotel Rooms Hot Tubs . Saunas . Fitness Rooms Rooms for Every Budget 49’er Inn and Suites . Elk Country Inn The Town Square Inns are located in the heart of Jackson Hole, Antler Inn . Cowboy Village Resort just minutes from world-renowned skiing at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. www.townsquareinns.com . Jackson, Wyoming Reservations 1-800-4-TETONS

44 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 option: full-day $41, half $31, and two-hour $22. If you have to work days, Snow King also offers a $20 night-skiing pass, beginning at 4 p.m. every Tuesday through Saturday. Apart from skiing and riding, Snow King Neighborhood Pub & Grille Center is home to the Jackson Hole Moose N Hockey Club, and the valley’s only full-size ice  At the base of Snow King Mountain rink. Backed by a devoted fan base, the “Moose”  often play to sold-out crowds on Friday nights.  Fine Whiskeys Male, female, and co-ed hockey is a popular  W pastime at the center and public skating is also 17 Draft Beers  available, both indoors and out.  Choice Steaks, Fresh Seafood, E The resort’s King Tubes Park enters its 11th Fish & Chips, Burgers ing season and remains one of the most cherished , Wyom n Hole, family activities in the valley. Situated adjacent - Jackso 3 . Cache to the base summit lift, the tube ride is a rush 33.004 645 S. down the barrel of a gun, with guests soaring 307.7 down the course at dizzying, yet safe, speeds. The tube park is open weekdays 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., beginning Dec. 13, but opens at noon on weekends. As Jackson Hole continues to grow as a winter destination, Snow King resort is keeping pace. An all-inclusive resort with proximity to activities, nightlife, and adventure, convenience is the hallmark of the King experience. Snow King is keeping community at the center of its future, striking a balance between local loyalties and destination allure.  Jeff Burke is a freelance writer living in Jack - son, Wyoming.

skiing & snowboarding nightly lodging 2-hour lift ticket - $22 hotel & condominium

“KingKingTTubes”ubes” hockey & snnowow ttubeube pparkark ice skating Looking for winter fun? Snow King Resort offers exciting winter recreation for all ages! night skiing 307.733.5200 restaurant www.snowkingresort.com & lounge Located in the town of Jackson at Snow King Mountain. WINTER ACTIVITIES: From the town square, take Cache Street south to skiing, snowboarding, night skiing, terrain park, Snow King Avenue, turn left and continue to Resort. King Tubes snow tube park, ice skating, and more! www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 45 Grand Targhee Resort

Progressive march matched by local communities by Brigid Mander Viewed from the west, the imposing Teton Range has a distinctly different feel from the jagged sight looming on the massif’s eastern side. The giant peaks appear smoother, more defined, and even the air, rushing around in a wide-open sky, seems different. Beneath this view, sits Grand Targhee Resort, basking in grandeur, isolation, and most importantly during winter, deep, deep, powder. Targhee quietly receives over 500 inches during an average season, but rarely will you find yourself stuck in a buzz-killing, mind-numbing lift line. Even on the deepest powder days, the ski hill manages to keep its relaxed vibe, and its lift lines at a minimum. Maybe that is owed in part to the fact that over here, powder days are pretty common on what is known as the snowier side of the Tetons. The nearby towns of Driggs, Victor, and Tetonia, Idaho, help nurture the laid-back feeling that ski towns risk losing when their slopes become so famous. Locals and visitors alike revel in the fact that they can stroll up to the chair in the mornings and slide right on. After all, it’s pretty nice not to have to shower in your coffee and inhale break - fast while running to the lift line, at a full sprint, in pre-dawn light. s o

A ride up Dreamcatcher, the area’s only quad lift, will bring you to the top of t o

Fred’s Mountain. Wide-open groomers drop off in all directions, eventually curv - h p

ing back to the base. Powder reserves can usually be found on Mary’s Nipple or y o K

Peaked Peak, which are hiking only, but controlled for avalanches by the ski area. c M

46 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 Powder days are pretty common on what is known as the snowier side of the Tetons. Powder re - serves can usually be found on Mary’s Nipple or Peaked Peak, which are hiking only. Skiers: Bissell Hazen, Jeff Leger, Jason Tattersall, and Todd Jones (TGR)

2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 47

™ If you’ve got bigger plans (and the proper gear), you can always stop in at the patrol shacks for a quick rundown on recent snow activity, stability, and whether the boundary gates are open at that time. Compared with the backcountry around Jackson, most of the out-of- bounds at Targhee is smaller—and friendlier—to less-experienced back - country travelers. But beware: following tracks might bring you down a line left by one of the many local skiers who think little of a 50-foot air, since Targhee’s famed backside is the secret haunt of many a professional big- mountain extreme skier. Despite being able to claim itself the proving grounds of one of the world’s top big-mountain skiers, Sage Cattabriga- Alosa, Targhee keeps its mellow, inviting feeling. With a reputation for some of the most family-friendly terrain in the re - gion, intermediate skiers feel comfortable exploring much of the in-bounds terrain. The classic Targhee-style run features rolling open-terrain, groomers, and glades. And let’s be honest, there is pretty much no level of skier who can’t fully appreciate the good times to be had on a long, smooth, fat (and un - crowded!) groomed run. A day spent lapping Dreamcatcher lift, however, is definitely enough to tire out even everyday skiers. The littlest skiers haven’t been shortchanged either; there is a whole sec - tion of fun short trails through the woods, like Eye Ball Forest and Wacky Weasel Way. Grownups have been known to ski through here—even with - out kids to chaperone. Pro - fessional skier Jason Tattersall (who has been Beware: following tracks spotted on aforementioned kids’ trails) sums up a trip might bring you down a line to Targhee in this way: “Check out Jackson for the left by one of the many local hype, then head over to ‘Mom and Pop’ Targhee; skiers who think little of a 50- you might just get one of the best powder days you’ll foot air, since Targhee’s famed ever have.” At the end of the day, backside is the secret haunt of skiers converge at the fa - mous Trap Bar, currently many a professional big- the only bar at the base. But that just makes it bet - mountain extreme skier. ter. Great bar food, beers, and often live music—any more than this just makes après ski too complicated. But for even more local flavor, join some of the ski bums and head down to Victor or Driggs for burgers and beers at the town grills. The tenacity of all this mellow, however, is about to be put to its first big test, following the Teton Skiers, from top: Jason Tattersall; Jeff Leger; unknown local County Commission’s ap - proval of an expansion of The resort is trying to stay as green as possible in the face of its expan - base area lodging from 96 sion. The new buildings will be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environ - beds to 450, and the addi - mental Design) certified, and Targhee “is doing every single possible thing tion of a new lift up Peaked we can to be environmentally sound,” notes Dave Hudacsko, a Targhee Peak, both of which will spokesman. Targhee also retains a sustainability director and is a founding see groundbreaking next member of the Climate Registry, where businesses voluntarily track and re - ) t

spring. The new port their greenhouse gas emissions in order to reduce them. Also in the f e l will provide access to 1,000 works, added Hudacsko, are small research projects to see what sort of al - ( l l acres of terrain that is cur - ternative energies will benefit the resort. a d o

rently used for SnowCat The progressive march of Targhee is matched by its nearest local com - o W

Adventures, the resort’s munities, Victor and Driggs. For years, these areas remained sleepy little ; ) 2 cat-skiing operation, western farm towns, and while they have so far managed to retain their ( y spreading out the skiers at o

quaint, under-the-radar feel, they are also at a crossroads for new develop - K c

Targhee even more . ment. An influx of people to the area has brought new restaurants, music, art M 50 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 Cowboy Culture Leon Weston lives the heritage %.*/9 7).4%2 15!,)49 02/$5#43 by Brigid Mander 3%26)#% +./7,%$'% Getting onto Leon ‘Slim” movies and innumerable Weston’s chairlift is something press clippings. that Targhee visitors usually Even with the inevitable don’t forget. Smiling from changes, Targhee retains the under the brim of his Western local-hill feeling with its staff, t r hat, greeting skiers like long many of whom are farmers o s

e lost family, he doles out mini down in the valley in the sum - R shoulder massages, inquires mer. People who come from e e h after your skiing happiness, far away states to work here g r a and remembers your name. figure things out right away, T d And so things have gone for notes Carol Eck, lift supervi - n a r four decades, although, ac - sor and herself a veteran of 15 G y cording to Slim, who has years. “We don’t have a prob - s e t

r lasted through four different lem with people fittin’ right u o resort owners, things have in,” she says. “It doesn’t take c o t changed “a whole bunch.” ‘em long to see how things o h An Idaho farmer and work. It’s a great place, and lots P horseman himself, Slim Leon ‘Slim” Weston of fun.” She and Slim agree the started running lifts on Targhee’s opening day, best part of their jobs is seeing the people, espe - in December 1969. The third generation of the cially those who come back year after year . original families that came are still skiing As for Slim, he may be getting the travel bug Targhee, and saying hello to Slim at Dream - himself after greeting people from all over the catcher. Perhaps the most famous personage at world for 40 years. Although he won’t say how  % ,)44,% !6% Targhee now, Slim actually got his nickname much longer he will be at Targhee, for now, you $2)''3 s )$!(/ from Warren Miller when he rode up to the ski can still catch him smiling at the base of Dream - ss 9/34-!2+#/- hill on horseback, landing a spot in Miller’s catcher. 

• Carhartt • Hot Chilly’s • Smith • C

Grand Targhee continued... o l k Home of o s galleries, different cultures, and businesses sup - right on Main Street somehow fits right into the u n d a plying an ever-expanding array of options. “Ten quiet thoroughfares and one, blinking, traffic light . THE World Famous v D e

or twenty years ago, living in Victor or Driggs was Yes, valley farms still irrigate lush crops, cows i l • Huckleberry Milkshake • like living in the Twilight Zone ,” says Sara low on neighboring ranches, local produce l l e

Deutsch, a skier and entrepreneur based in Victor. abounds, and everybody knows everybody else. M r r But now it is totally feasible to live, ski, work, and But when the snow flies, farmers become skiers, • SUNGLASSES a e  u have a great time without crossing the pass to and ski bums head not across the pass but up to i M

• HATS J

Jackson every day, she adds. Targhee, where the friendly rural vibe from their i • Despite the new businesses and influences, the towns is matched by the mellow ski hill with the m a • SHOES l

 • towns are still far from being cosmopolitan. big terrain, nicely tucked away from the hype. a

p • GIFTS Which, over here, is a good thing. Being able to A Brigid Mander is a writer based in Wilson, a c R get great Thai food or inspired nouveau cuisine t

Wyoming. • T-SHIRTS i o from a chic urban bistro, or buy stylish ski gear • n r • ESPRESSO O a e p t w • JEWELRY i e c s y E

 • e v T i e t m a p N l e • a F l o a r p k a F R 208-787-2221 l y • Located in downtown R f i o t Victor, Idaho ~ Just 30 minutes d r o s

p fromdowntown Jackson Hole S • Smart Wool • Smith • Sportif • www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 51 Pinedale, Wyoming Home of White Pine by Joy Ufford Imagine Wyoming’s old-time mountain said Mindi Crabb, marketing director for men like Jim Bridger or William Sublette the Pinedale Tourism Bureau. “And waking after a 250-year sleep, breaking trail White Pine is our own wonderful family- down the mountainside through deep snow - friendly ski area.” drifts and finding themselves on the out - White Pine Resort owners Stuart and skirts of Pinedale. Mary Thompson hold an image in mind They’d probably whoop it up after dis - as they painstakingly develop the ski area covering that their old stomping ground on into a jewel of the mountains just 10 the vast mountain-ringed sagebrush plain in miles from Pinedale. Stuart, also the re - the early 1800s is today a small, old-fash - sort mountain manager, describes their ioned classic Western town. endeavors to spotlight the excellent ski - Modern visitors to the heart of the ing and snowboarding by crafting a wel - Upper Green River Valley will feel just as fes - coming atmosphere reminiscent of “the tive. Pinedale’s unique character, ranching old days.” lifestyle, and scenic splendor remain en - Part of their snow success is due to trenched in what we call “Mountain Man the resort’s base elevation–at 8,400 feet al - Country.” In spite of inevitable growth in most a thousand feet higher than Snow both population and nearby energy indus - King’s peak, Stuart explained. tries, Pinedale—and the surrounding Sub - “That makes the difference between lette County—are among those increasingly our snow and theirs,” Thompson said, rare places that have kept their Western matter-of-factly. “That’s just the way it is. identity and rural roots intact. We have the best skiing for the greatest Where else but in Pinedale would you part of the year—that’s what White Pine find that the local landmark is a mural of is all about.” cows painted on a downtown building, Although White Pine doesn’t pile up then learn that the beautiful new Sublette the snow all at once, what falls at White County Visitor Center next door was Pine is called “cowboy powder” because specifically designed to preserve that it’s easy for anyone to ski. And being larger-than-life artwork? tucked 88 miles away from Jackson Hole Outside, the new visitor center is dom - holds advantages, one being that a week inated by an oversized “mountain man” after a snowstorm, skiers can still find cast in bronze, easily spotted by those seek - untouched powder at White Pine. l l ing more information for their visit to The alpine terrain consists of over 26 a d o

Pinedale, the Upper Green River Valley, trails on Fortification Mountain, with a o and Hoback Basin. Jeff Leger summit elevation of 9,500 feet. Two W Mountain men and their colorful history are Winter in the Pinedale region hints at an triple-chairs transport riders to both the summit showcased inside, along with displays on wildlife, inner sense of isolation, but not loneliness, a sense and the beginner and intermediate trails. A wide local history, trapping, snowmobiling, skiing, fish - of personal adventure that isn’t defeating. Winter variety of beginner-through-expert runs for ing, hunting, the arts, and backcountry explo - is long enough, cold enough, and gorgeous alpine skiers, telemarkers, and snowboarders ration. enough to convert anyone into a modern-day await guests. There are groomed trails as well as That’s in part because Pinedale and surround - mountain man or woman. bump and powder runs. ing communities carry on in their old-fashioned The wintry diamond in the rough, so to Atop the resort’s Fortification Mountain is a ways as did those rugged mountain men, but with speak, is White Pine Ski Resort, which is really contemplative overlook for ogling the rest of the more creature comforts when it comes to lodging, anything but rough. world. Those who take in the summit can view dining, shopping, and having good fun . “There are so many gorgeous places here,” Fremont Lake (a prime ice-fishing body), the and the Continental Divide (with its #1-rated 600-mile snowmobile trail sys - • Indoor Pool & Jacuzzi tem), and the Wyoming and Gros Ventre moun - • Free Continental Breakfast tains, home to hundreds of miles of trails for skiing, wildlife watching, or snowmobiling. • Free High-Speed Internet Just outside the lodge runs part of an exten - • Refrigerator and microwave in every room sive and free 60-kilometer cross-country trail sys - • Located minutes from White Pine Ski Area tem that loops along groomed routes in and out of the resort and affords breathtaking views of the Wind River Range. “These are some of Wyoming’s 307-367-8800 best cross-country trails,” noted Thompson. Locally Owned & Managed “They wind through the mountains in a beauti - West Hwy 191 in Pinedale ful, natural setting.” 1054 W. Pine St. The LODGE Head into Pinedale for more dining and shop - Pinedale, WY 82941 ping. Catch a movie or visit one of the many spe - Reservations 1-866-995-6343 AT PINEDALE cial small-town events, whether in Pinedale or

52 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 farther afield in Boulder, Daniel, Big Piney, Mar - bleton, or Bondurant. A variety of entertainment awaits explorers who will find “all the civilization you need” in town. In early December, check out the Wreath and Chocolate auction at the Museum of the Moun - tain Man (closed in winter except by advance reservations). Downtown Pinedale, of course, turns festive during the holidays with a lighted Christmas parade, tree-lighting ceremony and caroling, plus a “parade of homes” decorated in - side and out. Late December will see the Sonny Korfanta Giant Slalom, the “One-Lunger,” with vintage snowmachine races, the heartwarming “Celebra - tion on Ice,” and more hometown fun. More info. at www.pinedaleonline.com/snowexplorers. Back at White Pine, the old year fades into the new every Dec. 31 with a nighttime torchlight parade down the mountain. A chili feed helps fuel the excitement and warm the belly. Visit the web - site: www.whitepineski.com. Mountain men of old would surely appreciate the Green River Classic, where sled dog mushers from around the country gather to test their met - tle and that of their exuberant canines. Both 6- and 12-dog teams are piloted around a snowy course in nearby Cora, Wyoming, on January 3- 4, 2009. For more info. go to www.greenriver - classic.com The Green River Classic is a perfect warmup for the big one, though, the International Pedi - gree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race, set for February 2-3 this year. If you’re lucky enough to be in the area for this regional event, you can cheer on competitors and join in the festivities. This real- life event covers 500-plus miles in 11 days and highlights the small welcoming towns of Sublette and neighboring counties. White Pine comes through again in February by hosting the Wyoming Senior Winter Games, featuring downhill and cross country skiing, a rifle , hockey, and more for competitors 50 and over. But the fun is for spectators of all ages. The games are slated for February 6-15 this year. For more info. go to www.wyswin - tergames.com By March, the snow is melting in downtown Pinedale, but elsewhere it’s time for more ice fish - ing derbies, special ski events, and community “cabin fever” celebrations. There are also ice-fishing derbies at Fremont Lake, skating and hockey at the Pinedale Ice Rink, Bondurant’s Mountain West Racing Sno-Cross extravaganza, cross-country and downhill ski contests for young and old, and special small- town, big-fun community events. To get the up- to-the-minute insight, go to Mountain ManCountry.com. Would those old-time mountain men be whooping it up if they arrived in Pinedale today? You can bet your long johns they would!  Writer Joy Ufford lives in Bondurant, where she helps feed cows, horses, and elk all winter. She is also a part-time writer for the Sublette Examiner in Pinedale. www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 53 Mountain Guides Ushers of Mountain guides experi - the fantastic ence their environment with an uncanny depth of feeling. They seem to possess a sixth sense and have eyes in the backs of their heads. They’ve learned to see the world with a clarity and perception that focuses on success and safety. That’s why we hire them, especially when success neces - sitates some failure, too. We asked a few of Jackson Hole’s top mountain guides to tell us some stories. Sto - ries that illustrate something poignant about guiding— the day’s beauty, ugliness, or otherwise unusual nature; mishaps or danger; joy or surprise; the quality of skiing, anything unique about a winter experience. We got some good ones. They entertain, illustrate, educate, reveal historical perspective—all the things we hoped they’d do. Read them and gain some insight into the mountaineering life. Bill Briggs Mason Cassidy and Bissell Hazen on Spalding Peak

My most memorable time guiding was back in We loaded them up in vans and took ‘em up to ) b m

the late ‘70s with a group of three dozen Japanese the Pass. And they were absolutely silent. They did - i l c

that were skiing around the western United States. n’t understand English anyway, and didn’t speak , i k

They had a miserable time at all the ski areas. It was English, so we didn’t even try to get conversation s (

a bad year, miserable skiing. But it was a planned going. I’m running shuttle, just driving. Other y o

vacation and they couldn’t change anything. So the guides are guiding and they go out. K c M

trip organizer came to me and said, “What can we The first ones I pick up are over on the far side ; )

do with these people?” and I said we’d take ‘em up at Coal Creek, and they’re coming out and they’re s g g

on the Pass and get some good snow. He said, “Well, jabbering like crazy. They get in the vehicle and it’s Bill Briggs, recently inducted into i r

the Skiing Hall of Fame, is perhaps best B they will follow you until you make a mistake, and crowded—they are really jammed together. We (

l known for the first ski descent of the l then I can’t predict what’s gonna happen.” I told him start going back up the Pass and they start singing a d

that was fine. You can’t go wrong on Teton Pass! John Denver songs in English! Ahhhh! Grand Teton in 1971. His accomplish - o ments don’t stop there, though. o W 54 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 I get them up to the top of the Pass and now I have to come back down this side to pick up the next group. It’s a race back and forth picking them up, and they’re all having a wonderful time. One fellow was a ski instructor from Japan, and he had gone with his wife in the slower group. After his first run he said, “Could I move up into the other group now? They guide my wife very well!” We passed muster with him. Did we ever! They had a wonderful time, so we get back and have a student card we have everybody fill out with a success that they had. Well, it was all in Japanese, so I had to go to the tour leader and have him translate it. For that first group, it said of their guide, “John is a very good human being!” It

“We start going back up the Pass and they start singing John Denver songs in English! Ahhhh!” Briggs’s Résumé was the first time they’d been treated as human 1955 First to ski the Bugaboos, solo beings in this country! 1955 Full-certified ski instructor That was the most memorable one—it went 1956 Ski School Director, Sugarloaf, Maine 57-60 Owner/Director ski school, Suicide 6, so well. We didn’t have grooming in those days Crystal Wright, southern Tetons and Teton Pass was, well, it is still, excellent. 1958 Led 100-mile ski traverse from Bugaboos to Rodgers Pass, BC 59-82 Exum don’t you come guide with my clients,” her dudes, 1961 Second ski descent, Mt Rainier Another time we had a group of executives which she takes up on the Pass. So I did. I did that, 1962 Founding Scientologist from Carrier, the air conditioning company. The and also started teaching for Bill Ashley at Snow 1966 Ski guide, Teton Pass higher ups had warned them not to go skiing be - King. 1967 Owner/Director, Great American Ski School, Snow King cause conditions were bad. I think the Village was I went up with Betty, and that was a beautiful 1967 Second ski descent, Buck Mt closed. They were afraid someone might get hurt treat ‘cause she’d take the group around to where 1968 First descent, Middle Teton & Mt Moran and then it would destroy the week’s meetings. the best snow was—she knew the Pass better than 1971 First descent, Grand Teton They had the Snow King Ski Patrol do a death and anybody. We’d go around to different places, every 1973 Mt Owen Descent danger lecture! That didn’t help out the situation day a new place to ski, with wonderful snow. Betty 1976 Wrote and published Skier's Manual at all, so I gave ‘em a followup reading from my would use me as an example for her clients as to 1979 Wrote and published Ski Dictionary ski school manual on self determinism, saying es - how to improve their skiing. Well, I don’t think I 1979 Co-Founder Stagecoach Band sentially that a person is responsible for his own improved anyone’s skiing, but I had a wonderful 1981 Ski area manager, Snow King safety. time showing off! Betty would say, “Bill, go ski 1980s Co-founder, American Mountain Guide Association These are executives and, oh boy, they that,” and everyone would say, “That’s wonderful!” 1993 Co-founder, Jackson Hole Hoot thought that was great. They jumped up and It was a wonderful time. 2003 Inducted into Intermountain Ski Hall Of Fame headed for the vehicles, all ready to go. And their I essentially didn’t make any money out of the 2005 Wrote and published Beginner-Intermediate Rhythmics , DVD higher-ups were still trying to stop ‘em, trying to whole thing, but I did get a personal showing of 2006 International Skiing History Assoc. Special Ski Song Award talk ‘em out of it! One fellow says, “Okay, but you where was the best snow on a particular day, 2006 Ski Songs From the Dartmouth Era, song book and CD have to get me a car to bring me back ahead of the where to avoid the avalanches, all of the back - 2009 Inducted into Skiing Hall of Fame others.” Fine, we’ll arrange that. No problem. country type of stuff, from Betty Woolsey. Okay? So we take ‘em up skiing, ski ‘em down—and That was a wonderful treat. get it—old man goes back to get it and catches it was terrible. It was not good snow, but they had One of the best, most-memorable times on back up with us. Now, the stamina of this guy, at a great time. The one fellow that needed a car, we that was meeting Fritz Wiesner, a great mountain his age, was wonderful. And he did it just for fun. had a Subaru for him. And he was totally offended climber. I’d done some of his rock climbing routes A remarkable thing. Then we go ski with him and because it was not a limousine! The only car for in the East, and he’d done many routes in Europe he can ski anything. And strong, at that age! It was him was a limousine! The other guys thought that before he came to this country. He was on an at - inspiring to me. He came up with one of the best this was great! They were patting me on the back! tempt to climb K2 in the late ‘30s and had climbed philosophies for doing risky things, which he in the Tetons and all around the West. It was won - called “calculated risk.” That was something he I got fired at the Village, a misunderstanding derful to meet him. We were up at the top of Shiv - wrote about and came up with the idea on it, and basically, but anyway I got fired, so the question ers and going over to Olympic, and somebody had I had based what I had done on it. And then to be was: What to do? Betty Woolsey said, “Well, why left something in the car. Fritz turned around to able to go ski with the guy…  www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 55 Doug Workman Almost two years from the day we “I keep the rope handy, but met, Simone Blei and I sit atop the Ford Couloir, about 100 feet shy of the Grand clearly am not going to need it. Teton’s 13,770-foot summit. Huddled in our down coats, we wait for the sun to With the climbing behind us, soften the snow, which we spent the last six hours climbing. My eyes scan from Si - Simone is in his element, and mone, sitting silently, to the summit. What for the time being it is easy to we came for—the Ford—is now below us, but the summit still has its draw. Simone forget who is the client and knows what I am thinking but doesn't share my summit fever. "Relax, Doug,” the who is the guide .” Milano instructs. “The skiing looks like shit up there. This is the Italian summit." The Grand Teton’s Ford Couloir (center of photo), Doug Workman is a mountain Blei is among a growing breed of ski “...a 1,500-foot-long, 52-degree funnel that ends guide in the Tetons for Jackson Hole clients capable of descending runs that, with a 2,000-foot drop-off.” Mountain Guides and High Mountain until recently, were considered off-limits ) n

Helicopter Skiing and in for a to recreational skiers. Years of skiing with m

Valdez Heli Ski Guides. k guides in the Alps, Chugach, and Tetons r o W

have prepared Simone for some of the (

s e

world’s most coveted descents. In between l k c bouts with his office desk in Milan, he i N hopes to ski runs like the Marinelli m i T

Couloir on the Monta Rosa—a 6,600-foot, ; )

45-degree face riddled with crevasses— d n a and the Ford Couloir on the Grand Teton. r G (

l

In fact, his tick list could be mistaken for l a

my own. d o Simone knows that such runs must be o W

b

skied in perfect conditions, so he hires o guides who track conditions and study sta - B bility while he plans marketing campaigns and monitors consumer indices. When the time is right, Simone grabs his skis and goes. He leaves his job and girlfriend be - hind—always somewhat unsure if they will be there upon his return—and heads for the mountains. Despite his ambition, Simone still needs some prodding from time to time. So, letting him rest a moment longer, I throw my skis over my shoulder and begin plodding to the top, slowly at first, to give him time to settle into the idea that we are not in Italy. We’re gonna ski from the top. On the summit, Simone admits that this one was an ass-kicker. In fact, he con - cedes that there was a point, while slog - ging up the boot-deep, 50-degree snow in the Ford, that he was unsure if he would make it. Below us is a 1,500-foot-long, 52- degree funnel that ends with a 2,000-foot drop-off. While Simone had his doubts on the ascent, he clicks into his K2s with com - plete confidence. Off the top, I suggest Simone make some warmup turns. He smiles confidently, humoring me with a couple gentle arcs be - fore heading for the Ford’s steeper right flank. I keep the rope handy, but clearly am not going to need it. With the climbing be - hind us, Simone is in his element, and for the time being it is easy to forget who is the client and who is the guide. 

56 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 Diane Verna WILSON Every year in May we with, but rain on a ski trip take a group of high school can really dampen the spir - BACKCOUNTRY seniors from Colorado its. Especially high school Academy on a school-spon - spirits. So we built a fire in SPORTS sored camping and skiing the snow and taught the stu - Telemark & Randonee Equipment trip up Teton Canyon. The dents how to stay warm and GGarmontarmont & Scarpa Tele Boots treks combine education dry despite the weather. We BlackBlack Diamond Equipment g and experience. These in - demonstrated how layering n KK22 Telemark Dealer u

J trepid youngsters shoulder one’s clothing and huddling

f Fritschi Bindings f e their heavy backpacks filled under a tarp can help keep J Dynafit with winter camping gear, Diane Verna has been an outdoor one comfortable. However, food, skis, and boots, and educator for over two decades. She and by the second day of rain the hike up the canyon through her husband own and operate Ren - students were not buying the variable weather and snow dezvous Backcountry Tours, based in fun factor and we were faced conditions until we hit the Alta, Wyoming. When not working with a Mutiny on the Bounty snow line. We then change situation. One student actu - she likes to ski, bike, climb, and surf as into ski boots, put climbing ally tried to bribe us, saying, much as possible. skins on our skis, and tour “How much would it cost for seven miles into Alaska us to pack up right now and Basin. There we pitch our tents and create a small hike out of here tonight?” village in the wilderness. They hung in there, though, and once we got One year, a change in the weather tried the back to Driggs, after hot showers and pizza, the mettle of these young skiers. We had had a perfect students were beaming from ear to ear from the day of skiing corn snow from Mt. Meek Pass below experience. They had accomplished something the rock face of Buck Mountain, and from Sheep’s that they never thought they could and had perse - Step down to our camp, with no other ski lines in vered even when they wanted to give up. Located in downtown Wilson at the base of Teton Pass sight but our own. But then the sunny skies As instructors, we derive a great amount of Your Backcountry Ski Headquarters clouded over and it began snowing. Unfortunately, pleasure from watching folks move beyond a com - RENTALS • SALES • SERVICE what was falling as snow a few hundred feet above fort zone, learn new skills, achieve goals, and have 733-5228 us was rain at our camp. an experience that will last with them for a life - WilsonBackcountry.com Now, rain is never all that much fun to deal time. It’s why we do what we do! 

www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 57 Lynne Wolfe ) t r a (

r e k r a P

s e u q c a J

; ) o n o t s i P

, t r u y

, i k s (

y o K c M

When Lynne Wolfe isn’t ski guid - ; ) e f

ing for Rendezvous Ski Tours in the l winter, she is teaching avalanche o W (

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courses or editing The Avalanche Re - i

view . During the summer she is a m o o

mountain guide for Exum Mountain L

y l Guides in the Tetons. l

Hannah Horigan o M

Some of my best ski memories seem to re - traveled fork of Game Creek. A bit of wind had peat themselves yearly—and with the same blown on top of the old surface hoar, so I poked group of clients, no less. These six ladies, all around in the snow a good amount before de - Jackson locals, can really ski. They are strong, ciding that we were good to go. love the powder, and don’t mind breaking trail One at a time, my ladies dropped into the when the conditions get really deep. first shot of shady, steep powder. Hoots and On our first excursion together, we toured whistles followed in their wakes, as I watched into the Plummer Yurt on the western slope of carefully from my lookout below. The shot the Tetons. We rounded out our arrival day by seemed to go on forever, and we finally returned skiing deep powder on several short lines near to the yurt under a pink sky. the yurt. It was great skiing, but the next day— Now, four years later and two more yurt after a cozy and restful night in the yurt—was trips past, we still remember that Rhodesia shot truly memorable. as a ‘best-ever.’ We’ll see what this year’s Baldy We started with a 1,600-foot shot down into Knoll trip brings—hopefully the steep, deep, Game Creek. Then, after a spectacular mile- and stable. But regardless of conditions, it’ll be long tour up the knife-edged Rhodesia Ridge, memorable.  we stood above a 2,000-foot shot into a little- Lynsey Dyer

Plummer Yurt Jess McMillan

58 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 Jay Pistono

I was working with an Army Special Forces Untracked! unit on their winter training. What they lack in Personalized day tours a nd ski ability, they make up for in persistence. They catered hut trips in the do some pretty gnarly stuff. serenity of the Teton backcountry The Teton Crest Trail is a big thing to bite off. We were coming over Hurricane Pass, heading down the South Fork of Cascade Canyon, when I

“I protested once again, saying, ‘Someone is going 877.754.4887 www.SkiTheTetons.com to die here.’ He held his ground, though.” In summer, Jay Pistono guides pulled the commanding officer aside to tell him fishing for Westbank Anglers. In win -

ter he splits his time between Jackson m that we needed to stay on the west side of the Hole Mountain Guides and his advo - stream. Pretty soon we would run out of snow o cacy position, Teton Pass Ambassador. bridges and get pushed up against the northwest c

ridge of the Grand. Then we’d be stuck, because it .

turns into a gorge. It was springtime, so the creek time, but they did it. They made harnesses with t was gnarly. their military webbing. We had set up a retriev - He said, “Oh, this will be a perfect military able Tyrolean and they were psyched to learn that. c challenge.” They’re not great skiers, but they would cross e

I said, “It’s crazy. I don’t want to cross that this amazing terrain with heavy packs. You just r thing.” didn’t hear any complains. They would fall 40 times i But he decided to surprise his men with the just getting down a short slope. They would help obstacle. Every day he set a challenge. The day be - each other up, super into the team concept, reluc - D fore, he commanded, “You need to break through, tant to give up any weight. I was so impressed.  s up to that ridge, within twenty minutes!” So they n

would take turns breaking trail, go as fast as they Jacques Parker, on his drawings—”As a i could, and do it. No matter how difficult. member of the 10th during World War II, I had k I protested once again, saying, “Someone is the unique opportunity (whenever possible) to going to die here.” He held his ground, though, capture on paper the scenes as they oc - S and we went across the last snow bridge and skied curred…the villages, children, people, the towards the void. g I showed them how to set up a Tyrolean tra - Alpini and partisans we worked with; the com - bat in those mountains. Sixty original illustra - n verse. The water was upper-chest deep and rag - i ing, but they kept trying. It was the gnarliest tions, many with written accounts of the scene, human thing I’ve ever seen. make up my exhibit, “A Mountaineer’s Dream.” b Finally, one guy made it across. It was like After the war, I continued my art and en - watching an action hero. I would have bet a mil - joyed working with Betty Woolsey on a scene m lion-to-one against it. The place they had chosen i for a Jackson Hole ad in SKI magazine. l GREAT SKINS was not for the timid. For more information on “A Mountaineer’s

Once across, he got the Tyrolean going, got all C Dream,” contact Jacques Parker at 212-243-6416. GREAT PRICES their skis and everything across; it took a long 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 59 Eric Henderson One of my favorite all-time days is April 3: Coombs Day. “This particular day, it was “Cody for Coombs” is a new slogan, and for two years now, with clients, we’ve enjoyed some of the best, light-density like riding the perfect tube; spring powder skiing on Cody Peak on that day. We’ve been able to get out ahead of the public, open up Powder 8 Face, there was just glassy, glassy, and then make our way to No Name Face. The public is out waist-deep, light-density there charging too, and everybody having strong legs in the late spring—we could feel Coombs’s presence among us . powder; seeing the public on One morning was cold, crisp—great conditions: fat sloughs, but low-to-moderate hazard. Ideal Teton big-line our tails, but knowing we skiing, pretty much exactly how Dougie would have wanted were going to get two laps on it. He was always the person who set the charge for a lot of

that blank canvass.” ) s k e e

Eric Henderson is a certified W (

l AMGA guide and l e Z Level Three PSIA telemark instructor, e i l

the head guide for Jackson Hole Alpine u J

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Guides, and the operations director for ) d r

Valdez Heli Ski Guides. A sponsored a o

athlete for Karhu, Scarpa, and G3, he b w

has been on ski-mountaineering expe - o n s (

ditions to Everest and China's Altai l l

Mountains and skied many notable a d o

lines in Alaska, B.C., and the Tetons, o W

including the only freeheel descent of ; )

the Grand Teton's Otter Body. n o s r e

Unknown skier d n e

us. So to be out there, setting the charge our - H (

t t

selves, on the anniversary of the day he per - e n r

ished—it’s something that he would’ve been a B proud of. e v

A lot of us alpine guides feel like we are a D

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stewards of the backcountry, in the sense that i k s

we have a good pulse on the snowpack and a (

y

good pulse on the community at large. o K

Clients trust their guides to take them to a Jeff Leger c safe place, one that also promises good snow. M But, there is a funny saying: “What do con - much is the sun going to affect it? Did the doms and ski guides have in common? It’s wind slab it? safer with, but more fun without!” So I never This particular day it was like riding the put myself on a higher pedestal than my perfect tube; glassy, waist-deep, light-density clients and I always make sure I’m grounded powder; seeing the public on our tails, but with them. I have education and experience knowing we were going to get two laps on with guiding, but I’m no better than anyone that blank canvass. Assessing it as you climb, else out there. If you’re skiing with me, we’re telling your clients to space out, one at a time, having fun from the moment we click in to give safe distances. Dig a pit. To open a slope the moment we finish, and that’s usually at like that is what keeps me doing what I do. the bar. Because the clients get such a charge out of Opening Powder 8 Face is always a high - it, and I get such a charge out it.  light for me as a guide. It’s like one of those waves where you paddle out and you don’t really know how big it’s going to be until you’re looking up at that first set rolling in. On January 9, 2008, we had 14 inches overnight and a slabbing layer that was not being very reactive. We left the upper el - evations—Cody, Four Shadows— to the public skiers and powered right out to Powder 8 Face. It’s such a big face and there’s so much assessment that goes into it: Eric Henderson Wind, new temperature. How Crystal Wright 60 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 Jamie Weeks For the past 10 years I’ve in - There’s a whole new structed and guided a family that learning curve to go has become close, and with through: hiking in deep whom I’ve had so many great snow, not falling in the times. We’ve skied in Jackson flat spots—so many dif - Hole and Alaska. We’ve shared ferent things to consider 100s of lunches. They even threw as a guide. me a surprise party at their After a few trips Teton Village house and invited down Rock Springs and all my friends. I taught them Four Pines, we finally how to fish on a six-day trip in got the bluebird day and Idaho. We’ve been to a lot of Red stable snowpack that I Socks-Yankee games. We have a needed to take them up relationship. Cody Peak to ski Four I began teaching the father Jamie Weeks, seen here with Steve Shadows, No Shadows, and son, Steve and Ruben John - and Ruben Johnson, guides for the and Powder 8 Face. son, through an odd circum - Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and Then, last winter, I fi - Togwotee Snowcat Guides (lead stance. Steve took the lessons he nally traversed them out guide) in winter, and in spring for originally had purchased for his Valdez Heli Ski Guides in Alaska. He to No Name Face. For a wife and daughter after 11-year- is a snowboard-products designer snowboarder, it’s not old Emma broke her wrist 30- and tester for K2 Snowboards and a easy to get out there. minutes into our first lesson. I still class-five white-water guide. That was one of my get blamed for that to this day. proudest moments— Over the last ten years—while I grew as an in - after 10 years of riding with these guys, to watch structor, became an alpine guide, began guiding them arcing beautiful turns down No Name Face. Ten years of work went into those turns, on my part and theirs. It made a huge circle complete. There were bad days, too: bitter cold, wind, no snow, bad snow, sometimes too much powder, and sometimes at those Red Socks-Yankee games! I don’t think you can have a relationship like this at any other mountain. The terrain progression they’ve accomplished at Jackson Hole could not have happened anywhere else in the country. And after 10 years of that, the Johnsons are close to being family.  Jeff Leger

Cisco Oldani

“But Ruben had eight-year- old needs: animal trail jumps, and hot chocolate with ungodly amounts of whipped cream.”

heli-skiing in Valdez, Alaska, and became the lead guide at Togwotee Snow Cats at the north end of Jackson Hole—Steve and Ruben continued to grow as snowboarders. They hired me on their an - nual trips to Jackson Hole, improved their skills, and expanded their comfort on the steeps to a point where I felt very comfortable taking them to Valdez, Alaska, the most extreme place I guide. Most of their progression came from runs like Tower Three, the Alta Chutes, and the Hobacks. And when the backcountry opened, they had gained the skills to be out there, too. But as any snowboarder in the valley knows, being in the backcountry on a snowboard can be very difficult. No Name Peak Crystal Wright www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 61 ) m o t Greg Collins t o b (

y

“World Cup and o K c M

Olympic slalom skier ; ) t h g i

Arne Hardenberg r (

s n i l

single-pitched a sun- l o C

softened Sliver g e r G

;

Couloir with gate- ) t f e l (

bashing quickness. e d i r B

Later, from our igloo c M

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camp, we made a n e

Greg Collins, a mountain guide K and avalanche educator based in Vic - nerve wracking hard- Dan Helmstrader summits the Grand Teton. tor, Idaho, has been climbing in the Tetons since 1976. He has summitted pack descent of the Grudziak, a 55-year- was living out of his vehicle and was poorly old surgeon from Pitts - equipped, so I lent him a shovel and gave him an the Grand Teton 260 times, by 30 dif - Middle Teton's ferent routes. He loves to blend skiing burg, grew up skiing old Pieps avalanche transceiver. and climbing, and has skied from all Chouinard Couloir.” the lifts of Eastern Eu - Two seasons later I found that old yellow the major summits in the range. rope. Last season his beeper tacked to a board at the Jackson Hole wife bought him a Mountain Guides office. His note thanked me for present from hell, the gear and asked me to guide him on a climb Generations of skiers have used Jackson when after five days of skiing the local ski resorts, and ski of the Grand Teton. Hole's towering mountains to advance the sport she booked him a Jackson Hole Mountain Guides We climbed and skied the Grand later that of ski mountaineering. Skiing on the tracks of our trip up Mt. Albright in Grand Teton National April in artistic precision. Conditions were full predecessors, we’ve seen our ski runs grow Park. Jan was tired; but the beauty of the national and excellent. The thick snowpack yielded a sta - smoother, speedier, and safer. Evolving equip - park kept him trudging up the mountain. Four ble, dense carpet of snow. Easy skinning and a lit - ment, fitness, tactics—and, recently, ski guides— thousand feet of untracked snow revitalized him tle ski cramponing brought us to Jackson Hole have allowed remarkable runs in technical terrain on the descent. Mountain Guides Corbet High Camp under the after arduous climbs. Several years ago, I met young Dan Helm - Grand’s Southeast Face. The next morning we set What will the signatures of the next generation strader climbing above Teton Pass. As we skied out on the climb. The mountain was cold and of Teton ski mountaineering freeriders look like? Glory Slide a few times that day, I realized that he quiet. Avalanche hazard was low. The waterfall ice As a guide and avalanche educator I am hon - was going to be a core climber and skier. But he in the Chevy Couloir was wide. On the summit ored to help, if only in a small way, advance Teton we looked out over all the powder mountaineering. For more than 15 years snow-covered mountains, I have taught and led seasoned ski-area schralpers clicked into our bindings and looking to advance their backcountry awareness skied. in the classrooms, snowpits, couloirs, and rappels Since our run down the of the Tetons. Ford and Stettner couloirs Some memorable guided classes include the three seasons ago, Dan has American Avalanche Institute Level II course gone on to solo the route and when Travis Rice and Bryan Iguchi ripped down become one of the most active Nez Perce's West Hourglass Couloir, riding rodeo, and seasoned ski mountaineers in the last light of a November day. And an hour on the continent. Some of his later sparks from their edges illuminated the night recent ski runs are web-posted as we bounced from rock to rock in the shallow on www.turns-all-year.com. snow of . His remarkable climbs and skis Then there was Exum Mountain Guides Level include runs down Mt. Rainier, III class when World Cup and Olympic slalom Mt. Robson, Mt. Hood, and skier Arne Hardenberg single-pitched a sun-soft - Mt. Moran, among many other ened Sliver Couloir with gate-bashing quickness. peaks. When other skiers Later, from our igloo camp, we made a nerve thought conditions were too wracking hard-pack descent of the Middle Teton's difficult, Dan went ahead and Chouinard Couloir. skied—mostly solo. This past summer, Exum guide Kent McBride Even though as Teton ski invited me to help lead and photograph a ski de - guides we break the trail, assess scent of the Grand. Our client, Kevin Learned, 17, the snowpack, lead the climb - had already mastered the ways of the Jackson ing pitches, and teach aware - Hole Mountain Resort. Kevin is a young freeride ness, we often learn as much as team coach from Killington, Vermont, and he and we teach. I for one can't wait to Kent had just skied the Middle Teton's Northwest see where this newfound Couloir. Kevin has now, already, skied and roped knowledge will lead.  his way down two of the Tetons’ highest peaks. World Cup and Olympic skier On the other end of the age spectrum, Jan Tommy Moe, southern Tetons 62 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 Stephen Koch ) t f e l (

n e r d n o C

t

l Stephen Koch is a senior guide o

H with Exum Mountain Guides, founder

; )

t and president of the Avalanche Aware - h g

i ness Foundation, a realtor with Art r (

h Hazen Real Estate LLC, and a spon - c

o sored athlete who loves turning people K

n on to fun and challenging adventures, e Yves DesGouttes, Skillet Glacier h from the Tetons to Tibet. p e t We rose early the next morning, and laid S into the corn snow unroped, crampons and ice Last summer, on June 11, I attempted to climb axe giving good purchase. The freezing temps and snowboard the Grand Teton on the 19th an - made for fast climbing. Near the top of the route, niversary of my first snowboard descent of the the runnel wasn’t as big as it gets later in the year, peak with Tom Turiano and Andy Matz. Tom, my and I thought we could ride across it. We good friend and fellow guide, and 63-year-old climbed up into the crux, with the face falling Yves DesGouttes, a client and friend, and I were away beneath us past a couple of steep sections at particularly excited to be up there together on the the top of the handle . anniversary. On the flat and expansive summit we enjoyed It hadn’t stopped snowing all spring, and here the view. The looks pretty small we were still experiencing storms halfway into from that far north in the range. June. But we decided to head up anyway because I had skied with Yves before and was confi - it was the only time our schedules allowed. The dent he could handle this descent. As a guide, it is unruly weather prevented safe passage to the my job to know my client’s ability, especially on Lower Saddle on the Grand, but through the an exposed and consequential big mountain like kindness of some fellow guides, we spent the night Moran. I reiterated the importance of being in at the Jackson Hole Mountain Guides camp, de - control, because we were not warmed up and the scended the next morning in high winds, and beginning section is the critical spot, where a reached town under very blustery conditions. flubbed turn would likely send the careless alpin - ist cartwheeling to his death. “As Yves prepared for his As Yves prepared for his first turn, I sent him positive energy and strength. He made his first first turn, I sent him positive turn and was “on it.” I breathed a sigh of relief and energy and strength.” started down after him, enjoying the steep and ex - posed turns as we leapfrogged our way down. The runnel was crossable without too much Experience the finest in Three-and-a-half weeks later, the next oppor - trouble, which is not always the case. Later in the tunity Yves and I had to climb and ski together, year it grows unridable and more challenging. You service, quality and we chose to tackle Moran’s Skillet Glacier, another have to remove boards, put on crampons, and pricing, from a classic Teton route on Yves’s wish list. Moran’s climb across the runnel. massive face loomed before us as we sped across But not that day! worldwide leader that is Jackson Lake on the chartered motorboat. We It’s magnificent to be descending the Skillet Jackson Hole’s own, were filled with excitement for the adventure that Glacier, a classic and beautiful line with a com - lay ahead. manding view of Jackson Lake. I watched as New Flight Charters. Stepping off the bow of the boat, we were im - Yves gracefully turned towards a rollover that mediately challenged to uncover the vague route had me thinking he would continue right into through the tangled forest. After a couple of hours Jackson Lake! we had negotiated the worst of it and were mak - I like knowing that the snow I am making ing good progress towards our camp, a beautiful turns on will melt and feed Jackson Lake, then the exposed ridge high on the south side of the Skil - Snake River, and eventually the hot shower that let’s pan. We packed light, carrying only sleeping beats against my head as I fondly reminisce about bags, bivy sacs, a stove, fuel, and food. We reached the turns I made with Yves that fine summer our camp in the evening, ate, and went to sleep. morning down the Skillet.  www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 63 Teton Pass Ambassador Jay Pistono

Skier: Nate Siegler

Working Wfor the U.S. Forest Serv - ice and Friends of Pathways as an advocate of skier & snowboarder safety, pet control, and a liaison between winter backcountry users and public agencies, Teton Pass Ambassador Jay Pistono is stoked on how things are going. “Most of the contacts I have are positive,” he says. “People I talk to Then, at least, you look about their pets, the kids I talk to about how they ski to keep it safe for smarter.” everybody else—not jumping in behind people on big days, stuff like Another big one: Be ready to jump that—people are pretty open to, pretty receptive.” in that car. Don’t make the driver wait. It’s in - His first priority, though, is providing a liaison between highway work - considerate—and it’s dangerous! ers and skiers, giving a voice to the highway patrol, the sheriff’s deputies, “Last year this poor lady, a commuter at the end of her and the plow drivers. long workday, had to stop behind someone picking up hitchhikers who “They were pretty happy with us last winter,” he notes, relieved. “People tend to have a knee-jerk reaction to those guys, but they’re not up there to bust us. They’ve got a job to do.” That job is to keep the public safe, and the am - bassador would like to see skiers consider that at all times, to use common sense and to think for themselves. “If your dog doesn’t pay attention to cars, keep it on a leash when you’re walking up the road,” he suggests. “If it’s bad visibility, get up out of the roadbed so if a plow is coming down and a car is coming up, they don’t swerve into each other when they see you at the last second.” Walking in single file and hitchhiking from s o

safe places top his list of suggestions. t o

“Last year I was constantly shocked at people h p

hitchhiking at the base of Glory,” he recalls. “Okay, y o K

it has a million tracks and it’s not going to slide that c day. But why not go up the road a hundred feet? M Sunrise and a setting moon play on Glory Bowl and Little Tuckerman’s on Teton Pass. 64 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 weren’t ready and didn’t get in the “I let people walk all over me just car fast enough,” he laments. “She to get my point across,” he explains. couldn’t get going again and asked “If people get ‘agro,’ shouting at me, them for a push, and they took off! I’m just gonna be totally chill. I’ve Left her! Come on! taken that attitude and I’m gonna “That reflects poorly on all of us. stick with that. Not be confronta - They could have given her a push. tional, even with the ‘bilers who But instead, they split and she had to break the boundary.” put her chains on, crawling under her “It’s mostly positive up there,” he car, out in the highway. That’s sketch. concludes. “The mutt mitt cans, for The highway patrol is not busting instance, which I used to empty once people for hitchhiking (it’s illegal in a month, I now empty twice a week. Wyoming). But they will if it causes People are using them. an accident.” “I think a lot of people feel like Issues stemming from the often they are deputized. They are not overcrowded parking lot seem to afraid to speak to people, ‘Hey have settled down, but room for im - there’s a mutt mitt can right there. provement exists. How about putting it to use?’ Be - “A few people still park below the cause I’m just one guy. And if you signs,” he says. “I guess they just want give people an idea of how it can to learn the hard way. It’s a huge work for everybody else, they are ticket, plus your car is gone when you going to share that.” — JH Skier get back from skiing! They don’t give The position of Teton Pass Am - warnings anymore. If you park there, bassador benefits from the support you’re going to get towed. It’s the The early bird gets the worm—or, in this case, the freshies. of several local agencies and busi - most expensive ski day possible! nesses, including Tim Young, (Executive Direc - “People should try and park tight— slope nice and light—not heavy on their turns— tor, Friends of Pathways), Linda Merigliano a door-width is room enough. Things will be doing all the little things experienced backcountry (Program Manager, United States Forest Serv - going fine, and then four or five cars will park in skiers do to make their runs safe. If you don’t ice), Cloudveil, Skinny Skis, Wilson Backcoun - a super hurry, and there’s room for one more car know what all those little things are, then you try Sports, and Teton Mountaineering. All of within that batch. It adds up, and on most busy need to take a class to be aware of them.” these share a common goal: continued access to days there could be two or three more parking One bummer that even the best skiers inflict public lands via Teton Pass. spaces if people kept it together. Having those on Jay’s proposed safety net is “the time factor.” extra spaces would help keep people from having “We have a really active population,” he ac - to wait. And when you are waiting for a space to knowledges. “Sometimes people are on a time open up, try not to be too close to the eastbound budget. They’ve got to get the work, and that lane. The highway patrol would really appreciate makes them do things they might not normally do. that, especially when there is bad visibility. If there’re two or three people in the bowl, maybe “It’s such a busy place. If they are staging a res - they’re not going to wait for those people to exit. cue from up there, you might have to stay out of There’re going to be times when multiple people that lot. Go somewhere else, like down to Mail are in that bowl. It’s just the nature of the beast. Cabin. Don’t try and snake the last spot and make “People then have to identify the potential them ask you to move so they can get one of their slide zone, the number of tracks that have been COME AND STAY rescue trucks in there.” put in an area, and if there’s a natural feature that Last winter the highway was closed when a makes the people below safe. You have to be able WITH US. Enjoy a comfortable, pleasant and skier or snowboarder put a small slide across the to guage where that slide path is going to run if road. you put something down and where the people inexpensive stay at the base of the “This year they will fine skiers who put slides below are compared to that. Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. across the road,” he says. “Obviously it’s a safety “That doesn’t really get communicated be - Enjoy the magnificent issue: you could kill someone. But it’s a resource cause people are in different groups, but you can and breathtaking country. issue, too. They have to pull equipment from an - be smart enough about it. Sometimes a slide path other job. They like to plan for that situation, with surprises us where it runs but, for the most part, 1 or 2 persons $109.00 equipment and commuter traffic closures, when you should be able to identify where a slide path 3 or 4 Persons $119.00 they shoot the Pass.” that you put down might run. As for seeing tracks in Glory Bowl on days “But if somebody is down there standing in with a high-avalanche warning, Jay likes to re - the middle of the bowl, just totally clueless, and mind people that all skiers are not created equal. you’ve been waiting a long time for them to exit He offered an example. “People see tracks out to an island of safety or to continue their run coming down Glory on a huge day and tend to down, and they are doing something that’s totally say, ‘That’s the place to go.’ Maybe it is, maybe it a Gumby move, you can either go ski something isn’t. Depends on how you ski it. Some skiers are else, or ski down to them and give them a little les - Box 583, Teton Village, talented and knowledgeable. They aren’t affecting son: ‘Dude, you’re standing out in a really danger - Wyoming 83025 that slope the same way as somebody skiing ‘wide ous spot. If this bowl slides it’s going to come down • 307-733-3415 • with pride’—making big turns back and forth on you.’ There’s always a way to present informa - FAX: 307-739-1142 across the slope, like a ‘troller doing a ski cut. tion where people tend to accept it. Don’t jump http://www.thehostel.us “Don’t assume those twelve tracks mean it’s down their throat.” [email protected] safe. Those skiers might have ripped down the That’s how Jay does it. www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 65 In a not-always benign Avalanche Awareness winter wonderland by Sarah Carpenter The numbers are ominous and worth heeding: 13 avalanche-re - lated deaths in the Teton and Snake River Ranges during the last decade. The toll in the Greater Yel - lowstone Ecosystem even more un - settling: 57 fatalities at the cold hand of avalanches.

Clearly, the nation’s most prized winter play - Dave Miller studies the snowpack. ground can turn deadly. As the backcountry draws more recreationists, the potential for mishaps increases. Skiers, snowboarders, trekkers, and snowmobilers would do well to prepare themselves for the unexpected as they venture into a not-always benign winter wonderland. “It seems to me that after almost every snow - fall event, folks are caught in avalanches,” says Doug Meyer of Teton County Search & Rescue (TCSAR). Meyer estimates that TCSAR responds

to six-to-eight avalanche incidents a year. “The Huckers like this unknown skier triggered several small slabs on No Name that day. equipment that’s available for skiers, riders, and snowmobilers these days can take them into insight into winter safety by attending local ava - one is caught. By applying these skills, in con - places where their knowledge and mountaineer - lanche awareness nights in both Jackson (Decem - junction with the daily avalanche-hazard forecast ing skills can’t keep up with their equipment. ber 4 at Snow King) and Driggs (December 3 in from the Bridger-Teton avalanche forecast center, That’s what gets a lot of people into trouble.” the high school auditorium). These are evenings participants begin to understand that snow sta - Meyer, who is in charge of the 39 year-round of presentations, exhibitors, and door prizes all re - bility and weather conditions should dictate ter - search and rescue volunteers, emphasizes the lated to snow and avalanches. rain choices. need to be ready for anything in the backcountry. The more time folks want to spend in the The next step, Level II, affords a more in- “It’s important for people to be prepared when backcountry, though, the more they should know depth look at many Level I topics—snowpack, ter - they venture into the backcountry,” says Meyer. about it. A Level I program is a three-day intro - rain, rescue—and goes further by focusing on “Backcountry travelers should have a snow-stability analysis. Students transceiver, shovel, probe, as well as spend time examining snow crystals food and water, extra clothing, a head - under a hand lens, digging snow pits, lamp, a first aid kit, and a lightweight and performing stability tests. More tarp. They need to understand that it time is spent navigating through may be several hours or the next day challenging avalanche terrain in the when search and rescue can get to Tetons during the four-day course. them if something goes wrong, de - A relatively small, yet indispen - pending on location, weather, and av - sable, number of winter enthusiasts alanche conditions.” Backcountry undertake the Level III course, geared travelers should also carry a map, towards professionals—guides, ski compass, and possibly a GPS. But patrollers, avalanche forecasters, or these items do little good to the un - very experienced and focused recre - trained. Map reading and navigation ationists. Level III courses are five-to- skills are essential backcountry skills, six days in length and cover in both summer and winter, so educa - route-finding in complex terrain, ef - tion is the critical link here. ficient stability analysis, and ava - An avalanche course, once the lanche-forecasting exercises. realm of only hardcore backcountry But even the experts will agree skiers, has become essential for even Sarah Carpenter, in the field that avalanche education and skills weekend outdoor recreationists. ductory course where participants can learn the development are never complete. “As with most Conveniently, the oldest avalanche school in basics of avalanche rescue, such as how to organ - backcountry ski locations, the Tetons have a mix

the country is located right here in Jackson. The ize a rescue and conduct a transceiver search of experienced travelers with avalanche knowl - e g a

should a party member get caught in an ava - edge and lots of people who don’t choose the p

American Avalanche Institute (AAI) was founded s lanche. Participants practice transceiver search smartest routes or employ safe travel procedures. i by local Rod Newcomb in 1974. Additionally, h t

,

Exum Mountain Guides, Jackson Hole Mountain methods, and probing and shoveling techniques Taking an avalanche course is important, but s o t

Guides, and Yostmark Backcountry Tours all offer in the field. Basic route-finding, terrain assess - choosing more experienced and trustworthy part - o h p avalanche courses during the winter. And their ment, and safe-travel practices are also taught at ners and mentors may be even more important,” y courses are well attended. this level, where an emphasis on avalanche avoid - says avalanche educator Don Sharaf. o K ance balances the training of what to do if some - “The Teton area can be challenging to a c

Those with limited time can gain at least some M

66 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 novice. Even after a basic avalanche course, ter - rain options in easily accessible areas like Teton Pass generally involve negotiating challenging ter - rain, often with serious consequences (for mis - takes),” continues Sharaf. Meyer agrees. Search-and-rescue volunteers are well trained and committed to helping. “What brings us all together is our desire to give back to the community that we all love,” he concludes. On average, members go through 300 hours of train - ing per year, from weekly avalanche training in Phil “Fee” Tassinari the winter, to wilderness medical training, cave September 29, 1956 — rescue, high-angle rescue, swift-water rescue, nav - November 8, 2008 igation, and route-finding training. The local search and rescue team is a valuable resource, but self-sufficiency and competence are even more valuable for backcountry travelers. Get educated, be prepared, be smart, and practice, practice, practice. If you should need outside help, “Dial 911 on your cell phone if you ) t i

a have reception. But make sure that your number- r t r one focus is to put time into looking for your o p ( friends (for) at least an hour before you go for t r o f help,” says Meyer. m o Pay attention. Check the daily avalanche bul - C t letin. Choose your partners wisely. And donate to Whoever thought a penguin could ski Work hard, play hard, be happy and smile a P

Unless you saw it, you wouldn't believe He did everything with that penguin style

; your local SAR. ) g The hardest working man on the hill? We all lost a friend, a huge heart he did have n Regional avalanche courses start in early De - i i k  No question about it, he was the real deal It is so hard not to be sad

s cember and go through early March. l i More free lunches than you could add So grab a drink and lift it to the sky h

P Sarah Carpenter developed a fascination and (

Always happy and smiling...never mad Give a toast to a friend...one hell of a guy k love for snow at a young age. She grew up skiing in c Haircuts on the lift and a spoon in his pocket Fee, it is so hard to say goodbye. e

P New Mexico, chose her college because of its prox - An accident on the hill and he was there like a rocket We will miss you!! — Jackson Hole Ski Patrol s i imity to the mountains, and has been based in the r h

C Tetons for the last seven years.

Course Schedules ILD by ATURE American Avalanche Institute W N www.avalancheclass.com Level I: Dec. 9-12, Dec. 18-21, Jan. 8-11, Feb. GALLERY 5-8, Feb. 26-Mar. 1, Mar. 12-15; Level II: Jan. 2-5; Level III: Feb. 11-15 Jackson Hole Mountain Guides www.jhmg.com Level I: Dec. 12-4, Jan. 13-15, Jan. 30-Feb. 1, Feb. 13-15; Level II: Feb. 5-8 Yostmark Backcountry Tours Level I: Dec. 5-7, Jan. 16-18; Level II: Feb. 13-16 Exum Mountain Guides www.exumguides.com Level I: Jan. 22-25; Level II Feb. 19-22 Beacon Parks Local beacon parks typically have 10 trans - ceivers hard-wired into a control panel. These transceivers are buried in containers and re - main buried for the season. One can practice searching for 1, 2, 3, or even 10 transceivers at a time, by turning on a given number of bea - cons at the control panel, locating each trans - Wildlife & Landscape Photographs by ceiver by a probe strike, but leaving them buried. There are two beacon basins in the Henry H. Holdsworth Tetons: one below the East Ridge Chair at Limited Edition Photographs, Books, Note Cards JHMR and one on Phillips Bench up the 95 W. Deloney • Behind the Wort Hotel • Box 2673 • Jackson, WY 83001 • 733-8877 Phillips Canyon road. www.wildbynaturegallery.com

www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 67 “We are mechanized backcountry skiers. That’s how we feel about it in Alaska. We use airplanes, snowmobiles, snowcats, and helicopters to ski.” —Theo Meiners

High Mountain Heli-Skiing ince 1974, High Mountain Heli-Skiing (HMH) has been offering its Sguests the ultimate deep-powder helicopter-skiing experience in Jackson Hole—untracked snow in the backcountry within a safety cocoon provided by guides. Owner Jon Shick’s 21 winters as the company’s lead guide and av - alanche forecaster suit him well as he steers High Mountain Heli-skiing into its 34th season. Shick’s helicopters, state-of-the-art Bell 407s, convey skiers into some of the region’s finest forest and glades, where they rack up 12,000 to 15,000 ver - tical feet in a typical day. Terrain options include the Snake River and Pal - isades mountain ranges and portions of the Hoback, Teton, and Gros Ventre mountain ranges, places that transfix even the locals with their alpine grandeur. Each HMH guide, trained in outdoor emergency care, CPR, and ava - lanche-hazard forecasting and mountain rescue, rounds out every group of five skiers. Because the terrain ranges from intermediate to expert, skiers and boarders should be at the advanced level. “If a skier can link turns down Ren - dezvous Bowl and the Hobacks,” said Shick, “they can ski anything we do.” Jackson Hole heli-skiers won’t notice much difference this year, despite a recent court decision that, over a three-year period, scales back HMH’s skier days in the Palisades Wilderness Study Area, his most popular and success - ful terrain. Shick is working with the Forest Service to open new terrain to re - place the skier-days he is gradually losing in the Palisades. But the going is slow due to the required environmental studies necessary to survive addi - tional potential lawsuits by the current plaintiffs—the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, the Sierra Club, and Earth Justice—all of which have offices in Jackson and are diligently monitoring the subject. ) m o t

“I am cutting back my bookings,” he said of his business plan, “taking it t o

one year at a time. When they cut us down to 65 skiers two years from now b (

we’ll probably have to close the doors if I haven’t gotten any satisfaction out y o K

of the Forest Service by then.” c

Over the last 30 years, HMH has lost most of its bread-and-butter ter - M ; )

rain to Wilderness Area designation. The slopes on and around Cache Peak, p o t perfect heli-ski terrain a short flight from downtown Jackson, were included ( s e

in the Gros Ventre Wilderness in 1984 when Congress passed the Wyoming n i

Wilderness Act (WWA). He lost his west-slope terrain near Grand Targhee a H t when the Jedediah Smith Wilderness Area was formed under the same legis - t a

lation. The Forest Service allowed HMH to continue skiing in the Palisades, M John Verdon

68 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 www. focusproductions. com “They all have pyramid-shaped north faces and long slopes, some with 5,200-vertical-

foot runs. In a week, Theo Meiners and a client look at the vast potential of Clueland, a short flight from the lodge. my clients ski about 40 runs and 200,000 a mountain range the bill desig - vertical.” nated as a Wilderness Study Area, and increased his user days there as his busi - ness grew. The coalition of environmental groups sued in 2006 to revoke those permits. The embattled Shick misses the 1970s. “Going into places for the first time, figuring it out and skiing it,” he recalled. “Those were the adventure days, the pi - oneering days. It was wide open.”

Alaska Rendezvous Heli-Guides f you can ski the Hobacks, the Lower Faces, or Rendezvous Bowl, you can sk“I i the Chugach and have a great time doing it,” said Alaska Rendezvous Heli Guides owner Theo Meiners. Theo should know. A 31-year veteran of the Jackson Hole Ski School with 14 years of guiding in Alaska, he has strong ties to both places. His heli-ski lodge on Thompson Pass, 50 miles from Valdez, Alaska, reflects an affinity for Jackson Hole’s Rendezvous Mountain. “I wanted ‘rendezvous’ part of my name,” Meiners recalled, “and it works because Alaska also has a fur trap - per’s rendezvous in February when the sun comes back out.” His ski season begins on March 12 with a full 12 hours of daylight illumi - nating the Chugach, and ends with the 17-hour days of early May. The absolute wildness and adventure of heli-skiing in Alaska is iconic, but also unique in a truly Alaskan way. “It’s really upside-down mountaineering,”

State-of-the-art Bell 407s, convey skiers into some of the region’s finest forest and glades, where they rack up 12,000 to 15,000 vertical feet in a typical day.

Çharlotte Moats Jess McMillan 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 69 y o K Angle c M Mountain is a short snowcat drive into the Bridger Teton

Lynsey Dyer National Forest, which noted Meiners in a two-edged proclamation: the guides and clients always niently talk on the phone to receives an average start at the top, and they use machines to get there. “We are mechanized friends back home.” backcountry skiers, but that’s how we feel about it in Alaska,” he explained. Or they can step out onto the annual snowfall of “Alaskans use airplanes, snowmobiles, snowcats, and helicopters to ski.” porch and view their ski day. over 300 inches. As far as the helicopters go, they have never been more powerful. “We “Right out my door is the ‘front live in an incredible time for aeronautic development,” Meiners continued. nine,’ ” he pointed out. “They all have “The helicopters we use are fantastic, and the pilots’ skills are unbelievable, pyramid-shaped north faces and long slopes, too. They open so much more of the range for us. We can nitpick all the de - some with 5,200-vertical-foot runs. In a week, my clients ski about 40 runs tails and do some really exciting skiing in a really short period of time.” and 200,000 vertical.” Perhaps, though, the key to success is his motel and restaurant / bar / And beyond that doorstep is a wide, wide world of Alaska skiing. “Our per - liquor store. mit includes five mountain ranges, and we ski ‘em all,” he proudly pointed out. “Modern conveniences—hot water, comfortable rooms, great food, a se - Jackson Hole skiers love Alaska, but these days clients also come from cure base—that’s all very important,” Theo emphasized. “People have to feel places like Vail and Aspen, as well as skiers coming as groups. “It’s nice when really comfortable so they can relax after the stress from being in the wilds.” skiers are familiar with one another,” he said. “If you are happy with your The motel has a massage area, a workout area, a laundromat, and eight group and used to each other’s pace, it really helps soften the required skill large rooms with queen-size beds, private baths, and telephone/data lines. sets. You don’t have to be a daredevil to come up to Alaska.” “People can sit in their rooms and go online with their computers or conve - And the snow? “We get snowstorms like Florida gets hurricanes,” he said,

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70 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 laughing. “The average snowfall at sea level is 350 inches, and on Thompson Pass is 600-to-700 inches, with 1,200 inches in some years.” Clearly, folks comfortable skiing Rendezvous Bowl and the Hobacks should consider a vacation with Alaska Rendezvous Heli Guides and find out what all the hype is really about.

Grand Targhee SnowCat Adventures One of the hallmarks of the Grand Targhee experi - ence is a SnowCat Adventure on Peaked Mountain. Twelve skiers or snowboarders have a huge powder re - serve of 1,000 acres awaiting for up to 20,000 vertical feet in a day. Follow the expert guides through expan - sive north-facing bowls, mellow, gladed cruisers, and steep treed pitches, with breathtaking views of the Tetons all around. Ten new trails this year; average run: 2,000 vertical feet; longest run: 2,200 vertical feet; average number of runs per day: 10 to 12. Riders should be at least intermediate level, able to link turns in all conditions and should be comfortable riding in trees and able to avoid natural obstacles. Jackson’s ONLY snowcat Togwotee Mountain Lodge ski/snowboard operation Snowcat Guides 800-543-2847 As lead guide for Jackson Hole’s first and only snow - www.togwoteelodge.com cat operation, Jamie Weeks can hardly believe his good [email protected] fortune. “I’m very excited about what we have to offer,” under permit BTNF he said of the terrain on Togwotee’s Angle Mountain. “The views of Jackson Hole and the Teton Range while you are skiing are outstanding.” Weeks should know a good thing when he sees it, having guided snowboarders and skiers for nine years at HIGH MOUNTAIN HELI -SKIING the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR) and eight years in Alaska with Valdez Heli Ski Guides (VHSG). The big selling points for Weeks are the views, the serenity of this remote location, and being able to eas - ily access all aspects and choose from 360 degrees of ski - ing. Skiing north, south, east, and west enables the guides to lead clients to the best snow despite any changes in weather conditions or the time of day. “We encourage both skiers and snowboarders to come ride with us,” Weeks said. “I’m a ‘boarder and I know how to guide them, and I’ve also guided plenty of skiers.” The terrain varies from super mellow to short, steep shots like JHMR’s Expert Chutes. Much of the 750 acres is similar to HMH terrain—1,600 vertical feet of wide- open bowls and faces, steeps, and trees—great for ad - vanced intermediates. Short hiking tours are also available to get to places the cat can't. Togwotee Mountain Lodge rests on Togwotee Pass, 48 miles from Jackson. From the lodge, Angle Moun - tain is a short snowcat drive into the Bridger Teton Na - tional Forest, which receives an average annual snowfall of over 300 inches. New ownership of Togwotee Lodge in 2008 will continue the commitment to excellence. Enjoy the pure powder experience. A full day of cat-skiing consists of six to ten runs, de - pending on the ability of the group, which may include up Ski the high mountains where to 10 clients. Private trips, snowmobile/ski combos, and pristine bowls and forested glades go on forever. custom trips are also available, all led by highly trained guides who have advanced avalanche certifications . Box 173, Teton Village, Wy 83025 • 307-733-3274 • Fax 307-733-3529 — JH Skier www.heliskijackson.com • email: [email protected]

www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 71 Snowmobiling Story and photos by Bob Woodall

In most of the country, winter and snowstorms are greeted with dread and angst, but not here. After all, this is snow country! With so much of the white stuff carpeting Wyoming’s mountains each winter, learning to love it is a necessity. And a great way to love this plush white carpet is astride a snowmobile. So saddle up and head into the great white open.

orthwest Wyoming straddles the stunning continental divide and is Nblessed with some of the best snowmobile landscapes available in the world, a veritable winter playground for snowmachine enthusiasts. Snowmachines provide quick access to even the deepest reaches of the winter backcountry. Within a few minutes you can be far from the highway and immersed in the Rocky Mountains’ winter beauty.

Can I ride a snowmobile? Snowmachines are pretty stable items. If you can drive an automobile and you have an opposable thumb and forefinger, you should be able to ride down a groomed trail to, say, Old Faithful Geyser. You squeeze the throttle with your right thumb and the brake with your left hand. It may take a few miles to get the feel of the trail but most riders can master the basics quickly. Riding off-trail, though, will require a bit more experience. Off-trail snowmobiling, not allowed in national parks, is a skill-intensive Top: An explosion of powder rewards Jim Moulton as he bashes sport.And just as driving a car down the road doesn’t qualify one to race in the Monte through a cornice. Above: The Continental Divide is a vast play - Carlo Grand Prix, steering a snowmobile along groomed trails is vastly different from ground for “kids” like Cameron Garnick.

72 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 Snowmobile Tours of

withwith BESTBEST AdventuresAdventures Experience Winter in Yellowstone National Park

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from your lodging o d l o H

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in Yellowstone o t o h • New Cleaner 4-Stroke Machines P • No experience necessary • Guided Tours

BEST ADVENTURES TOGWOTEE 307-733-4845 •1-800-851-0827 Email: [email protected] ? ? ? GEYSERS? STEAK? COOK-OUT? WILDLIFE HOT SPRINGS OFFERING TOURS TO THE FOLLOWING AREAS: ? Yellowstone ? Old Faithful ? Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone ? Granite Hot Springs ? Continental Divide Trail ? Togwotee /2 DAY GRANITE HOT SPRINGS 1 L Breakfast, lunch and Airport drop CIA SPE e All inclusive Guided transportation to and off available best valu n Hole after rental in Jackso & Self-Guided Tours from your lodging. Let our expert guides Extended Overnight show you the beauty of Your Schedule, Your Pace Packages the Teton Mountains • Transportation available from your lodging • Current Model Powder Snowmobiles; this winter. • Ride to mountain lodges for lunch 600, 800 & 1000 RMKs Call for more information... • Ride Togwotee area trail systems M-6. M-8 & M-10 Arctic Cats • Located on the Continental Divide • Double Machines Available Snowmobile Trail • Clothing, Helmet and Boots Included 1-800-633-1733 or 307-733-6850 • Clean 4 Stroke Snowmobiles Jackson Hole, Wyoming www.jacksonholesnowmobile.com Located at the G.T.P. RV Resort, Moran email: [email protected] 1-800-563-6469 1-307-733-1980 P.O. Box 11037 • 945 W. Broadway www.yellowstonerv.com Jackson, WY 83002 www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 73 Snowmobiling the Togwotee Pass area provides spectacular vistas of the Tetons.

finessing it through woodlands and powder fields at Where to go? breakneck speeds. There are several major snowmobile destinations in Guided or go it alone? If you have never snowmobiled before, by all means northwest Wyoming, each go guided. All tour companies offer guided-trip pack - with its own special features. ages. They usually provide transportation from your Some are snowmobile play - lodging and they all supply the warm clothes needed for grounds while others are primarily a comfortable experience. Continental or hot breakfasts for viewing the natural wonders. and hot lunches usually round out the package. The Togwotee Pass, Granite Hot Springs, guides, of course, are trained in snowmobile and winter Green RiverValley, and the Greys RiverValley are Granite Hot Springs safety and have a handle on the area’s flora, fauna, and the playgrounds, whileYellowstone and GrosVen - in the park, even if they have the required four-stroke history. tre areas are for observing wildlife and the natural world. machines. Unguided rentals, though, are a great way to see the Yellowstone National Park country at one’s own pace, except in Yellowstone, which Tops on many travelers’ lists isYellowstone National Granite Hot Springs is closed to all but commercially guided parties. But be Park. Snowmobiling through the park is a great way to WhileYellowstone abounds with hot springs, the op - sure to be prepared for severe winter conditions, and experience this wonderland. The steam from geysers portunity to take a plunge in one of them is not an op - know where you are going. and hot springs is accentuated by the cold, crisp air. tion. Not only are most too hot, but swimming in them Wyoming winters can be Herds of bison and elk graze the geyser basins, where is illegal. So if you crave a dip in a 100-degree pool in the This is true painfully brutal for the earth’s heat keeps the snow melted away from the great outdoors, then head to Granite Hot Springs. The the unprepared. summer grasses. If you’ve never been to Yellowstone, natural hot spring-fed pool, set amidst the imposing powder-busting, Just ask then a visit should be on your must-do list. GrosVentre mountains, is just part of a day trip up Gran - cornice-bashing, Olympic Gold But make no mistake, Yellowstone is not a snowmo - ite Creek. Unlike in Yellowstone park, snowmobilers can Medalist bile playground! The machine is merely personal trans - go off trail and romp in the powder fields that the area of - zoom-across-a- Rulon Gar - portation through the scenic and natural wonders of the fers. This would be a good break-in for those who want wide-open-field- diner. After park. Travel is restricted to the groomed roadways. All to kick it up a notch on the snowmobile learning curve. of-powder getting sepa - off-road travel is prohibited and the speed limit is en - Union Pass & Green River Valley rated from his forced at 35 mph from West Yellowstone to Old Faithful Southeast of Togwotee Pass is the sprawling Union country. snowmobile party, and at 45 mph on all other park roads. Snowmobiles ac - Pass and the Upper Green RiverValley region. The Con - he got disoriented and tually offer less access than do automobiles in the sum - tinental Divide Snowmobile Trail (CDST) accesses this then bogged down his machine. mer. Contrary to some misperceptions, snowmobiles area from both the Pinedale and Dubois sides of the After spending a night out in below-zero temperatures, and riders cannot wander wherever they want in the Wind River Range. The Pinedale/Green River side of the he lost a toe to frostbite. So never head into the back - park.All this info will be stressed by your guides, though, mountains has a trail system of over 135 miles, while the country alone. as private citizens are no longer allowed to snowmobile Dubois side has over 150 miles of trails through some of the most scenic country in the West. Breathtaking tracts of open country, with mountains in view everywhere and snow depths reaching 10 feet, just beg to be explored. STEAKS ~SEAFOOD Togwotee Pass ~CHICKEN ~ If you want to really boot it up a notch, head to COMBINATION PLATES the Togwotee Pass area, where thousands of square GREAT SOUP miles of terrain await exploring. This is true powder- Family Restaurant busting, cornice-bashing, zoom-across-a-wide-open- &SALAD BAR field-of-powder country. But there’s more to world-class “Jackson’s Local Favorite” OPEN 7AM snowmobiling than wide-open terrain. Amid the Gros BREAKFAST BUFFET Ventre, Absaroka, Wyoming, and Wind River mountain A place where things are still the same ranges, the scenery is second to none. The visibility on 1 block south of Town Square LUNCH &DINNER clear days can reach upwards of 150 miles. The Breccia 307-733-2639 Cliffs and the Pinnacle Buttes tower over this playground Free Wireless Internet Available ASK US ABOUT OUR BEER and the Tetons loom majestically in the distance. 40 W. Pearl St. • corner of Cache & Pearl &WINE SELECTION Snaking its way through the Togwotee Pass area is Jackson, Wyoming the CDST. A 350-mile groomed trail, it connects Lan -

74 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 der, Wyoming, to Pinedale, Jackson Hole, (machines must 222222222222222 2 be trailered through Grand Teton National Park), andWest 2

O 2 Yellowstone. This sparkling chain strung among the 2 Y M UN 2

2 T mountains is decorated with many jewels along its length. CK A 2 A vast network of groomed side trails connects a patch - 2 I O N 2 work of open meadows. 2 R 2 2 Gros Ventre River 2 Wildlife viewing is high on many visitors’ to-do lists. 2 2 2 SNOWMOBIL And a trip up the Gros Ventre Valley offers riders just SNOWMOBILE 2 that – and then some. Starting just above the GrosVen - 2 2 2 TOURS tre Slide, the trail closely follows the summer road. 2 2 Since this is critical winter game habitat, travel is mostly T0URS AVAILABLE: 2 2 • Granite Hot Springs 2

restricted to the roadway. Willow bottom lands are 2 YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK • Continental Divide 2 prime moose habitat and bighorn sheep inhabit the 2 Enjoy natural wonders while snowmobiling in the • Yellowstone – travel by 2 cliffs to the north of the trail. Twenty miles up the Gros 2 nation’s 1st national park. snowmobile or snowcoach 2 Ventre is an elk feeding ground. In the past few years 2 GRANITE HOT SPRINGS • Gros Ventre 2 these wintering elk have attracted the attention of re - 2 Swim in the Granite Hot Springs 104 degree pool! • Togwotee 2 cently re-introduced wolves, so wolf sightings have be - TOGWOTEE PASS 2 • Greys River 2 come a distinct possibility. At 10,00 feet this tour’s powder snow is 2 unmatched. 2 Beyond the elk feeding grounds the terrain opens 2 GROS VENTRE ADVENTURE WE PROVIDE: 2 2 up and affords some off-trail riding. But please respect View more wildlife & beautiful scenery than on any • Transportation to and from your 2 the wildlife closure areas. Disturbing wildlife causes other High Country tour. 2 Jackson Hole lodging 2 stress, and that stress can cause the unnecessary death GREYS RIVER 2 • Breakfast & lunch 2 of an animal. Unforgettable scenery and exciting rides await you 2 • Snowmobile Gear

at the base of these giant mountains. 2 2 • Current model snowmobiles with hand OVERNIGHT SNOWMOBILE ADVENTURE warmers 2 Greys River Valley 2 Our trips can be specially tailored to suit families • 4 stroke snowmobiles

South of Jackson, near the mouth of the Snake 2 and groups. We can combine any or all of the 2 2 River Canyon, lies the Greys River Valley, one of the areas we represent. 2 2 locals’ favorite spots. This playground serves up ALL TRIPS INCLUDE: Transportation to & from 2 2 everything a snowmobiler could want: towering lodging,snowmobile gear, breakfast and lunch. 2 733-2237 1-800-647-2561 2 JACKSON HOLE, WYOMING 2 BOOK ONLINE 2 800-524-0130 307-733-5017 2 www.snowmobiletours.net • email: 2 BookALL TRIPS Online INCLUDE 2 [email protected] Transportation to & from lodges, snowmobile suit, hel- met,www.hcsnowmobile.com boots & gloves. Call for reservations. 2222222222222222

Rocky O’Neal rips through powder fields along the Continental Divide Snowmobile Trail. mountains, great trail riding, and unlimited back - country, the ultimate riding and powder hunting grounds. SNOWMOBILE TOURS FEATURING TRIPS TO YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK & TOGWOTEE PASS Overnight and Multi-day Trips If this menu of options sounds like too much to di - ALSO GRANITE HOT SPRINGS, GROS VENTRE & GREYS RIVER • OFFERING UNGUIDED RENTALS gest in one day, consider a multi-day excursion. String together several of these destinations with overnight TOGWOTEE stays in remote, snow-bound lodges. Start at one end of the trail and emerge at the other, never having to MOUNTAIN backtrack. Consider a three-night excursion through LODGE Yellowstone, staying at a different lodge each night. So whatever you may be seeking in a snowmobile ex - 307-543-2847 800-543-2847 Hwy 26-287 Moran, WY perience, the palette of opportunity is broad. Don’t be 2 convenient Jackson locations afraid of the machine: just jump on and ride the magic to better serve you  carpet of the great white open. GUIDED & UNGUIDED TOURS under permit BTNF an equal opportunity service provider www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 75 What a rush it is, leaning and ducking, kicking and running on the hills behind the dogs, one of the pack!

Sled Dogs Story: Libby Riddles Photos: Bob Woodall

grew up skiing, skating, and play - ing in the snow, so I also enjoy being Ioutside in the winter. And I love ani - of a dog. It’s mals. This would partly explain why I’ve the muscle that sometimes gets them lived in Alaska for 30-some years, and into trouble. Don’t they know that a dog have logged thousands of miles on a nose imploding into a human lip is sled pulled by the wildest, coolest dogs going to hurt a bit? on the planet, Alaskan huskies. Many of these beautiful northern These 40- to 60-pound dogs can dogs still retain their wolfish markings, outrun, out-eat, and outlive most other even if we have bred them to be smaller breeds of dogs. and have shorter fur. The blue eyes or The northern Natives invented dog mixed blue and brown eyes are famous sledding, an ingenious style of travel traits of the husky, although collies and perfect for snow country. Huskies are a few other breeds exhibit this col - one of the oldest breeds, and are almost oration as well. Huskies can sometimes undoubtedly descended from wolves. be good pets, but be prepared for a dog Their independence can make them as that can’t be trusted running loose: run - difficult to train as cats, but they also ning away from home is a husky’s fa - display the special loyalty and lovability vorite hobby! They also sometimes enjoy eating small animals and fighting Taking in Wyoming’s winter wonder - with other dogs. So if you can accept land at the speed of dog gives mushers their wildness and keep them out of and huskies alike a warm and fuzzy experience. Groomed trails provide trouble, they can be great companions. easy access for sleds to travel deep into Modern-day huskies may be pure - the mountains. breds, but are more likely mixed breed “Alaskan” huskies. Strains of hunting It’s true that the musher hound, pointer, saluki, or others may often gets to stand on the color the bloodlines of the dogs tradi - sled runners as the dogs trot tionally from the native villages. These down the trail. But if you dogs can run a hundred miles a day in think this means just stand - the big races like the Iditarod and ing still, guess again. The Yukon Quest. And when the urge musher has to be constantly watching the trail ahead and adjusting her balance accord - The musher has to ingly. A miscalculation may know all the quirks of throw her over the handle bar if she’s not paying atten - each dog, and has to tion. What a rush it is, lean - teach them all to get ing and ducking, kicking and running on the hills behind along together while at the dogs, one of the pack! the same time getting And there’s magic in the them in shape. stories left tracked into the frozen surface of the snow, tales of the few stealthy crea - strikes them, they throw back their muzzles and to some; a well-trained team can really cover tures who inhabit the wintertime. Otter slides, sing to the moon like their ancestors, an eerie some ground. It is almost soundless travel, not wolf tracks four times the size of my biggest dog. northern song. much more noise than a wolf pack on the run. A What are they hunting here? The dogs glide qui - The musher has to know all the quirks of each little clinking from dog-collar rings and tags, the etly over the snow, making their own tracks, fit - dog, and has to teach them all to get along to - creak of the sled, and the whooshing of the run - ting gracefully into the still wilderness. Moose gether while at the same time getting them in ners gliding over the snow are the sole sounds ac - tracks will put us on the alert; a moose in a bad shape. Learning how to care for these high-pow - companying the musher. Only in Hollywood do mood can be lethal to sled dogs. ered canine athletes is an art. When the team gets sled dogs bark on the run. And the musher speaks Winter’s short days are conducive to monster to the point of being well trained and cooperat - only when needed, commanding with a soft “gee” sunrises and sunsets. Add golden orange light to ing smoothly with the musher, it is an unbeliev - or “haw.” My dogs don’t mind if I also sing a bit, as drop-dead beautiful wild country, the symmetry ably satisfying way to travel. long as I don’t get too rowdy. A few ears will flick of the dogs and their shadows as they run, and the The speed and power of the dogs is a surprise back, and I know it’s time to behave. artful aspect of this ancient sport is hard to miss. Continued next page JACKSONJACKSON HOLEHOLE IDITARODIDITAROD SLEDSLED DOGDOG TOURSTOURS Hosted by Jackson Hole’s own 8-Time Veteran Iditarod Musher, Frank Teasley A recipient of Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award

• Learn Mushing First Hand - Drive your own sled team! • Jackson based tours in the Bridger-Teton National Forest • Meals, transportation, supplemental clothing provided • Half-Day and Full-Day Tours, Reservation Required • Serving the immediate and surrounding area • Enjoy a soak in a natural 105° hot springs on our famous Granite Creek Canyon tour For Reservations or Information Call: 307-733-7388 JACKSON HOLE IDITAROD SLED DOG TOURS P.O. Box 1940, Jackson Hole, Wy 83001 www.jhsleddog.com Photos by Bob Woodall & Wade McKoy/Focus Productions, Inc. www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 77 p

Stage Stop Sled Dog Race The Best Brands • Selection • Gear

The ceremonial start of the IPSSSDR, held on the Jackson Town Square, is an exciting part of the Jackson Hole Winter Carnival, which also includes music, food booths, and fireworks. The 14th annual International Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race (IPSSSDR) begins in Jack - son on January 30, 2009 and ends in Park City, Utah, on February 7. The 2009 Jackson race send- off takes place at the Jackson Hole Winter Carnival complete with a bonfire, fireworks show, music and food booths, before heading on to stages in Lander, Pinedale, Big Piney/Marbleton, Alpine, Kemmerer/Diamondville, Evanston/Lyman, and the big finish in Park City. Race Director Frank Teasley anticipates another exciting race. “From the applications I’ve received, it looks as if we’ll be hosting some of the world’s best mushers once again,” he said. Scheduled between Europe’s La Grande Odyssée and Alaska’s Iditarod, the IPSSSDR is a mar - quee event on the professional mushing circuit and the largest sled dog race in the lower 48 states. Many top mushers like to compete in all three events. With its unique “stage-stop” format, the race stops in a different community each night. Wyoming’s small towns host festivities for mushers and spectators that include banquets, bar - beques, pancake feeds, snowshoe softball, dog parades, and ice sculpture demonstrations. — wyomingstagestop.org

It is all so beautiful – and almost impossible to Other mushers mostly do tours with their capture on film. But still I try. dogs, or a combination of racing and giving tours, When dog mushing started, it was a Native a more reliable way to support a sled-dog habit thing. But then the explorers and gold seekers than racing, and a perfect solution for dogs that took up the habit. Today there are Native mush - may not be fast enough for a racing team. ers still involved with dog mushing, but the sport Even the littlest musher in the littlest town is has truly gone global. Mushers can be found not part of the mushing family. We have fun get-to - only in Alaska, Canada, and Greenland, but also gethers and also support each other during the in New Zealand, Scotland, Scandinavia, the Rock - hard times. Too often funerals and memorials are ies, even in South . In cool climates with - what bring us together, like the one in August ‘06 out reliable snow, mushers train and race for Susan Butcher, the four-time Iditarod Cham - “dryland” style by using wheeled rigs such as pion who had succumbed to leukemia, leaving light-weight titanium trikes, dog scooters, and bi - behind two small children and husband David cycles. Or they simply run behind the sled dog, a Monson. method called cani-crossing. People with just one We come from many different walks of life, or two athletic dogs can be mushers, too. A lot of but share our love for the peaceful moments out Miami • Ft. Lauderdale • Palm Beach mushers run pointers or pointers crossed with on the wild trails – and for winter. But it’s mostly Delray Beach • Juno Beach • Vero Beach huskies. These types of dogs could never sleep a the dogs we love, these beautiful, exuberant spir - Orlando • Tampa • Naples • Atlanta night out on the snow, but can they ever burn up its, who teach us so much and share their love, Columbia • Richmond • Montpelier a trail, even if they don’t look like “sled dogs!” their enthusiasm for a job well done, and a life Order by phone 1-800-749-3203 There is a small number of professional life - well lived.  Free shipping on orders over $99! long mushers today, mushers like 2007 champion Libby Riddles, the first woman to win the Idi - Lance Mackey, four-time champion Jeff King, Shop anytime at tarod Sled Dog Race, is a lecturer and author of cancer survivor Deedee Jonrowe, the “Guy From three books, Race Across Alaska , Storm Run , and www.peterglenn.com Montana” (Doug Swingly), and Jackson Hole’s Danger: the Dog Yard Cat . She lives in Homer, Frank Teasley, to name a few. Alaska, and has a kennel of 40 Alaskan Huskies. 78 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 ? ? ? ACCOMMODLATIOONDS, GING SPAS APRÉS SKI DININGJACKSON THE ATRIUM Casual fare located in Snow King LODGING & SPAS Resort. Open daily serving breakfast, lunch, and din - GRAND TARGHEE ner. Kid friendly, groups welcome. Breakfast buffet, specializing in Holiday Brunch, full cocktail service. GRAND TARGHEE Ski-in-ski-out access from 307-733-5200 PG 45 96 lodging rooms, deluxe hotel & condo units. BILLY’S GIANT HAMBURGERS Jackson’s best, Full service spa. 1-800-TARGHEE email: biggest & juiciest burgers. All drinks & plenty of [email protected] PG 48 beer. Take-out too. Opens at 11:30. Next to the GRAND TARGHEE SPA Outdoor pool, Jacuzzi, Cadillac Grille. On the Town Square. 733-3279 PG 87 steam, sports massage, mud wraps. 1-800- THE BUNNERY Best breakfast in town, served all TARGHEE PG 48 day. Fresh baked pastries & we proudly brew GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK Starbucks Coffee. On North Cache, 1 block north of DORNAN’S SPUR RANCH CABINS 1 & 2 bed - the town square. 734-0075. PG 19 room log cabins with full kitchen & living room. CADILLAC GRILLE Atmosphere, food, service & Located on the Snake River in Grand Teton price make this a Jackson Hole favorite. Excellent National Park at Moose, with breathtaking views steaks, game, seafood & pasta. Fabulous wine list. of the Tetons. 307-733-2522 PG 16 Local microbrews & your favorite cocktail. On the JACKSON Town Square. 733-3279 PG 87 CAFE PONZA ITALIAN RISTORANTE & PIZZERIA ANTLER INN Downtown Jackson. 100 units, hot Simple –Fresh –Italian Antipasti, pasta, seafood, tub, some fireplaces & suites, meeting room, fit - steak, great wines, napolitean pizza, slices, calzones, ness room. Ski & snowmobile packages available lasagna, sandwiches. Delivery & take-out ‘till late. & ski shuttle. 43 W Pearl. 307-733-2535 or 1-800- Pink Garter Plaza, 1/2 block off the Jackson Town 522-2406 PG 44 & 82 Square,50 W Broadway, 734-2720 PG 41 COWBOY VILLAGE RESORT In the heart of THE GUN BARREL STEAK AND GAME Mesquite-grilled steaks, Jackson Hole, offers 82 individual log cabins accommodating snowcoach to Yellowstone, lodging, meals. Transportation avail - game & other New West selections, all served in our authentic groups of 2–6 people. Property amenities include kitchens in all able. 800-661-4928 PG 16 lodge. Extensive collections of scotch, bourbon, draft beer, & cabins and two hot tubs. Ski & snowmobile packages available & ski extensive wine selection. 733-3287 PG 2 shuttle.120 South Flat Creek Drive. 307-733-3121or 800-962-4988 APRÉS SKI, BREW PUBS, LOUNGES PG 44 & 82 43 NORTH Slope-side tavern located at the Base of Snow King GRAND TARGHEE Mountain. Come enjoy aged steaks, wild game, and fine seafood. ELK COUNTRY INN 88 units with 25 new log cabins. Family units Live music. Fine selections of domestic and imported beer. 307- with lofts. Hot tub & guest laundry. Ski & snowmobile packages THE TRAP BAR & GRILLE Lunch, apres ski snacks, light dinner. 733-0043 / 645 S. Cache PG 45 available & ski shuttle. 480 W Pearl. 733-2364 or 800-4-TETONS Cocktails, micro-brew beers, wine, apres ski special. Live enter - PG 44 & 82 tainment and special sports events. 1-800-TARGHEE PG 48 JACKSON HOLE BUFFALO MEAT Buffalo: jerky, salami, smoked roast, steaks & burger. Elk: steaks, burger & jerky. Gift packs, 49ER INN AND SUITES Downtown Jackson. 142 units, 30 fire - GRAND TETON PARK smoked trout & more! Free Samples. 100% natural or certified place suites. indoor & outdoor hot tubs—fitness room—meeting DORNAN’S PIZZA & PASTA Enjoy great food & the best view of organic. We ship. South end of Jackson, in Smith’s Plaza & facilities—continental breakfast. Ski & snowmobile packages the Tetons. Full-service bar, open for lunch. M-F 11:30-3; Sat/Sun Downtown in Gasligth Alley. 733-4159/800-543-6328 PG 87 available & ski shuttle. 330 W Pearl. 307-733-7550 or 1-800-451- 11:30-5; Bar 10-6. 733-2415 ext 204. PG 16 2980 PG 44 & 82 McDONALD’S OF JACKSON HOLE Where quality, service, cleanliness JACKSON & value are a tradition. Featuring McDonald’s freshly prepared break - HOMEWOOD SUITES-HILTON All-suite hotel located just off the CADILLAC GRILLE LOUNGE “The Spot” for happy hour in fasts & regular menu favorites. Wi-Fi available for your convenience. Town Square, featuring kitchens, gas fireplace, complimentary Suite 5:30am–midnight. 1110 West Broadway at highway 22. PG 41 Start Breakfast, hi-speed internet & indoor pool / hot tub & fitness Jackson Hole. Happening nightly from 5pm to 7pm. 2 for 1 draft room, ski shuttle. 260 N. Millward, Jackson 307-739-0808 PG 82 beer and all mixed drinks. Dinner or Billy’s Burger are also avail - MOUNTAIN HIGH PIZZA PIE , also subs, salads, calzones. able in the bar while you are enjoying happy hour. 307-733-3279. Traditional, whole wheat, or deep dish crusts. fresh veggie top - INN ON THE CREEK, 3 blocks from Jackson Town Square & open On the town square next to the Cowboy Bar. PG 87 pings. 11 am to 10 pm. On Broadway across from the Wort Hotel. year round. We offer sumptuously decorated rooms. A home - WE DELIVER. 733-3646 PG 37 made signature breakfast is served each morning at the Inn’s 43 NORTH Slope-side tavern located at the Base of Snow King beautiful common table. 295 N Millward, Jackson, 307-739-1565 Mountain. Come enjoy aged steaks, wild game, and fine seafood. SNAKE RIVER BREWERY & RESTAURANT The Great American www.innonthecreek.com PG 82 Live music. Fine selections of domestic and imported beer. 307- Beer Festival’s Small Brewery of The Year, 2000 & 2001. Serving 733-0043 / 645 S. Cache PG 45 tasty brews, delicious pizzas, pastas & sandwiches. Free WiFi. PAINTED BUFFALO INN Discover why the West is wild. 3 blocks THE LOUNGE At Snow King Resort is a non-smoking venue From 11:30 am to Midnight, 7 days a week. 739-2337 PG 43 from the Jackson Town Square. Swimming pool, sauna and shut - where you can enjoy premium martinis, cocktails & rotating drafts SWEETWATER RESTAURANT Local's’ favorite since 1976. Lunch tle stop are just a few of the conveniences we offer our guests. on tap, nightly 2 pm to close. Great eats, flat screen TV & live & dinner in a log cabin. Homemade soups, salads, sandwiches, 400 W Broadway, www.paintedbuffaloinn.com 800-288-3866 / music. 733-5200 PG 45 lamb, steaks, full bar, deadly desserts & extensive wine list. Corner 307-733-4340 PG 82 SNAKE RIVER BREWERY The Great American Beer Festival’s King and Pearl. 733-3553 PG 43 SNOW KING RESORT Full service hotel, condominiums, restaurant, Small Brewery of The Year, 2000 & 2001. Serving tasty brews, TETON STEAKHOUSE Breakfast buffet, lunch & dinner. Steaks, room service cocktail lounge, heated pool, whirlpools, fitness room, delicious pizzas, pastas & sandwiches. Free WiFi. From 11:30 am salad bar, chicken, seafood. A local favorite! Corner of Pearl & complimentary airport/ski area transportation, ski-in/ski-out. 733-5200 to Midnight, 7 days a week. 739-2337 PG 43 Cache across from Antler Inn. A place where things are still the PG 45 & 82 TETON VILLAGE & VILLAGE ROAD same. 733-2639 PG 74 TETON VILLAGE & VILLAGE ROAD CAFÉ 6311 In the Bridger Center at the base of the Bridger JACKSON HOLE MOUNTAIN RESORT ALPENHOF LODGE European style lodging & dining at the base of Gondola. Offering hot hoagies, hot bagel sandwiches and a vari - CASCADE GRILL HOUSE & SPIRITS Serving breakfast, lunch JHMR. Hot tub, pool, sauna, massage therapy, all in a cozy lodge set - ety of domestic and imported microbrews. PG 29 ting with friendly professional staff. 307-733-3242 PG 82 Aprés Ski, & dinner. Featuring New Western Cuisine. Located CASCADE GRILL HOUSE & SPIRITS Located slope-side at the slope-side at the Teton Mountain Lodge. 732-6932 PG 3 THE HOSTEL A friendly lodge, come and stay with us. Enjoy a Teton Mountain Lodge & Spa. Featuring daily Aprés Ski specials GAMEFISH RESTAURANT in the Snake River Lodge & Spa, a comfortable, pleasant & inexpensive stay at the base of the on microbrews, cocktails and signature appetizers. 732-6932 PG 3 Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. 1 or 2 persons $109, 3 or 4 Persons RockResort, is Jackson’s first AAA Four Diamond Slopeside Lodge. $119. www.thehostel.us, 307-733-3415 PG 65 NICK WILSON'S COWBOY CAFE Located next to the Tram. Breakfast (with buffet), lunch & dinner. 307-732-6000 PG 4 Breakfast, Smokehouse style lunch, daily specials, burgers, chili, JACKSON HOLE RESORT LODGING Conveniently located next to NICK WILSON’S Cowboy Cafe in the Tram building, daily specials, snacks and more. Vibrant Apres Ski Happy Hour 3-6pm with food sandwiches, burgers, chili, snacks & beer, wine & liquor. Breakfast- the Teton Village Market, Ski-in/ski-out lodging & accommoda - and drink specials. PG 29 tion for all seasons. Affordable condos to luxury vacation homes, lunch & aprés ski, 7:30am-6pm daily, happy hour 3-6pm. PG 29 for family getaways and reunions. 800-443-8613, 307-733-3990 VILLAGE CAFE Next to the JH Tram dock. Breakfast, lunch & Aprés VILLAGE CAFE Next to the JH Tram dock. Breakfast, lunch & Aprés PG 29 & 82 Ski. Espresso, baked goods, wraps, sandwiches & the best pizza. Ski. Espresso, baked goods, wraps, sandwiches & the best pizza. 7am-10pm. Local's aprés ski spot with full bar. 732-CAFE PG 37 SNAKE RIVER LODGE & SPA, A RockResort, is Jackson’s first AAA 7am-10pm. Local's aprés ski spot with full bar. 732-CAFE PG 37 Four Diamond Slopeside Lodge. Indulge in the 17,000 sq.ft. WESTSIDE WINE & SPIRITS Offering a wide selection of the Avanyu Spa with an indoor/outdoor swimming pool. Enjoy enter - finest wines, liquors & beers from around the world. At The ON THE MOUNTAIN AT THE tainment in the Fireside Lounge & dining in the GameFish Aspens, Teton Village Road. 307-733-5038 PG 19 JACKSON HOLE MOUNTAIN RESORT Restaurant. Come celebrate the opening of the New Tram this ski BEAR FLATS SNACK SHACK Located at the base of Sublette lift, season. 307-732-6000 PG 4 & 82 DINING – RESTAURANTS – CAFÉS quick stop for lunch or snacks with on-the-go wraps. PG 29 TETON CLUB Ski-in, Ski-out, trailside condo located at the base of GRAND TARGHEE – TETON VALLEY, IDAHO BRIDGER RESTAURANT-MARKET PLACE AT 9095’ Individual serv - the JH Mt Resort. 2 & 3 bedroom exquisitely furnished condomini - ing stations, gourmet food, quick service. Seating for 150 & an ums and 5-star service make this property the only place to stay GRAND TARGHEE RESORT 5 restaurants serving a complete vari - attached south-facing deck. Best views in the valley. PG 31 while in Jackson Hole. 866-352-9777 PG 29 ety of food – gourmet dinners to snacks. Breakfast, lunch, dinner & dinner sleigh rides. Fare includes: Pastries, espressos, sandwich - CASPER RESTAURANT Cozy mid-mountain skiers/boarders TETON MOUNTAIN LODGE & SPA Luxury full service resort hotel es, salads, burgers, pizza, steaks, Mexican & Italian, blackened retreat. Specialty burgers, burritos, a warm up station serving hot located slope side at Jackson Hole, AAA 4-diamond property. foods. PG 48 drinks with a kick, and a new Bloody Mary Bar. PG 29 Cascade Restaurant, bar on-site, room service, full service Solitude Spa, indoor-outdoor pools, hot tubs, named “Hot Spa 2008” by TARGHEE PIZZERIA is a great place for kids 1-100. Arcade games, CAFE 6311 Base of the Bridger Gondola, serving hot bagel sand - Conde Nast Traveler . 307-734-7111 PG 3 & 82 daily & creative dinner buffets during peak periods. 1-800- wiches, fresh salads, Deli Sandwiches, espresso and coffee . PG 29 PINEDALE, WYOMING TARGHEE PG 48 CORBET'S CABIN Top-of-the-World waffles at the top of the tram THE TRAP BAR & GRILLE Lunch, apres ski snacks, light dinner. on Rendezvous Mountain, quick snacks, hot drinks with unlimited THE LODGE AT PINEDALE Located in the center of Pinedale, 43 Cocktails, micro-brew beers, wine, apres ski special. Live enter - views that are on the house. PG 29 rooms, deluxe continental breakfast, indoor pool and jacuzzi, tainment and special sports events. 1-800-TARGHEE PG 48 COULOIR RESTAURANT FINE dining at 9,095 ft. Step off the complimentary high-speed internet, refrigerator & microwave in VICTOR EMPORIUM Sporting goods & Old Fashioned soda fountain. Gondola and walk into a contemporary & hip restaurant. every room. www.lodgeatpinedale.com. 866-995-6343 PG 52 & 82 Home of the World Famous Huckleberry Milkshake, downtown Exceptional hospitality, delectable American cuisine with Rocky GRAND TETON – TOGWOTEE PASS Victor. 208-787-2221. PG 51 Mountain roots. Reservations recommended. 307-739-2675 PG 31 l l

a TOGWOTEE MOUNTAIN LODGE On the CD Snowmobile Trail, HEADWALL PIZZA AND DELI Casual hangout for skiers and snow - d full service lodge, 54 modern cabins, restaurant, lounge, hot tubs, GRAND TETON PARK boarders, serving breakfast and lunch. Gourmet pizza, sandwich - o o transportation, snowmobile rental, clothing, guides. 307-543- DORNAN’S PIZZA & PASTA Specialty pizzas, calzones, salads, es and hot soups ready to boost your energy. PG 31 W 2847, [email protected] PG 71, 75 & 82 pastas, sandwiches. Enjoy great food & the best view of the RENDEZVOUS RESTAURANT AT 9,095 FT. Action stations, gour - b TRIANGLE C RANCH Complete winter recreation packages, “The Tetons. Full-service bar, open for lunch. M-F 11:30-3; Sat/Sun met food, & quick service. Seating for 150 & an attached south o

B Old West In Winter”–dog sled trips, snowmobile excursions, 11:30-5; Bar 10-6. 733-2415 ext 204. PG 16 facing deck with the best views in the valley. PG 31 www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 79 SPORTS SHOPS ? APPARE L ? GIFTS ? JEWELRY ? ART MERRELL For over 25 years Merrell® has been ARMY . 80 Center Street, 307-733-5599, east side of town square. providing outdoor enthusiasts with quality per - PG 15 formance footwear for their active and after JC JEWELERS Jeter Case specializes in custom jewelry using plat - sport pursuits. Available at Hoback Sports, inum or gold and the finest in gem-quality stones. JC Jewelers also Jackson Bootlegger, and Teton Village Sports. carries handcrafted Teton design, Western charms and elk ivory pg 39 jewelry, in the log cabin just off Town Square, 132 N Cache. jcjew - PEPI STIEGLER SPORTS The most exclusive col - elers.com, 733-5933 or 800-358-5715 PG 3 lection of high performance skis and skiwear for the distinguishing resort shopper. Offering MEDICAL SERVICES quality service, attention to detail and the best tune in Jackson Hole. Find us in teton Village ST JOHN’S TETON VILLAGE CLINIC 739-7346 in the big white building next to Teton ST JOHN’S HOSPITAL 733-3636 Mountain Lodge. 733-45045 PG 33 MUSIC PETER GLEN SKI & SPORTS Huge selection of ski & snowboard clothing equipment & NOTEWORTHY MUSIC AGENCY Provides entertainment for all accessories for men, women, & children, types of occasions. Call Mike Calabrese, 307-733-5459 pg 37 including Spyder, Obermeyer, Bogner, Burton, K2 & more! PG 78 PHOTOGRAPHY

POWDERHORN IS BACK A true ski brand with DD CAMERA CORRAL Jackson’s oldest full-service camera store. t h

genuine mountain heritage, Powderhorn re- g

Binoculars, digital & film cameras, including Nikon, Canon, Leica. i launches this winter with an authentic line r Friendly & knowledgeable staff. 2-hour film & digital processing. 60 , p

designed with the same spirit originally found - So. Cache, across from Eddie Bauer. 307-733-3831 PG 11, 85 & 86 i r

ed in 1972. www.powderhornworld.com PG 21 t FOCUS PRODUCTIONS INC . Products include the Jackson Hole h

TETON VILLAGE SPORTS Jackson Hole’s largest Skier, JH Dining Guide, Mountain Country Magazine & ski posters. c ski & snowboard rental & demo center. Online a Commercial photography, stock photo file & editorial assignment. o reservations. Völkl, Tecnica, Head, Rossignol, 307-733-6995. www.focusproductions.com c Salomon, Marker, The North Face, Arcteryx, w o

Cloudveil, Bogner, Black Diamond,Patagonia, n and Arbor. Custom footbeds, repair shop, In the s e

Crystal Springs Lodge. 733-2181. PG 88 n o WILSON BACKCOUNTRY SPORTS Sales and t s

rentals of Telemark, Randonee gear & snow - w o

shoes. Quality gear from K2, Black Diamond, l l

Fritschi, Scarpa & Garmont. Free backcountry e Y

info. Located in Wilson at the base of Teton Pass, ; t

10 minutes from Jackson and Teton Village. 307- h g

733-5228 PG 57 i r

GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK p o t

DORNAN’S GIFT SHOP Rental & sales of cross- , country skis, snow shoes. 733-2415, ext 301 In s n

the Moose Village, Grand Teton National Park. o t

PG 16 e T

APPAREL & SPORTS SHOPS e

SKIS & CLIMBING SKINS h GRAND TARGHEE – TETON VALLEY, IDAHO t n

CUSTOM MADE – FACTORY DIRECT i

GRAND TARGHEE SPORTS & RENTAL SHOPS carry apparel, down - JACKSON HOLE g n

hill & Nordic skis, snowboards, and accessories for adults and chil - i r

dren. 1-800-TARGHEE, rentals—307-353-2300 PG 48 CLIMBING SKINS DIRECT Manufacturer, designer and online e retailer of climbing skins. Ours are the best gliding, lightest, most e PEAKED SPORTS Alpine, Tele, AT, XC and Skate skis plus n packable skins on the market. Super durable skins for factory i a

Snowboards. Personal, friendly, expert service. Backcountry info. t direct prices. ClimbingSkinsDirect.com PG 59 Sales, rentals, demos. Overnight tunes and repairs. 208-354-2354, n u

www.peakedsports.com. PG 51 IGNEOUS Custom Skis, hand-crafted in Jackson Hole. 734-8788 o

YOSTMARK MOUNTAIN EQUIPMENT A full-service backcountry & www.igneousskis.com PG 61 M ; t

Nordic specialty shop. We offer guided ski tours and provide a full line CHILD & TEEN SERVICES f e of rentals to insure the best tools and information for a quality out - l

JACKSON HOLE KIDS RANCH Located in the Cody House at ,

door experience. Downtown Driggs. 208-354-2828. PG 51 k JHMR. Infant & child care: ages 6 month-years. Ski/snowboard r VICTOR EMPORIUM Sporting goods & Old Fashioned soda fountain. programs for ages 3-17 years. Kids Ranch participants experience a P

Large selection of outdoor gear, sunglasses, hats, shoes, gifts, t-shirts Fort Wyoming, an outdoor playground with a Magic Carpet sur - l a

& jewelry. Merrell, Cloudveil, Carhartt, SmartWool, Smith, Sportif, face lift. Teen camps available during Christmas, President's Week n o

Dansko, Native Eyewear, Maui Jim. Downtown Victor. 208-787-2221. and Spring Break. 307-739-2788. PG 29 i t PG 51 KIDS CLUB at Grand Targhee Resort has a variety of programs for a N

JACKSON–TETON VILLAGE–WILSON children from infants to age 14. Baby sitting by appointment. PG 48 e n o CLOUDVEIL MOUNTAIN WORKS Our Flagship store features the GIFTS & GROCERIES WILD BY NATURE GALLERY features the wildlife & landscape t photography of Henry H. Holdsworth. Behind the Wort Hotel, 95 s full range of our innovative outdoor apparel, all designed & test - JACKSON w o

ed in our hometown of Jackson. From versatile soft shells to West Deloney. 307-733-8877 PG 67 l JH RESORT STORE The official logo store of JH Mountain Resort, l authentic casual styles. 120 W Pearl, www.cloudveil.com 739-3930 e the source for logo apparel and gifts. Located on the town REAL ESTATE Y

PG 23 ; square, it is the in-town connection for lift tickets, snow condi - t JACKSON HOLE f HOBACK SPORTS Featuring the latest Wintersteiger tuning e

tions and activities. 734-6045 PG 29 l machines. Overnight repairs, full ski & snowboard rental shop, GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK 3 CREEK RANCH Stunning 710 acre community with private p retail sales of major brands, specializing in expert boot-fitting. o Rees Jones golf course, 3 world-class creeks, Clubhouse & fit - t -

Located in Jackson at 520 W. Broadway. 733-5335 PG 4 DORNAN’S GIFT SHOP In the Moose Village, Grand Teton ness center, 3 unique ownership opportunities. 307-739-9292, n

National Park. 733-2415, ext 301 PG 16 888-920-9292 PG 6 o HOLE IN SNOWBOARD SHOP Teton Village's original s

Snowboard Shop. Boards and Demos from Burton, Option, DORNAN’S TRADING POST Gourmet cheeses & specialty foods, w Nidecker, & Lib Tech. Technical outerwear from Arc’teryx, Burton, e full grocery, 24 hour gas available. ATM 733-2415, ext 201; In the SERVICES & INFORMATION N

686, Roxy and more, upstairs in the Bridger Center at the base of Moose Village, Grand Teton National Park. PG 16 s i the gondola. 307-739-2689. PG 29 AVALANCHE HAZARD & WEATHER FORECAST 307-733-2664 r ICE SKATING see story PAGE 66 h JACK DENNIS OUTDOOR SHOP The finest outerwear & hard C

goods for the whole family. Complete rental department, per - SNOW KING CENTER at the base of Snow King Ski Area offers FOCUSPRODUCTIONS.COM Subscribe to our magazines, order – formance demos, overnight repair. Located in Teton Village 733- indoor daily public skating. For an updated schedule and prices posters & photography. Read the online editions of Jackson Hole y Skier, Mountain Country Summer Visitors Guide, & the Jackson o 6838 & on the town square 733-3270 PG 33 call 734-3000 PG 45 K

Hole Dining Guide. focusproductions.com. c OWEN BIRCHER PARK Outdoor public rink, illuminated 6-10 p.m. JACKSON HOLE SPORTS THE mountain ski shop. We stock M GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK 307-739-3300

Marmot, Mountain Hardwear, Spyder, Eider, Fischer, Rossignol, K2, nightly, downtown Wilson 733-5056. e Salomon, Dynastar, and more. Full service mountainside rental INTERNET ACCESS POINTS Snake River Brewery-Free WiFi 739- d a JEWELRY – ART – WATCHES 2337; Drive Design 733-7475; Hard Drive Cafe 733-5282; shop & experienced repair, tuning & boot-fitting services. W Located in the Bridger Center at the base of the gondola. 307- Mountunes Internet Cafe 733-4514, RMO Cafe 734-9438. DANSHELLEY JEWELERS Wearable works of art created by & l 739-2687 PG 29 Dan & Shelley, plus other designers using gold & gems. From JACKSON HOLE & GREATER YELLOWSTONE VISITORS’ CEN - l diamonds to elk ivory & Teton charms. Gaslight Alley, just off a JOLLY JUMBUCK LEATHERS Since 1973 Jackson’s original TER on North Cache Street in Jackson has information on all activ - d Shearling store is the locals favorite for shearlings, leathers, and the town square. 733-2259 PG 5 ities in the area. Mon-Fri 8:00-5:00, Sat-Sun 10-2 pm. or call the o o furs. Jackets, vests, belts, wallets, handbags, jewelry travel bags, JACKSON HOLE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 733-3316

HINES GOLDSMITHS Jackson’s premiere gallery of fine jewelry W

gloves, scarves, jewelry and more. 20 W. Broadway, jollyjumbuck - designers since 1970. Elegant one-of-a-kind pieces, diamonds & JACKSON HOLE GUEST SERVICE CENTER located next to the b leathers .com 733-6562 PG 2 colored stones. The original Teton pendants & rings, & charms of tram, has information on mountain , valley activities & events, o B

LOWRIDER BOARD SHOP Jackson’s only authorized Burton demo the area. 80 Center Street, e ast side of town square. 307-733-5599 daily snow & weather conditions, Vertical Foot Club, Lost & : PG 15 s

center. Decks & boots by Northwave, Burton, Salomon & Atomic. Found. 739-2753 PG 29 o t

Clothes by Burton & Sessions. Tunes by Grindrite. Downstairs in the HINES GOLDSMITHS Authorized dealer of fine Swiss Watches: JACKSON HOLE MOUNTAIN HOSTS Complimentary Mountain ori - o Pepi Stiegler Sports Plaza,Teton Village. 733-4505 PG 33 CARTIER, CHOPARD, BAUME & MERCIER, TAG HEUER, SWISS h

entation tours leave from the front of Walk Festival Hall in Teton P 80 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 GUIDES ? SLED DOGS ? HELI – SKI ? SNOWMOBILIN G Village at 9:30 am daily. Hosts can answer views & wildlife. Age 12 yrs. & up. questions & assist with anything from airline Transportation, airport drop-off avail. 307-733- schedules to off mountain activities. 739-2697 1980, 800-563-6469 PG 73 PG 29 HIGH COUNTRY SNOWMOBILE TOURS Day & JACKSON HOLE TICKET HOSTS at the JHMR multi-day tours to Yellowstone, Togwotee, Gros are stationed outside the ticket office to help Ventre, Granite Hot Springs, & Greys River. answer questions and acclimate skiers and visi - Breakfast & hot lunch, clothing, transportation. tors to Teton Village and the mountain. PG 29 An experience of a lifetime. 733-5017, 800-524- JACKSON HOLE SKI CLUB Since 1938 has 0130. PG 75 provided a ski education foundation for JACKSON HOLE SNOWMOBILE TOURS Over Alpine, Nordic & Snowboard junior racers. For 20 years of family guided tours. Yellowstone, discounts on local services & merchandise, Granite Hot Springs, Togwotee Pass & buy a membership at local ski shops. 733-6433 Continental Divide. Current model powder & 4- LOST OR STOLEN SKIS should be reported stroke snowmobiles, experience makes the dif - to the Sheriff’s Office 733-4052 or through ference. 733-6850, 800-633-1733 PG 73 the Guest Service Center, 739-2753. LLAMA LOUIE’S RESERVATIONS We can SUBLETTE COUNTY VISITOR CENTER Better make snowmobiling simple for you. See us for Than Yellowstone! Leave the crowds behind any winter activity - in the Mangy Moose, Teton and discover a wild & remote country sur - Village. 733-1617 PG 75 rounded by 3 mountain ranges, abundant snow & wildlife. 1-888-285-7282 PG 53 ROCKY MOUNTAIN SNOWMOBILE TOURS Day & multi-day tours of Yellowstone, Gros Ventre, SKI & SNOWBOARD STORAGE & LOCKERS Togwotee, Granite Hot Springs & Greys River. Leave your gear at the mountain, convenient Day tours include breakfast, lunch & transporta - lockers & basket check available at the tion. 733-2237 800-647-2561. email: Bridger Center. 739-2755 PG 29 [email protected] PG 75 TETON COUNTY LIBRARY has 50,000 books TOGWOTEE MOUNTAIN LODGE Premier including a skiing and mountain climbing sec - full service X-C operation, with 10 KM of machine groomed trails Snowmobile location. Guided & unguided tours, rentals available, tion, periodicals, newspapers, historical information and photo - and track. Full & half day tours into Grand Teton National Park. package rates. Featuring trips to Yellowstone & Togwotee Pass. graphs. M-Th 10-9, Fri 10-5:30, Sat 10-5, Sun 1-5. Closed legal hol - Rentals, clinic & lessons. 307-739-2629. PG 29 Cabins, lodge rooms & suites. 307-543-2847 or 800-543-2847, idays. Corner of Snow King & Virginian Lane. 733-2164 NORDIC CENTERS Six maintained tracks and centers are open to [email protected] PG 75 TETON VALLEY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Downtown Driggs, the public in the Jackson Hole & Yellowstone area. See PAGE 19 Idaho. 208-354-2500 TRIANGLE C RANCH TOURS Multi-day trips on the Continental TUBE PARKS-TERRAIN PARKS Divide Trail. Polaris powder machines, clothing included, trans - US POST OFFICE: Teton Village: M-F 9:30-4, Sat 9-12, 733-3575; In portation available. Lodging, snowmobile from your cabin. 800- KING TUBES SNOW TUBING PARK A popular wild ride for fun Jackson: New P.O.-corner of Powderhorn Ln & Maple Way; Old 661-4928 PG 16 P.O.-corner of Pearl Av & Millward St. 733-3650. lovers of all ages. Let our lift pull you up, then gravity takes con - YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK 307-344-7381 trol of your own giant snow tube for the ride of your life. At Snow King Resort. 307-734- TUBE PG 45 SLED DOG ADVENTURES SKI MOUNTAINEERING, GRAND TARGHEE TUBING PARK At the base of Targhee Resort 1- JACKSON HOLE IDITAROD SLED DOG ADVENTURES Half & full 800-TARGHEE PG 48 day trips into the Teton backcountry & Granite Hot Springs. Learn AVALANCHE INFORMATION, mushing first hand, drive your own sled team. Meals, transporta - GUIDE SERVICES JACKSON HOLE MOUTAIN RESORT On Aprés Vous Mountain, has tion, supplemental clothing provided. 307-733-7388 Email-wys - a 450’ supperpipe, terrain Park. PG 29 [email protected] PG 77 AVALANCHE HAZARD & WEATHER FORECAST 307-733-2664 SNOW KING HALF PIPE & TERRAIN PARK for snowboarders, see story PAGE 66 served by 2 . 307-733-2020 PG 45 GRAND TARGHEE GUIDES Guided snowcat trips to Peaked TRANSPORTATION – AIR & GROUND Mountain, mountain tours, X-C, backcountry, and alpine tours, 1- HELI & CAT–SKIING GRAND TARGHEE EXPRESS Daily transportation from Jackson 800-TARGHEE PG 48 ALASKA RENDEZVOUS LODGE & HELI GUIDES, a full-service Hole & Teton Village to Grand Targhee. PG 48 & 75 JACKSON HOLE ALPINE GUIDES Lead you to untracked powder lodge, operates out of Valdez, Alaska from March 1 through LLAMA LOUIE’S RESERVATIONS Targhee Express Bus. 733-1617 & guide you down challenging runs & through the backcountry. September, offering full-service guides for Heli-skiing, whitewater See & Snowmobiling. PG 75 Call Jackson Hole Mountain Sports School, 307-739-2663. PG 29 rafting & fishing. 307-734-0721, 907-822-3300 PG 70 NEW FLIGHT CHARTERS With a corporate office in Jackson, we JACKSON HOLE MOUNTAIN GUIDES Since 1968. Join JHMG for a GRAND TARGHEE SNOWCAT POWDER ADVENTURES 500 acres are a premium private jet charter brokerage providing on- day of untracked powder & solitude. Novice to expert ski tours, reserved for Snow Cat skiing at Grand Targhee Resort 1-800- demand charter flights not only for Jackson Hole, but worldwide. Teton ski mountaineering, Level 1,2 & 3 avalanche courses & ice TARGHEE PG 48 For more information, visit www.JHAirCharters.com or call (307) climbing. AMGA accredited. www.jhmg.com 307-733-4979 PG 57 HIGH MOUNTAIN HELI-SKIING flies skiers into the mountains 734-7751. PG 63 RENDEZVOUS BACKCOUNTRY TOURS Operates the only hut around Jackson Hole for day-long powder-skiing excursions for START BUS Jackson to Teton Village – Schedules , routes & fares are system in the Tetons, allowing you an unparalleled backcountry intermediate to expert skiers. 733-3274 PG 71 available at bus stops, lodgings & information centers. 733-4521 experience with our professional guides. Since 1986. Daily Tours for all abilities in Grand Teton Park & Teton Pass. 877-754-4887 www.SkiTheTetons.com PG 59 SNOW KING MOUNTAIN GUIDES We conduct trips off the back of Snow King and Teton Pass for both Nordic and alpine skiers. 734-3030 PG 45 YOSTMARK MOUNTAIN EQUIPMENT A full-service backcountry & Nordic specialty shop. We offer guided ski tours & provide a full line of rentals to insure the best tools & information for a quality out - door experience. Downtown Driggs. 208-354-2828 PG 51 SKI & SNOWBOARD RESORTS GRAND TARGHEE RESORT On the west side of the Tetons 1-800- TARGHEE PG 48 JACKSON HOLE MOUNTAIN RESORT 307-733-2292; snow condi - tions 307-733-2291/1-888-DEE-PSNO see PG 29 NIGHT SKIING AT SNOW KING RESORT Tuesday-Saturday until 8:00pm. Hourly tickets available. Ski report hot line 734- 2020 PG 45 SNOW KING SKI RESORT Full-day, 1/2 day & 2-hour lift tickets available. Located in the town of Jackson. 307-733-5200 PG 45 LLAMA LOUIE’S RESERVATIONS Snowcat skiing at Grand WILDLIFE & PHOTO SAFARIS Targhee can be the ultimate powder experience. The Targhee WHITE PINE SKI AREA & RESORT 307-367-6606 PG 52 Express will get you there. See us for any winter activity - in the SLEIGH RIDES — TOURS SKI & SNOWBOARD SCHOOLS Mangy Moose, Teton Village. 733-1617 PG 75 NATIONAL ELK REFUGE SLEIGH RIDES View elk, mule deer, coy - otes, eagles, bison, & more, while riding a horse drawn sleigh thru GRAND TARGHEE SNOWSPORTS SCHOOL is under the direction TOGWOTEE MOUNTAIN SNOWCAT ADVENTURES Explore the the National Elk Refuge. Departs from the JH visitor’s center. 532 of Mark Hanson.1-800-TARGHEE (827-4433) PG 48 backcounty with the only snowcat ski operation in Jackson Hole. Steeps, tight trees, open meadows, tons of snow, and the best N Cache 307-733-0277; 1-800-772-5386 PG 18 THE GREAT AMERICAN SKI SCHOOL at Snow King Resort is views in the area. Located on Togwotee Pass. Call for reserva - WILDLIFE EXPEDITIONS OF TETON SCIENCE SCHOOL provides under the direction of Bill Briggs. A unique down to earth tions. 1-800-543-2847; 307-543-2847 PG 71 year-round wildlife viewing & natural history interpretation to approach to ski instruction. 734-3030 PG 45 anyone interested in close-up, ethical viewing of Greater JACKSON HOLE MOUNTAIN SPORTS SCHOOL Under the direction SNOWMOBILING Yellowstone’s wild animals in their natural habitat. of Brian Maguire. The complete mountain experience with chil - www.wildlifeexpeditions.org 307-733-2623 PG 11 dren's programs, Alpine guides, snowboarding, private instruction, BEST ADVENTURES Your best guided adventure of Yellowstone, specialty camps, telemark, & adaptive skiing. 307-739-2663 PG 29 no experience necessary. Hot breakfast & hot lunch at Old YELLOWSTONE SNOWCOACH TOURS NORDIC SKI CENTERS Faithful. New 4-stroke sleds, & warm clothing provided, double riders. 307-733-4845, 800-851-0827 PG 73 YELLOWSTONE SNOWCOACH EXCURSIONS TRIANGLE C GRAND TARGHEE NORDIC CENTER Offers 15 KM of groomed and GRAND TETON PARK SNOWMOBILE RENTAL Unguided snow - RANCH Ride in the luxurious comfort of an over-the-snow Ford skating lanes. GrandTarghee.com 1-800-TARGHEE PG 48 mobile rentals into both National. parks or Togwotee Mt. Your Excursion. Breakfast & Lunch. Experienced & knowledgeable JACKSON HOLE NORDIC CENTER Located in Teton Village, it is a schedule,your pace, 1/2 day specials. Clothing included. Teton guides. Private trips available. 800-661-4928 PG 16 www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 81 l l a d o o W b

Lodging Directory o B Grand Targhee Resort Alpenhof Lodge The European-style Alpenhof Lodge is lo- Each of the three western-style lodges at cated next to the tram in Teton Village. The Grand Targhee are located within steps of the Alpenhof is known for friendly professional lifts. Ski, board or hike “home” to the Targhee service, cozy rooms and creative Swiss or Teewinot Lodges, or the Sioux Lodge cuisine. Many rooms feature fireplaces suites. We also offer a wide range of condo- and/or balconies and everyone enjoys a miniums, vacation homes and townhomes a complimentary breakfast to start the day. short distance away.

P.O. Box 288, Teton Village, WY 83025 Alta, Wyoming 83001 1-800-732-3244 1-800-TARGHEE www.alpenhoflodge.com www.GrandTarghee.com [email protected] Homewood Suites Dornanʼs by Hilton® On theSpur banks Ranchof the Snake Cabins River in Moose, The new Homewood Suites by Hilton® is lo- Wyoming, we are surrounded by Grand Teton cated just off the Town Square. From our National Park and have stunning views of the hotel, you'll have easy access to all that Jack- Tetons. We are also within easy driving dis- son Hole has to offer, from world class snow tance of Yellowstone National Park (45 miles) sports to eclectic shopping, galleries and and the town of Jackson (12 miles). X-C ski or restaurants. Free airport & ski shuttle. snowshoe from your cabin door. 260 N Millward, Jackson, Wyoming 83001 Grand Teton National Park, Moose, WY Tel: 1-307-739-0808 Fax: 1-307-739-9899 307-733-2522 www.Jacksonwy.Homewoodsuites.com www.dornans.com

e l r e d ib tl e s te m t d l a s n m o u r u o e e o s o h a l o n c C m s R S LODGING INDEX B c P u c o o e t / a y c t In e A l s R o c in r n t g S re d s n R o le a s in / F p n e i A e p tt r a b a e tn n g t c ir u u f m u e ic ri i e in s e la A h HOTELS ~ MOTELS ta k m T k d F /F h t e rn p S Rates Based on s a i t o n t a c e it e e e i e re w o m a e p it e u t ir re k LODGES ~ RESORTS Double Occupancy R B S H S H P S K M S In F F S

Alpenhof Lodge $$-$$$ • • • • • • • • Some Dornan’s Spur Ranch Cabins $$ • • • • Grand Targhee Resort $$-$$$ • • • • • • • • • • •

Homewood Suites $$ • • • • • • • • • All •••• Hostel $•••• Inn On The Creek $$$ • • • Jackson Hole Mountain Resort $$-$$$ • • • • • • • • • Lodge At Pinedale $$ • • • • • • • • Painted Buffalo Inn $$ • • • • • • • Snake River Lodge & Spa $$-$$$ • • • • • • • • • • •

Snow King Resort $$-$$$ • • • • • Limited • Some •••Some ••

Terra Resort Group $$-$$$ • • • • • • Some •••Some

Togowtee Mountain Lodge $$ • • • • • cabins cabins •••cabins •

Town Square Inns $$-$$$ • • • • • • Some •••Some •

($) Cost Per Night up to $100; ($$) Cost Per Night up to $250; ($$$) Cost Per Night over $250

82 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 Snake River We make it cheaperHostel and easier for you to ski Lodge & Spa the legendary Jackson Hole Mountain Resort Snake River Lodge & Spa, a RockResort, is while staying slopeside. Filled to the rafters Jackson’s first AAA Four Diamond Slopeside with ambiance, we offer both private rooms Lodge. Enjoy the ease of slope-side lodging. with private bathrooms, and the chance to Indulge yourself in the 17,000 sq. ft. Avanyu mingle with your fellow travelers, Hostel- Spa with an indoor/outdoor swimming pool. style.1 or 2 persons $109, 3 or 4 Persons $119. Enjoy entertainment in Fireside Lounge and dining in the GameFish Restaurant. Teton Village, Wyoming 83025 7710 Granite Loop, Teton Village, WY 83025 307-733-3415 307-732-6000 www.thehostel.us, [email protected] www.snakeriverlodge.com

Inn On The Creek Ideally located 3 blocks from Jackson’s Historic NestledSnow at the base King of Snow ResortKing Mountain, six Town Square and open year round, Inn on the blocks from Jackson Hole's historic Town Creek offers sumptuously decorated rooms. A Square, Snow King Resort offers 204 hotel homemade signature breakfast is served each rooms and 1 to 4 bedroom condos in a comfort- morning at the Inn’s beautiful common table able, elegant Western style. Full-service prop- where lively conversation is always plentiful. A erty with restaurant, lounge, pool, hot tub, spa, perfect start to any day. ski rental shop and free wi-fi. On property: skiing, night skiing, snow tube park and ice skating. 295 North Millward Jackson, Wyoming, 83001 P.O. Box SKI, Jackson, Wyoming 83001 Tel: 1-307-739-1565 Fax: 1-307-734-9116 800-552-KING / 307-733-5200 www.innonthecreek.com www.snowking.com Jackson Hole Terra Resort Group Resort Lodging 3 distinct lodges offer something for everyone. We offer the largest number of Jackson Hole Eco-luxury Hotel Terra: Terra Café for break- vacation lodging rental properties in Teton fast & lunch, Italian Osteria, “Chill Spa,” Ele- Village, as well as condo rentals and homes gant Teton Mountain Lodge & Spa: 12,000 sq at The Aspens and Teton Pines. Whether ft. Solitude Spa, pools, hot tubs, fitness cen- you’re looking for traditional Jackson Hole ter and Cascade restaurant for all meals and mountain charm or a more luxurious lodging après ski. Affordable and comfortable Inn at experience, we have it all. Jackson Hole. McCollister Drive, Teton Village, WY 83025 Teton Village, Wyoming 800-443-8613 Fax: 307-734-1077 www.terraresortgroup.com www.jhrl.com, [email protected] 800-631-6271

The Lodge At Pinedale Togwotee Mountain Lodge Located on west end of Pinedale. Refrigera- Host for the only snow-cat skiing operation in tor & microwave in every room. Children 12 & Jackson Hole. Angle Mountain, located di- under free with adult. Guest laundry. Front rectly behind the lodge provides1600 vertical desk staffed 24 hours. Indoor pool & jacuzzi. on 750 acres of terrain. Stay in main lodge or Three story motel with inside hallway access cabins with kitchenettes. One-stop shop for to rooms. Open year round with 43 rooms winter fun, including dog sledding & snowmo- and up to 150 guests. Complimentary guest bile tours in the national forest and parks. All voice mail and DSL in every room. inclusive packages or ala carte. P.O. Box 91, Moran, WY 83013 1054 W Pine, Pinedale WY, 82941 866-278-4245 / 307-534-2847 1-866-995-6343 or 307-367-8800 www.togwoteelodge.com www.lodgeatpinedale.com [email protected]

Painted Buffalo Inn Town Square Inns Discover why the West is wild with adventure. Our 4 lodging properties, Antler Inn, 49er Inn & All of Wyoming’s winter activities await you and Suites, Elk Country Inn and Cowboy Village, the Painted Buffalo Inn, just 3 blocks from the are in the heart of downtown Jackson. From Jackson Town Square, will be there to warm beautiful 2-room log cabins, to fireplace suites, you after a day of snow-filled adventure. Swim- to hotel rooms, we have accommodations to fit ming pool, sauna and shuttle stop are just a every desire & budget. Located just off the few of the conveniences we offer our guests. town square, we are within walking distance of the many fine attractions that Jackson, Grand 400 West Broadway, Jackson, WY 83001 Teton & Yellowstone parks have to offer. 800-288-3866 / 307-733-4340 330 W Pearl, Jackson, WY 83001 www.paintedbuffaloinn.com 1-800-4-TETONS / 307-733-7550 [email protected] www.townsquareinns.com www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 83 Grand Teton 13,770 ft. South Teton Middle Teton 12,514 ft. Mount Moran 12,928 ft. 12,804 ft. GRAND TARGHEE 12,605 ft. RESORT Peaked Mt. Elevation 9,700 ft. Fred's Mt. Elevation 10,000 ft.

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B A l o T C w H l 2-High Speed Quad Chair, 1-Quad chair, E e R Zon Be un gin ' F ne S s r ha id Ar d rth Boundary Traverse K e o 1 double chair, 1 magic carpet. No a w W om an S H O S H Snowcat Skiing on O N E B Mi e e ll Creek Travers gi nn Peaked Mountain er Ar MAGIC Nordic ea CARPET Area RESORT FACILITIES Nordic Track Base Elevation 8,000 ft. Skiable acres: 1,000 plus

Nordic Vertical rise: 2,000 ft Area Longest run: 3.2 miles

SNOW KING SKI AREA Mountain Characteristics Skiable terrain: 400 plus acres, 15% beginner, 25% intermediate, 60% advanced. Vertical rise: 1,571 ft. Longest run: 9/10 mile. Base Elevation: 6,300 ft. Top elevation 7,871 ft. 300 acres of machine groomed terrain. • Night Skiing. • KingTubes Snow Tubing Park. • Half Pipe & Terrain Park

Ski Lifts 1 triple chair, 2 double chairs 1 surface tow.

WHITE PINE SKI AREA & R ESORT Mountain Characteristics Lift serviced terrain: 380 acres, 20% beginner, 60% intermediate, 20% advanced. Vertical rise: 1,100 ft. Longest run: 1.5 miles. Base elevation: 8,400 ft. Top elevation: 9,500 ft. Average annual snowfall: 250 inches.

Ski Lifts 2-Triple Chairs, 1-

84 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 JACKSON HOLE MOUNTAIN RESORT Mountain Characteristics Skiable terrain: 2,500 acres, 10% beginner, 40% intermediate, 50% advanced. Base elevation 6,311 ft. Summit elevation: 10,450 ft. Vertical rise: 4,139 ft. (longest continuous in the country). Longest run: 4.7 miles. Average annual snowfall: 38 feet (456 inches). 22 miles of machine groomed terrain.

Ski Lifts 1 100-passenger Aerial Tram 1 eight-passenger gondola, 6 quad chairs (2 high speed) 2 triple chairs, 2 double chair 1 magic carpet surface lift www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 85 APPAREL LODGING To: GRAND TETON & YELLOWSTONE Cloudveil Mountain Works – 19 Antler Motel – 20 89 26 NATIONAL PARKS Meeting Place for JACKSON Hoback Sports – 25 Cowboy Village Resort – 27 191 JACKSON HOLE AIRPORT National Elk Refuge WYOMING 189 Jolly Jumbuck Leather – 14 Elk Country Inn – 26 TOGWOTEE PASS Sleigh Rides N Jackson Hole & ELEVATION: 6,209 FEET Jack Dennis Outdoor Shop – 15 49er Inn – 28 O

R Greater Homewood Suites Hilton – 2 T 1,892 METERS ART - JEWELRY - GIFTS -HOME H Yellowstone

C Visitors’ MAP NOT TO SCALE DanShelley Jewelers – 6 Inn on the Creek – 1 PERRY ST A C Center © 2006 Focus Productions Inc. Hines Goldsmiths – 10 Painted Buffalo Inn – 24 H TETON COUNTY E U. S. FOREST Jackson Hole Resort Store – 11 Snow King Resort – 23 HISTORICAL CENTER SERVICE MERCELL JC Jewelers – 8 PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEO 1 © HOME RANCH DINING & ENTERTAINMENT DD Camera Corral – 17 2 • Teton County • PARKING Recreation • LOT The Atrium Wild By Nature Gallery – 4 GILL AVE Center K C I N @ Snow King Resort – 23 RECREATION • E N MILLER • G PARK T Billy's Giant Hamburgers – 9 Jackson Hole Mountain Guides – 3 3 • E TOWN

7 R 5 PARKING The Bunnery – 7 King Tube Tubing Park – 22 K JH MUSEUM 4 8 LOT E 6 E

Cadillac Grille – 9 Snow King Center & Ice Rink – 22 R DELONEY AVE M ST. JOHN'S C JACKSON O HOSPITAL x Cafe Ponza – 13 Snow King Mountain – 22 T 10 R A 9 TOWN A L 11 N 43 North – 21 SKI & SPORTING GOODS SHOPS F Hoback Sports – 25 SQUARE Gun Barrel Steak & WEST. BROADWAY EAST BROADWAY G R J E Jack Dennis Sports – 15 • R 12 14 • 15 E D

Game House – 31 O 24 • • A M

13 S SNOWMOBILING • • N O

17 V Jackson Hole Buffalo Meats – 34 & 5 S N E T

High Country Snowmobiling – 33 D PEARL AVE 18 N

The Lounge 16 JACKSON T S R

Jackson Hole TOWN HALL T E @ Snow King Resort – 23 • 26 28 ½ $ BANK 19 20 Q . Snowmobile Tours – 30 • r COUNTY JAIL • 27 U.S. POST TOWN SHERIFF'S OFFICE McDonald's of Jackson Hole – 32 25 S F PARKING Qq Î L Rocky Mountain Tours – 33 OFFICE CenterCenter O A C TETON COUNTY

LOT U Mountain High Pizza – 12 T L ForFor K T COURT HOUSE

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W D PARK T Ï LIBRARY SNOW KING T E JH RACQUET CLUB, A 23 RESORT

Y R L START Bus SNOW KING AVE ICE N TETON PINES, H offices & SKATING MAPLEO WAY • Jackson RINK PHIL BAUX PARK R

K-MART R 21 • ½ A VICTOR & DRIGGS, F N Public Works ASPEN DR. • F U.S. POST E R GRAND TARGHEE 22 SNOW KING T OFFICE KING Y a TUBE CENTER C MEADOWLARK LN C H IDAHO FALLS K O A R TUBING & ICE RINK I PA T U R PARK F G L TH D I I U A L A F O RO T S • IR R • A T H R • START BUS STOPS C I T P I L 33 M E M C SNOW KING To: HOBACK & ALPINE JCTS., Schedules, Routes, Stops & Fares U H S A 89 I MARTIN LN a R 26 PINEDALE, are available at Bus Stops, Lodgings, & L I F MOUNTAIN & SKI AREA 191 T 34 ROCK SPRINGS, Information Centers, or call 733-4521. Smith’s 189 35 SALT LAKE CITY H IGH SCHOOL • TO: 3 CREEK ROAD • RANCH •

86 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 2009 Celebrating over 24 years, conveniently located on the town square. Serving Black Angus steaks, game, fresh seafood and pasta.

Innovative dishes prepared with the freshest ingredients makes the Cadillac Grille a local favorite.

Premium well drinks, an excellent wine list and microbrews. Join us The733-3279. CADILLAC Reservations advised. Large groups GRILLE are welcome nightly in our lounge for Open daily at 11:30 a.m., dinner at 5:30 p.m. www.cadillac-grille.com email: [email protected] Happy Hour 5-7 p.m. On the Town Square, next to Billy’s Giant Hamburger

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Buffalo100% NaturalFilet

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100%BuffaloNatural Jerky www.buybuffalomeat.com call 800.543.6328 for a free catalog

www. focusproductions. com 2009 JACKSON HOLE SKIER 87 Wade McKoy / John Verdon