Jackon Hole

Well a rodeo in Jackson, ain't what it used to be! I came to the Cowboy State hoping to win the coveted belt buckle in the legendary Dick's Ditch Banked Slalom. When they said "turn it up to eleven!" we said "Hell yeah!!"

Dick's Ditch is a natural gully/canyon that runs deep down the middle of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. It was named after a local ski patrolman that had been buried alive by an avalanche for about 45 minutes there. Since that day it has existed in infamy.

We arrived in Jackson on a snowy night, in the end of February. The entire west coast had been pounded with snow and we were grateful to be where we were. When we woke up the next morning there were blue skies and tons of fresh snow. It was an epic day to be in Jackson Hole, but there was a race to be won. We warmed up on the Granny Shoots and then went to Paintbrush and Toilet Bowl just off of Thunder. Once we had gotten our legs underneath us, we headed for the dreaded Dick's Ditch.

The course started out in between a stand of pine trees, and once you shot into the Ditch, there was no turning back. Tight turns over tree roots and rocks, then into the doubles, if you lose your rhythm there you may never get it back... double, double, cat-track-gap, jump over the tree back into the Ditch, up, down, fly off the Terrieh hit, down and up one more time to sail off the finish line. Exhilarating right?

Day one went well, I qualified third and all top three ladies were within two seconds of each other. We all knew the next day was going to be battle roy-al... and we didn't disappoint. Each of us took several seconds off of our time and shuffled up the winning order a bit. A Jackson local Kate Reed, ended up winning the coveted belt buckle and the number one spot and I ended up 2nd and $350 richer in the Womens Pro, just a half second behind Kate, and Diane Phelps rounded out the 3rd spot.

Sadly I didn't win the coveted belt buckle this season, but Dick's Ditch turned out to be a run for the money!!