Ice Cream Anyone???

Sunsets from the top of Rendezvous Mountain are unparalleled. As far as you can see in any direction are mountain tops and the assumption that valley's lie between them. As the sun sinks lower on the horizon, I contemplate the winter that is coming our way.

Supposed civilization carries on thousands of feet below Corbett's Cabin as I anticipate the first flurries of snow fall. Generally here the snow precedes the fall,which reminds us that Mother Nature is in control. In ski towns there is always a bit of excitement when the days start getting shorter, and the air a bit more brisk.

The summer here in Jackson Hole is beautiful, but short. Our Spring began with 200 additional inches of snow, bringing our season total to a record 730. Summer work started and we were still chipping ice and shoveling snow.... but riding too.

Everyday that I have worked the JH Tram this summer we have carted snowboarders and skiers up the mountain to enjoy the remnants of this ridiculous winter. Tourists gape at our local die hards as they watch them carry their boards and planks off the Tram and into the back country.

However, there are others that continue to work harder for their summer lines... and they are the ones climbing the mountains with their ice axe's, crampons, and backpack's full of gear.

The Teton's are a playground that could take a lifetime to explore but luckily I have a good guide. One of our Tram Mechanic's, Chris Onufer (who kills it all year round) offered to take me up The South to snowboard. We started at 500 A.M. in Teton Village with daylight on the brink of the peaks.

It was azure skies on our ascent of the South Teton, with wildflowers like yellow balsamroot and lavender lupin covering the lower mountainsides. The trail was quiet and calm as we climbed up Garnet Canyon. We hiked over immense scree fields with snow runoff raging in creeks underneath us. When we arrived at the Meadows there were a handful of climbers who were barely waking up to start theirs day's journey.

The snowline dipped just below 9000 ft and with The Grand and the Middle Teton towering above us we began our boot pack up to the saddle then onto the Ice Cream Cone Coulier. A storm was brewing to the SW and as we approached the top of the coulier the black skies moved in quick. We strapped on our gear at 12,200 ft, 300 ft shy of the summit. Socked in, but with our line in mind, we dropped in.

3500 vertical ft of snowboarding on perfect summer corn... not bad for July 11 in Wyoming. Muchos gracias La Nina.

A New Year

1-1-11

The Close of the New Year's first day is painted with lavender of the sunset and hue's of blue as the depth increases to the valley. The Snake now slithers across the frozen valley in negative temperatures.

The Grand, she is cloaked in clouds and a white dress of snow... steadfast, magnificent and strong. Pushed by forces beneath the surface that force her growth and keep her young.


Cody in the background of the Tetons is shadowed in orange with the sunlight illuminating the north westerly wind blowing in at 30 MPH. Straight off the nose and then swirling into the bowl. Recycled lines from the south side fill in Pucker Face.

The sun is nearly set and yet I don't want to go into the cabin. When surrounded in such a wilderness unlimited possibilities abound. The New Year has buffed out the old, just as the wind does to the bowl. It's going to be a good one, I can feel it. The world is there for our taking and we can take any line we choose.

Gaper Fools Day

Gaper Fool's Day is one of the holiday's here in Jackson Hole has become a cult classic. Every April 1st Jackson Hole Mountain Resort goes from being a place for hard core's to celebrity's, to being a place filled with gapers and fools.

This year all of the Jackson locals did not disappoint! Everyone in town came out of the woodwork in full costume. There were lumber jacks, hockey players, Mormon Polygamists, big business executives, Prom dresses and more colorful one-pieces than you have ever seen in your life. And luckily for us, there was even fresh snow!

It was a blistery day on the mountain, but well worth the festivities. Our clan went as a group of Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints, with one husband and five wives. We dressed Pat Spaniger up and his harem followed him around the mountain. We started with a Tram run to the top and all dispersed throughout the hill. A few of us made it to the party at the top of Thunder Bumps where we participated in the "Noon Moon," where about 20 people mooned the 12 o'clock tram. After that it was on! We all flowed down the mountain, with our skirts trailing in the wind; they would spin when we would spin and they would fly up when we hit jumps, and Spaniger's hat flew off a cliff near Tower 3.

The snow was incredible on Gaper Day and we rode until the mountain closed, being as it was one of the best powder day's of the season. However by the end of it, my skirt was frozen to a bell shape and it was time to change. The harem then relocated to Nick Wilson's where the festivities commenced. We met up with our other "Sister Wives" and our "Husband" Pat where we rocked bouffant hairstyles and conservative dresses. The costumes were so convincing that people honestly thought we were religious people who just happened to show up for the Gaper debauchery.

The fun lasted well into the evening and it was a great farewell for my best friend Kara Hawker. She was leaving us in The Hole to move onto a bigger and brighter future in Texas. Our times in Jackson were incredible and there is no one I would have rather shared them with. Enjoy your journey Sis! And we will be waiting for your return in Jackson.

Teewinot to the Tram

This season I worked in temperatures between -20 and -30 degrees F at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and rode some of the sickest lines of my life. With 4100 vertical feet at my disposal I had plenty of terrain to choose from. Pillow lines, to cliff drops, rock slashes and tree jibs, tree runs, to jump lines, or half pipe or tram line. Soooo many options, sooo little time.

I spent 111 days on the slopes this season and 105 of them were spent at JHMR, where I also worked as a Lift Operator on Teewinot. For those of you who don’t know, Teewinot is the “mother ship” of all Jackson Hole lifts. You scoff because you may think it is the world renown Tram; but no… Teewinot is where it is at. People learning, gapers falling, children crying, babies backpacks, snowboards broken, poles stuck, helmet draggers, riding bullwheels and “Ohhh NO a ski schooler just fell off at tower 2!”

Aside from all of the child chucking and chicken herding we managed to shralp JHMR to a pulp. Each day I was paid to spend two and a half hours riding with my friends and co-workers. We hucked cliffs, poached powder and straight lined groomers, all while on the clock. We worked long days but JHMR rewarded us for our dedication to make Jackson one of the best resorts in the world.