By Jim Stanford on March 22, 2007
Just what we didn’t need: another exposé on backcountry skiing on Teton Pass.
The latest culprit: National Geographic Adventure, with a feature by Steve Casimiro.
Casimiro came to Jackson Hole last winter to write about the closing of the resort’s aerial tram. But he wound up getting turned on to earning his turns on Wyoming 22 West.
The one-time Powder editor writes:
The rich and varied terrain, the drive-up access, the funky scene of locals that’s neither oppressive nor exclusive — they all conspire
to make Teton Pass an undeniably unique and must-ski destination
for anyone looking to head out-of-bounds. As backcountry havens go,
this is ground zero.
Aarrggh!
Wait, it gets worse:
From the top of the pass you can throw your resort skis over your shoulder, scoot up a boot-packed trail to the top of 10,086-foot (3,074-meter) Mount Glory, ski several thousand vertical feet (about a thousand vertical meters) of heli-quality powder down to the two-lane Highway 22, stick out your thumb for a ride, and be back at your car—all in 90 minutes. You can hike with your snowboard for 15 minutes and spend the rest of the day jumping off handcrafted kickers. You can slap climbing skins on the bottom of your telemark skis, tour for hours, and never see a soul or cross a track. As the only major passage through the Tetons for a hundred miles (161 kilometers), 22 is plowed to the pavement at the first hint of snow; on any given day skiers can reach the top of the pass before their coffee gets cold.
Ouch. The magazine’s circulation last year: 525,000.
It’s a well-written piece. You can tell Casimiro was overjoyed at discovering the experience that anybody who skis or rides up on the pass knows so well. You just wish he’d be a little more quiet about it.
(I won’t mention the name of the local “guide” who wound up aiding and abetting this story. I’m sure he’s taking enough flak about it already.)
Casimiro rightly identifies a major trend in the ski industry: the explosion in backcountry schussing. At a time when most resorts are razing whatever land they can to develop real estate and bending over backward to cater to a ritzy clientele, there has been a strong push away from industrial skiing and back to the roots of the sport.
While resort visitation has stagnated nationwide, there is a skyrocketing number of skiers for whom the only necessary amenities are a place to park and perhaps a cave for getting out of the wind on the summit.
That’s why Teton Pass has become a de facto ski area. At times last winter, judging by the overflowing parking areas from Coal Creek to Wilson, the hordes of backcountry skiers and snowboarders had to rival the number of paying guests at Teton Village.
You can’t blame Casimiro for explaining why he, too, succumbed to this allure.
As travel and adventure writers, we — myself included — often make a living by publicizing paradise, ours or someone else’s. Sometimes that helps protect these places, and others it promotes more visitation or use and winds up diminishing the quality that moved you to write in the first place.
As readers, we love to pore over photos of deep powder and stories about pristine canyons, which plant the seeds in our imagination for new places to explore. We just bristle when it happens to be our favorite place.
It’s a fine line. This piece, unfortunately, reads too much like a how-to guide for my taste.
Posted under backcountry, media, skiing
Really now how many folks living in US metropolitan cities will truly spend more than 3 or 4 days on the pass?
Rando boots are only designed for 20+ days of actual use per year (what costs less: a lift ticket or backcountry boots from a per diem perspective?). My point: backcountry skiing is similar to surfing in Indo, Costa Gringa or the Philippines; we may dream of a perfect wave, but who really takes the opportunity to actually do it?
Thankfully, other areas of JH’s snowy secrets weren’t exposed in this article. Pass rats can’t seem to leave their hollowed ground anyway, though I like it that way!
-Jerky
I’m always concerned by how easy travel writers make it seem. It would be nice if they emphasized the danger associated with BC skiing a bit more.
I didn’t read the National Geographic Adventure article, but one that was in Ski or Skiing magazine a few years back was appalling. Something along the lines of, with the “easy” access, how the Pass might as well be resort skiing.
This writer seemed to know what he was talking about, but I hope he also talked about the education and tools that people should be equipped with before taking that short hike to the heli quality powder turns.
David Gonzales wrote that Skiing piece - look at the bylines…often it’s the locals who are writing about these places. The attitude of “we’re locals, so please don’t come ski our backcountry terrain” is so tired and overused. Teton Pass is not a secret. It hasn’t been for decades. There are, however, amazing and uncrowded lines all over Jackson Hole. It just requires taking a different view and going off the beaten path. Glory is good for a pre-work run, or a get-lots-of-vertical day, but it hasn’t been a remote/pristine backcountry spot for a long time.