Jackson Hole Underground

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!

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Fat Albert is about to get fatter.

Following up on last month’s incendiary jam with DJ Logic, Willie Waldman, Brian Jordan and others, the Jackson funk band is hosting more friends tonight for another genre-bending, mind-blowing exercise in improvisation.

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JACKSON, Wyo. — Unfazed by the rapidly melting snowpack and overjoyed at the prospect of cleaving Snow King into two smaller sub-peaks, organizers say they will go ahead as planned with the annual Snowmobile Mud Climb, sponsored by Halliburton and the Bin Laden Group.

U.S. oil companies have hired the paramilitary firm Blackwater USA to airlift an extra 1,000 barrels of Saudi Arabian crude to help cover the fuel consumption this weekend. The Dubai Stock Exchange soared on news that the event will take place.

Weather forecasters say viewing conditions should be excellent, with unnaturally warm temperatures under hazy skies.

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The United States Supreme Court is hearing a landmark case. Its decision will determine The Bush Supreme’s place in history — as either “cool” or “dork.”

In 2002 a Juneau, Alaska, high school student named Joseph Frederick, who with classmates was greeting Olympic torch bearers and the attendant press hoo-ha, added his own bit to the ceremony. He unfurled a 14-foot banner that read “BONG HITS 4 JESUS.”

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Were you freaked out by those photos of a mountain lion purportedly taken in Rafter J?

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is hosting a free workshop from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday at Snow King Resort, titled “Staying Safe in Bear, Lion and Wolf Country.”

Among the tips Game and Fish will share are mountain lion and bear feeding habits, where you’d expect to find those animals (not on your back porch in Rafter J) and what to do if you have an encounter.

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