Jackson Hole Underground

You may have noticed that posts have been, um, sparse on these pages in recent weeks. Well, it’s the holidays, and there are a lot better things you could be doing than trolling the Internet: partying, writing letters, traveling, exchanging gifts, praying.

And if you live in Jackson Hole, Wyo., well, there’s been a lot of great powder skiing.

I managed a quick, pre-Christmas visit to New York to visit my family on Long Island and catch up with old friends in Manhattan. Between coming and going, shopping and packing, celebrating there and celebrating here, I’ve been neglecting this site.

For me, taking a break from blogging is like eddying out in a kayak; sometimes it takes a lot of effort to get back in the stream. The longer I wait, the more the current keeps on rushing by, and I have to paddle hard and marshal up considerable gumption to break the eddy line of inertia. So, consider this a thrust into the current again.

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The reviews are in from last night’s Led Zeppelin reunion in London, and the consensus is clear: The Hammer of the Gods still thunders.

They may not be the big-haired, bare-chested, lithe, slithering icons in leather pants who shook the world in the late ’60s — well, some of them have big hair — but they were able to rekindle the old magic and reclaim their place among the titans of rock.

The band hadn’t performed a full set together in 20 years but came out roaring from the opening blasts of “Good Times, Bad Times,” appropriately the show’s first song.

The 16-song, two-hour-plus set list was a catalog of classics: “Ramble On,” “Black Dog,” “Dazed and Confused,” “Whole Lotta Love,” and, of course, “Stairway to Heaven,” pleasantly reinterpreted to avoid cliche.

The second of two encores, also fittingly, was a stomping “Rock and Roll” that evidently left no doubt that Zeppelin is back.

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Ski patrollers at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort have triggered five-foot-deep slabs. The high, north faces that hold the cold, shaded powder we love to ski could be a trap, with several layers prone to avalanches.

Time for a primer on the snowpack, and to register for a backcountry safety course.

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