JH Underground – news, sports and music blog from Jackson Hole, Wyoming news, sports and music blog from Jackson Hole, Wyoming

(Click on either to enlarge.)

James Todd responds to the “Thank You” Dick Cheney ad that ran in the Jackson Hole Daily earlier this month.

Todd’s artwork adorns page two of today’s Planet, in a quarter-page ad.

As much as I agree with the message, the Hitler meme is way overplayed.

The “Thank You” ad caused much grumbling; that it proclaimed “For keeping our country safe” on the week of Sept. 11 was particularly galling.

Which ad is more indicative of public opinion?

I seem to recall a “collective community effort” in 2004, called voting. And Teton County, Wyo., soundly rejected Dick Cheney, as well as his would-be successors, McCain-Palin, in 2008. (And, of course, there’s this.)

Posted under Media, Politics, Republican Party

Tags: dick cheney

Here’s a gallery of photos of the Bearpaw Fire near Jackson Lake by Erik Kimball.

Kimball, who lives in Moran, had an excellent vantage point as the blaze flared up Friday and necessitated the call-in of suppression crews.

Fire managers fear that gusty winds from an approaching storm could fan the flames before rain and snow fall to quench the 3,000-acre blaze.

Click on any of the thumbnails to enlarge, and use arrow keys to navigate the slide show. All photos © Erik Kimball.

Posted under Environment, Weather

Tags: grand teton national park, photography

iPhones came in pretty handy after last winter’s avalanches, allowing skiers to check news updates and lift status while still riding the START bus to the resort.

Now a couple of resort employees, Dan and Ingrid Miller, have developed an iPhone application specifically for Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.

Their JH Tapped allows users to locate themselves and their friends on the resort’s trail map, keep track of vertical feet skied or snowboarded, and get real-time updates on lift status, snow conditions and weather. The app also has a resort directory with phone numbers and information on lessons, statistics and history.

The app is free for now; a forthcoming enhanced version will offer features such as a compass and Facebook interface, and presumably cost a few bucks.

Posted under Business, Media, Ski Resorts, Sports

Tags: gear, jackson hole mountain resort, skiing, snowboarding

It seemed as if everyone flocked to the mountains this weekend to get above the haze of wildfire smoke in the valley.

The Bearpaw Bay Fire along Jackson Lake blew up Friday afternoon, briefly closing the Teton Park Road. Firefighter crews have been battling the blaze since then to contain its spread to the east. The fire is estimated to be more than 2,800 acres in size.

To the east, a new blaze ignited Sunday near Gunsight Pass in the Gros Ventres, about 26 miles northeast of Jackson. The Gunsight Fire is estimated to be about 1,500 acres, and crews have responded.

The Teton Interagency Fire page lists 10 active fires in the region. Certainly tomorrow’s forecasted storm (snow by Wednesday) should bring a cool pail of water to help extinguish the flames.

(Photographs © David Stubbs. Be sure to click to enlarge.)

Posted under Environment, Sports, Weather

Tags: climbing, david stubbs, grand teton national park

Legal gunslinger Kent Spence stars in this PSA for the Bag2Differ campaign, which helped Jackson Hole place eighth among 31 Western ski communities in the Reusable Bag Challenge.

Between March 1 and Sept. 1, shoppers in Jackson used canvas or cloth bags nearly 150,000 times, eliminating the need for roughly 370,000 plastic bags (reusable sacks can hold 2.5 times as many groceries as their plastic counterparts). That’s the equivalent of 163,000 pounds of carbon dioxide that won’t be emitted into the atmosphere, not to mention clogging landfills, streams and forests with litter.

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Posted under Economy, Environment, Ski Resorts

Tags: colorado, conservation, recycling

Because the party in B.C. will be much better than Torino.

Especially after he wins the gold.

Seriously, we are big fans of Bode and wish him well as he skis back into shape to qualify for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

From Bill Pennington of The New York Times:

“There is no comparison to the energy and atmosphere of the Olympics,” Miller said. “I’m looking forward to performing at my highest level in that atmosphere. You can’t get enough of that.”

The rest of us will be pounding Red Bull to keep up with him.

(Thanks to Jonathan Selkowitz for the photo.)

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• Bo-dacious, once again (March 14, 2008)

Posted under Sports

Tags: bode miller, ski racing, skiing