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

Tonight Friends of Pathways celebrates its latest milestone accomplishment, securing a $455,000 grant for new hiking and biking facilities.

In awarding the funds, state officials finally acknowledged that in Jackson Hole, recreational facilities like pathways, trails and boat ramps are part of our vital economic infrastructure. The money comes in the form of a matching grant, meaning Friends of Pathways and partners like Snow King and JHMR will be raising funds to contribute to the projects, too.

The grant will help pay for 27 miles of new and improved singletrack, two bike parks, hiking trails, a restroom and signs at various locations, from JHMR and the greater Snow King area to Teton Pass. Fitzy has the complete breakdown.

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Posted under Business, Environment, Ski Resorts, Sports

Tags: cache creek, cycling, game creek, jackson hole mountain resort, mountain biking, snow king

The AP had a hilarious story over the weekend about Google removing all the Hitler “Downfall” parodies on YouTube because of a copyright claim.

Nothing could have breathed more life into a played-out meme than corporate meddling.

Naturally, up went the video of Hitler reacting to his being removed from YouTube. Catch it before it’s deleted, too.

Posted under Art, Humor

Tags: films, Media

The sale of Cloudveil triggered no small amount of consternation among its customers and the outdoor world.

So when Jim Reilly, the new head of the company, introduced himself and talked about the sale on Cloudveil’s blog, The Mountain Murmur, he got an earful from skeptics and loyal fans.

Today Reilly responds to the criticism and clears up a few misconceptions about changes planned for the brand. Specifically, he says the Connecticut-based company will maintain a detailed Web site and continue its involvement in the Jackson Hole community.

Reilly seems sincere and is willing to let readers hold his feet to the fire, in an open dialogue. Plus, he doesn’t give a shit what people think of his tropical hat and soul patch (from a recent vacation shot in Panama). He cares to be judged only by what he does with the business.

Posted under Business, Sports

Tags: climbing, cloudveil, gear, skiing

When I get off this mountain, there’s only one place I want to go: straight down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.

Spring break is finally here. I’ve spent the last week traveling across the South, which explains why I haven’t yet obtained and posted the video of Jackson police tasing the guy for a paperwork infraction (anyone else want to step up here?).

Camp Stanford has been established in New Orleans, where by Thursday a significant portion of Jackson Hole’s population will have arrived at the 41st annual Jazz and Heritage Festival. The Wyoming flag is set to fly above the Fairgrounds as more than 1,000 musicians create a harmony as sweet as the scent of jasmine blowing in the Bayou breeze.

Jazz Fest is a musical education. Recently I watched two rock epics for the first time: the original Woodstock and The Last Waltz. The intensity of Richie Havens and The Band’s Levon Helm were mesmerizing. Coincidentally, both are playing the festival and are among the acts I’m most fired up to see.

Only at Jazz Fest can one catch these classic titans alongside hipsters like Band of Horses and My Morning Jacket and old favorites like Widespread Panic and Pearl Jam. I will do my best to see them all.

Yesterday, on the festival’s opening day, a torrential downpour turned the Fairgrounds into a swamp. But in New Orleans they dance in the rain, and as headliner Lionel Richie observed, whereas out West rough weather might have canceled the show, “Down South when it rains the people get LOUDER!”

After the jump, a rundown of a typical fest day. OK, not so typical. Extraordinary.

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Posted under Food, Music, Religion

Tags: festivals, funk, jazz fest, new orleans, travel

On Thursday night, the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, filmmaker David Gonzales will give a presentation on the plight of the whitebark pine.

Vast stands of these majestic, centuries-old trees are dying across the greater Yellowstone ecosystem, their needles turned red, from an infestation of pine bark beetles and an exotic fungus called blister rust.

The die-off of this cornerstone species has grave implications for our forests, our wildlife and even our snowpack. David, winner of a Wyoming film award and impresario of The Snaz, has poured his considerable passion into documenting the trees and rallying to save some of the most critical stands.

“The sweeping devastation to this high-altitude species, whose seeds provide valuable nutrition to bears, birds and squirrels, and whose outspread canopies provide shelter for wildlife and shade for the snowpack, may be the most serious environmental calamity to befall the GYE in its recorded history,” he says.

“Seeing Red,” a symposium on the whitebark pine, starts at 7 p.m. at Center for the Arts. Doors open at 6. Admission is free, and beer and wine will be served.

Visit TreeFight.org to find out how to get involved.

Posted under Environment, Media

Tags: center for the arts, climate change, conservation, wildlife

As of today, 4/20, Teton County’s Census participation rate is just 47 percent, second-lowest of all counties in Wyoming. Dude, put down that tube and fill out your form!

As has been stressed many times, Census figures are critical in determining how federal and state funds are distributed. Each person who goes uncounted will cost our local government nearly $3,000 in potential funding.

Even not filling out the form and waiting for a Census worker to visit your house costs the government $25. Way to drive up the deficit, slacker!

In Teton County, where undercounting is a chronic problem because of the large numbers of seasonal and immigrant workers, the 2010 Census is especially critical because the Wyoming Legislature is gearing up to redraw voting districts based on population.

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Posted under Democratic Party, Economy, Politics, Wyoming Legislature

Tags: census