Today was January 126th up on Teton Pass, where nearly a foot of fresh powder triggered one last all-out frenzy.
I say “last,” but of course, given the weather lately, I’m tempting fate. We could be headed for powder days in May, June … July?
Today’s run on Glory will be my last.
This is what a season of 605 inches looks like on the last day of lift service.
It had been a few years since I came out to Teton Village on closing day, so it was a great and pleasant surprise to discover the festivities have morphed into Mardi Gras at the base of the slopes. The last tram celebrations of yore are JV by comparison.
In the absence of an emptying tram car to pelt, the party lacked a climactic snowball fight. Then Dick Cheney, after a day of skiing the resort in jeans, got up to address the crowd. His appearance triggered a shock-and-awe-caliber fusillade of snowballs that forced him to fall off a table and flee.
This is a new feature on JH Underground. Click on the above image to enlarge and watch a short slide show of the day’s merrymaking. Use the arrow keys to scroll through the photos.
The over-the-top outrageousness was befitting of an incredible winter that gave us four straight months (and counting) of powder skiing. I can only hope the summer of Two Thousand Great is as bountiful with warmth and sunshine.
It’s almost April, and yet the snowstorms show no signs of abating. Nearly another foot of snow was measured in the Tetons today, and the forecast calls for 14 inches by tomorrow night, with still more on the way.
It’s been a winter of nearly continuous powder skiing. Naturally, after we eclipsed the 500-inch mark earlier this month, people began to wonder whether this season would set a new record for snowfall.
On arriving at Teton Village on Friday for the WyObama party, I ran into snowboard star Travis Rice and showed him my Obama T-shirt.
“I told a girl I liked Obama,” Rice recalled of a recent encounter, “and I totally got her digits.” [Translation for those over 40: She gave him her number.]
Then I walked into the Village Cafe and found a table of snowboarders relaxing over burritos and beers. “Are you guys here for the Obama party?” I asked, skeptical.
They reached into their pockets and produced dog-eared, folded, slightly soggy bits of paper: their voter registration receipts. They proudly held them aloft.
Barack Obama has made it cool to give a shit.
Over the weekend we passed the 100-inch mark for snowpack in the Tetons, which back before the current drought set in used to be the benchmark for a solid winter. The Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center reports anywhere from 5 to 7 feet of snow in the last 10 days, and the forecast calls for an additional 12 to 15 inches later this week.
For those keeping score, that makes an average snowfall of more than 4 inches a day for the last 10 weeks. 2000-Grr8 rolls on.
After weeks of contentious debate over backcountry etiquette, Cloudveil and Friends of Pathways are hosting a happy hour Friday where skiers and snowboarders can discuss Teton Pass and give input to the U.S. Forest Service over management of the area’s most popular winter trailhead.
The gathering will run from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Cloudveil Store, 120 W. Pearl Ave. Free beer will be served, courtesy of Snake River Brewery. Teton Pass Ambassador Jay Pistono will be on hand, along with Forest Service and Friends of Pathways reps.
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