Jackson Hole Underground

I’ve added a link to the new Jenny Lake climbing ranger site, where mountaineers can get updates on popular climbing and hiking routes in the Tetons. There’s also a lot of information about backcountry camping in the park. (Alas, no permits online.)

DG at The Snaz has the scoop.

Hard to believe we’re a week past the Fourth of July, and still so much snow in the mountains. Won’t be long before it begins piling up again.

I’m holding onto summer as long as I can.

By now you’ve probably heard about the climbing movie being shown tonight at the Playmill (née Pink Garter/Mainstage) Theater, King Lines, starring Chris Sharma.

But you may not have seen this provocative promo poster circulating in cyberspace, featuring a photo by Heather Erson of the model “Trixie.”

Forget about the climbing. These are the lines I’m checking out! Curvy lines. Queen Lines.

Our friends over at The Snaz will be showing a short film before Sharma takes the screen. Doors open at 7 p.m., and films start at 8. There will be plenty of swag and FREE BEER.

Tickets are $10 in advance at Cloudveil or $12 at the door.

Sharma, incidentally, is a climbing wunderkind known for his solo ascents of cliff faces over open water. One such route, called Es Pontas, off the coast of Mallorca, Spain, is featured in the film.

Click here to view a trailer of the film, and here to read Sharma’s bio on Wikipedia.

Now in its third year, the Alpinist (née Barry Corbet) Film Festival has been a model for how to build such an event: organic, paying homage to tradition, rooted in the community. No velvet ropes.

Screenings have been packed, last year’s festival was a smash hit, and organizers are expecting a full house this week for all three nights of films in the brand-new Performing Arts Pavilion at Center for the Arts.

As of Monday evening fewer than 100 tickets remained for each night. Thursday is devoted to snow films, Friday to surf, Saturday stone.

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View of Lake Akasha, outside the yoga center on East Hansen and Willow.

Lower the drawbridge!

Have you come across a moat or two while walking around town this weekend?

By all accounts, the melt-off is a month early. It’s not surprising anymore, given that aside from January’s deep freeze we’ve had a prolonged thaw every month this winter. And Woody’s forecast calls for nearly 50 degrees all week.

Mark April 14 on your calendar: Step It Up 2007, a National Day of Climate Action. Among the activities planned across America, a group of mountaineers will be climbing and skiing Gannett Peak in the Wind River Range, Wyoming’s highest peak.

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Mountaineers continue to report sightings of wolf activity in the Tetons.

Stephen Koch, skiing down after putting a new climbing route up the North Face of the Grand Teton with Hans Johnstone, excavated himself from a faceplant and discovered wolf tracks in the snow (pictured at left) on the night of Feb. 6. Koch found the large prints at the bottom of Glacier Gulch.

On Friday, Rando Steve came upon the carcass of a young moose apparently killed by wolves in the vicinity of Death Canyon. Photos of the scene and tracks are posted at Teton AT.

While wolves have denned in the park before, this could be the first time the predators have established territory in the canyons below the southern peaks.

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