Jackson Hole Underground

Photographs by Andrew Wyatt © (roll cursor over images for captions)

What a fantastic, and quintessentially Jackson Hole, “rite of spring.”

The 33rd Pole Pedal Paddle will be remembered as the coldest in history. There were whiteouts on every leg, icicles hung from bicycles, and kayaks were blown upriver.

On a morning in which Jackson Hole crossed the 600-inch mark* for snowfall, we were blasted by yet another storm. Highways 22 and 390 were glazed with ice, and drifts covered the shoulders where competitors were supposed to ride.

PPP founder Harry Baxter, who started the event in 1975, called this year’s race “probably the toughest one ever.” Baxter, 78, usually watches the competition from the mountain, but this year he didn’t because “I wasn’t sure they were going to pull it off.”

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Bode Miller has long reigned as the baddest ski racer on the slopes. Now he has regained his title as the best.

The 30-year-old maverick from Franconia, N.H., clinched the overall World Cup championship Thursday, his second title in four years.

Despite an anticlimactic finish, this one had to be more satisfying for Miller, after breaking with the U.S. team, competing on his own and being branded by the American media as a loser following his crash-and-burn at the 2006 Olympics.

This video shows the secrets to his success.

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Ski photographer Jonathan Selkowitz returned home from the FIS World Ski Championships in Sweden in time to catch the biggest dump of the season.

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World Cup ski racer Resi Stiegler left the World Championships in Are, Sweden, with one top-10 finish and a belly slide.

The U.S. Ski Team has a story on her eighth-place finish under the lights in Friday’s slalom, with photos by Jonathan Selkowitz.

Nathaniel Vinton of the New York Times recounts how Stiegler drew cheers even in defeat Sunday.

In the latest World Cup standings, Stiegler is ranked 14th in slalom and 28th overall. She leads U.S. women in slalom and is third on the team in the overall Cup points.