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

First, Big Sky Resort in Montana grabbed headlines for offering free lift tickets to Colorado Epic Pass holders. Now, Grand Targhee has upped the ante by offering free skiing to pass holders from any North American resort.

“Given that La Niña and this winter have not been as generous with some other regions, Targhee is offering a ‘ski free’ program to skiers who have bought season passes to any U.S. or Canadian ski resort for this 2012 season,” the resort said.

The catch: Guests must book at least three nights of lodging. Rates vary from $98 to $599 per night.

Targhee has all of its lifts open and a 46-inch base. Neighboring Jackson Hole reports 42 inches on its upper mountain.

That’s a veritable bounty, compared to most of the country.

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Posted under Economy, Ski Resorts, Sports, Weather

Tags: colorado, powder, skiing, snowboarding, targhee

Do the Patriots have a prayer today at Mile High?

Tebow’s run has been remarkable, as he shatters the myth of who can or cannot play quarterback in the NFL. His minimalist, late-game heroics are reminiscent of George Blanda in 1970.

One would think the Saints are God’s team, given the miracle of Super Bowl XLIV.
Lord knows the Jets could use some divine intervention.

(Mobile viewers need Hulu Plus)

Posted under Entertainment, Humor, Religion, Sports

Tags: colorado, football, Media

Apparently unaware that Wyoming legislators can make it rain (or snow) by pumping $14 million into cloud seeding, Colorado businessman Aaron Million is pressing ahead with his proposal to pump water some 500 miles from Flaming Gorge Reservoir over the Continental Divide to Colorado’s Front Range.

In a bit of procedural sleight of hand, Million has shifted his application from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, now claiming the project will produce hydropower. In doing so he seeks whichever federal agency is most likely to give the plan a favorable review.

Former Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal opposed the pipeline, as does his successor, Gov. Matt Mead. Sportsmen from southern Wyoming and northern Utah also have ridiculed the plan, which would divert 250,000 acre feet of water — or about 30 percent of the storage capacity of Jackson Lake, for a comparison — from the Green River Basin each year, into the eastbound Platte Basin.

The staggering price tag — $3 billion by Million’s estimation, up to $9 billion by other projections — regulatory hurdles and widespread doubts make it unlikely the pipeline ever will be built. But we never can be too vigilant, so click here to submit an eComment to FERC. The docket number for the Flaming Gorge Pipeline is P-14263, and the deadline is Dec. 16.

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Posted under Economy, Environment, Politics, Sports, Wyoming

Tags: boondoggles, colorado, conservation, fishing, matt mead, river running

On several occasions we’ve featured the work of photographer Morris Weintraub. Turns out Morris shoots scenes other than attractive, scantily clad ladies and skids swilling PBR.

This fall the freelance photojournalist took a road trip around the West, shooting landscapes from southern Colorado to the Oregon coast and back. Among the spectacular places he documented are Grand Canyon and Yosemite national parks and Crater Lake.

Need a last-minute gift? Morris is selling prints from this collection, priced affordably, with proceeds going to the Santa Claus Fund, a Jackson Hole nonprofit that distributes toys to underprivileged kids. This year the organization is helping 110 volunteers shop for 370 children.

Click on these thumbnails to enlarge, use arrow keys to navigate the slide show, and click here to browse the full gallery.

Posted under Art, Holidays

Tags: colorado, nonprofits, photography, utah

Vail Resorts continues to muzzle journalists, at the expense of its own image.

Strong-arming by the Colorado-based behemoth led to the firing last week of Summit Daily News columnist Bob Berwyn. A respected journalist, Berwyn had the temerity to probe ski resorts’ hyping of snowfall and bristled at receiving an angry call afterward from a Vail executive.

The reputation of print publications continues to take a beating as well.

From the N.Y. Times’ Media Decoder blog:

The circumstances that led to [Berwyn's] job loss are full of twists and turns, like a particularly brutal giant slalom course, but let’s just say it involves a large ski resort company, Twitter, secular changes in marketing, along with barometric and advertising pressure. More plainly, his firing suggests that vulnerable publishers, under pressure as the noose on advertising-supported print seems to tighten, are willing to groom away the moguls if that’s what they think the advertiser wants.

In short, Vail pulled its advertising from the paper after Berwyn’s relatively harmless column. The company’s chairman, Rob Katz, called the writer and publisher to complain about the piece, and Berwyn’s subsequent post on Twitter that he “got reamed by the ski co.” was apparently the last straw.

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Posted under Economy, Ski Resorts, Sports

Tags: colorado, Media, nate bennett, skiing, vail