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

A chapter in Jackson Hole media history has come to a close, as David Gonzales announced yesterday he will cease publishing The Snaz.

The popular website was Jackson Hole’s first mountain culture blog, established in 2006. Originally dedicated to Jackson Hole videos, the site evolved into a platform for news, discussion, fine art photography and conservation.

Gonzales said he is retiring the site to focus on TreeFight, the effort he founded in 2010 to protect whitebark pine forests from climate change.

“I had to consolidate my efforts,” he said. “TreeFight is more important in every way.”

Although there were several experimental websites in the early 2000s — jhlocal among them — The Snaz was the first Jackson Hole blog to achieve a wide audience. At the height of its popularity, the site drew close to 2,000 readers per day, Gonzales said.

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Posted under Environment, Media

Tags: climate change, conservation, national forest, nonprofits

Last Saturday, 1 Percent for the Tetons staged perhaps its most successful Schechter Fest yet: screenings of eight short films about the latest round of projects funded by 1 Percent donations.

Nearly 400 people — many of them friends of the young filmmakers — poured into Center for the Arts to watch the clips and vote for their favorite. The above video, by KGB Productions, was the funniest — no surprise, given that KGB are the professional makers of Wyoming Triumph. Because it was voted best by the audience and a panel of judges, the video won an additional $1,000 for the filmmakers and $1,000 for the Candyland Trail built by Teton Freedom Riders.

1 Percent is continuing the Blitz with online voting that will award an additional $1,000, to be split between maker and nonprofit. All of the videos are posted on the 1 Percent website, and the deadline to vote is 5 p.m. Nov. 2.

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Posted under Art, Economy, Environment, Humor

Tags: conservation, films, Media, mountain biking, nonprofits

Tonight, Winter Wildlands Alliance brings its seventh annual Backcountry Film Festival to Snow King Resort. The event is a fund-raiser for Friends of Pathways and the Jackson Hole Ski Club.

Among the films to be screened are Solitaire by Sweetgrass Productions and Breaking Trail by Powderwhore, as well as a short by Jackson’s own Chris Dickey.

Betty Rock is serving pizza and chili, and Snake River Brewing Co. is pouring beer. The festival runs from 5 to 9 p.m. Screenings will begin at 6. Admission is $10, and proceeds will benefit the FoP Teton Pass Ambassador and Ski Club nordic programs. There will be a raffle with a host of great prizes.

With a winter storm blasting Jackson Hole for the next few days, it won’t be long before skiers and riders are breaking trail to earn their turns in the Teton backcountry. Tonight’s lineup is sure to stoke the excitement.

Posted under Art, Entertainment, Environment, Sports

Tags: backcountry, films, nonprofits, photography, powder, skiing, snowboarding

Last week’s JH4VT benefit party raised nearly $4,000 for Vermont residents and businesses affected by Hurricane Irene.

The money will help people along Route 4, an area especially devastated by the storm.

“Jackson is truly an amazing community that pulls together whenever others need it,” said Don Watkins, one of the organizers.

The strong turnout was not surprising, given that roughly 33 percent of all Jackson Hole residents attended Middlebury College.

Friends of the 802 will continue to accept donations online.

Posted under Economy, Environment

Tags: nonprofits

Gus, the fly-casting protagonist of David James Duncan‘s coming-of-age novel The River Why, first loses then finds himself in fishing. He sits and listens to the stream, grappling with weighty environmental and philosophical questions more than trout:

No, it wasn’t simply the death of the fish that bothered me. The thing I found offensive, the thing I hated about Mohican-mountain-makers, gill-netters, poachers, whalehunters, strip-miners, herbicide spewers, dam-erectors, nuclear-reactor builders or anyone who lusted after flesh, meat, mineral, tree, pelt and dollar — including, first and foremost, myself — was the smug ingratitude, the attitude that assumed the world and its creatures owed us everything we could catch, shoot, tear out, alter, plunder, devour … and we owed the world nothing in return.

As this trailer attests, the movie adaptation drifts more into romance than philosophy. But who doesn’t want to land a mermaid?

Tonight at Center for the Arts, Patagonia presents a special screening of the film to benefit the Snake River Fund. Tickets are $15, available online or at the box office. Showtime is 7:30 p.m., and doors open at 6:30 for refreshments.

The film only has been screened a few times after making the rounds on the festival circuit last year.

Duncan, the author, grew up in Oregon and has been a passionate advocate for restoration of Snake/Columbia River salmon. His soulful novel is worth a read.

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Posted under Art, Entertainment, Environment, Sports

Tags: conservation, films, fishing, nonprofits, river running, snake river, writing

Don’t tell me this town ain’t got no heart.

Music fans will hear it beat out loud Friday when The Deadlocks, Jackson’s Grateful Dead cover band, perform likely the first concert ever held on the Town Square. The “Downtown Shakedown” is free and runs from 5 to 9:30 p.m.

The Jackson Town Council approved the event last week. Proceeds from beer sales will benefit Friends of Pathways.

Let’s hope bikers in front of the Cowboy Bar don’t turn the show into another Altamont.

Seriously, the concert is the first in what organizers hope will be a series. Band members Pete Muldoon and Jed Frumkin have formed an advocacy group — called Gettin’ Down, Town! — that seeks to promote Jackson as a destination for live music.

The two also have been “trying to find ways to allow the over-30 demographic to experience some of the great music that Jackson has to offer without having to spend late nights in bars or driving out of town or the state,” Muldoon says.

Music fans are invited to bike or walk to the show and see what else is happening downtown. You’ve just got to poke around.

(Photo by Chris Havener)

Posted under Economy, Music, Town Government

Tags: cycling, nonprofits, rock