After a few weeks of hard work and saving money, things began to take a turn for the better. On November 7th, Laura and I went to the ski movie premier of 600", a ski movie filmed entirely in Jackson Hole last season. We honestly weren't excepting the movie to be that great or for there to be that many people at the premier, but we were so wrong...the place was PACKED and the movie was AWESOME. To make things even better, Laura won a $200 Cloudveil jacket in a raffle and she only spent $2 on her tickets! This night started a domino effect for us, and caused us to become obsessed with the impending season!
Later that week at work, I found out that my job does have some extra little perks. One day I was talking to this nice lady while making her coffee, and she was telling me about how her land lord had just given her some fresh venison. I told her I had vension once and it was soooooo good. She then replied, "Oh? I'll bring you some then!" I didn't take her very seriously, but to my surprise she showed up about 10 mins later with the meat! It was awesome! And delicous :)
A couple of days later, being the ski geek that I am, I was starstruck by some of the visitors to the coffee shop. I had two members of the Jackson Hole Air Force come and get coffee from me! The Jackson Hole Air Force is a group of skiers that came about in the 80s who basically invented freestyle skiing. They were the first to venture out into the backcountry when it was actually illegal to do so. They were the first to think it was okay to ski off 50 foot cliffs and do double backflips 30 feet in the air. These guys are legends to me, and after reading and hearing about them for years, seeing them in person blew my mind! You can tell who they are because they have jackets with skull patches on them, with ski poles crossed behind the skull. Their motto is imprinted around it...Swift. Silent. Deep. Seeing them made my excitement go out of control, and I decided that I couldn't wait until the resort opened to go skiing anymore! You can watch the trailer of a movie they are making about the JHAF by clicking on the image below.
I quickly convinced Laura that we needed to hit up the backcountry, which had recently been pounded with about 3 feet of snow. This backcountry is at the Teton Pass, where highway 22 runs through the Tetons from Wyoming to Idaho. For the next day or two, I probed locals for information while at work, and after going to the resort to talk to some of the employees we had all the information we needed to make this idea a reality.
This morning Laura and I woke up and headed straight up to the pass to claim our first ski day of the season. We hiked up from the parking lot at the top of the pass, and skied the Tele Bowl. We were very surprised to be greeted with almost two feet of fresh snow! If you have never hiked for your turns before, it's hard to understand the feelings that accompany such an investment. Working up the mountain on foot truly gives you a whole new appreciation for skiing. This was definitely the best first ski day conditions and terrain I have ever had. We had a great time, and I'm sure we will be back up there on our next day off! The season is now officially under way! Here are some pictures from the excursion.
View of the valley from the top of the pass.
The parking lot on the side of highway 22 at the top of the pass. The hike starts here!
Laura gearing up and strapping her board to her pack.
This sign is the only guidance skiers of Teton Pass get, and its not much!
The snow was knee deep and we weren't even touching the ground!
The hiking begins...
...and continues.
Laura coming up to the peak of Tele Bowl.
The view from the top, almost a white out!
Water break before the descent.
Laura laying down some first tracks.
Me CLAIMing it from the top.
Buck wild.
Laura ended up with her feet uphill :P
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2 comments:
awesome man!
Freakin awesome!!! :)
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