The Vill: Powder, powder and more powder

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

By Brigid Mander

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-The powder gods continue to bestow snowy happiness upon us. Since Jan. 1, snow totals have exceeded 120 inches. The month has decided make its egress with a bit of a bang, though - Monday saw approximately 100 mph winds, zero visibility, and downed trees littering JHMR.

Almost all of the hill closed early Monday for safety reasons, as ski patrol worked to exhaustion in dangerous conditions for avalanche control and then to round up skiers lost in the whiteout and make sure the mountain was clear. Everyone should remember to give some appreciative props our patrollers (i.e., give them beer), since the lack of a tram makes things that much harder and more risky to keep safe for the public.

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 A certain snowboard competition is going to benefit tremendously from these storms. While local snowboarder Travis Rice may not have won any medals in this year’s X-Games down in Aspen, it is not too shabby to come home and host your own competition after huge powder dumps. The inaugural Quiksilver “Natural Selection” begins today with a field of 17 male riders chosen by Rice, five of whom call Jackson home. The event, termed an “all mountain free-style invitational” and which, according to Quiksilver CEO Bob McKnight, is about “exploring the basic, instinctual, and powerful relationship between mountain and rider.”

 While not being totally sure what that is supposed to mean, it does sound a lot like the regular big mountain competition concept. Except for the fact that most of those don’t get to have Casper Bowl closed for five days before the event to ensure good snow. Usually, there are tourists still hacking traverses into landings and scraping the snow off steep zones up until practically the moment of the start.

 Many people were curious as to how the organizers managed pull off such a coup, and rumors were flying as to how much Quiksilver paid for this privilege. We queried our mountain spokeswoman about it, and Anna Olsen said simply, “They [Quiksilver and Rice] asked. No one else ever asked before.” While she did go to say that this will not be regular protocol for upcoming events, it seems that big mountain ski comps could learn from this display of ‘ask and ye shall receive.’ Sigh…must the ski industry still learn from snowboarding?

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 JHMR held their passholder appreciation party last weekend, throwing a nice little party with free beer for passholders at the top of the gondola. With a turnout of about 600, the resort gave away a lot of nice prizes and gear, including a season pass for next year. 

However, since 10- and 20-day passholders probably don’t want to waste one of their precious few lift-served days sitting around a raffle, and your midweek passholder may shy away from being invited to board the gondola sans skis (ick - kind of like being invited the beach in July wearing jeans. It’s just wrong!), a rather more meaningful way to actually show appreciation to all the passholders would be to let the midweekers ski that Saturday and 10- and 20-day-ers have a free day.  Skiers like free ski days more than sandwiches and beer!

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 Ski hill fashions this year are definitely entering a new era - or, should we say, an old era?  Neon is so very back, in case you are blind and did not notice. But it is not just weird Euro visitors still sporting ’80s outfits that you can see from outer space anymore. It’s our very own youth! Shunning the traditional Jackson is-that-a-skier-or-a-tree look, fluorescent clad-high schoolers join our visitors from across the pond in sporting clashing neon oranges, greens and pinks. While the Europeans still insist it is for safety and visibility while skiing, it remains to be seen which excuse the kids are using. Or maybe they don’t know that it’s been done before.

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The Vill: Powder, powder and more powder | Planet JH News Article: Sports & Recreation

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