Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR) is a

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North ...

in the

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, at

Teton Village Teton Village is a census-designated place (CDP) in Teton County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 330 at the 2010 census. The village surrounds the base of the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. It is accessed from nearby Jackson and the s ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

. In the

Teton Range The Teton Range is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in North America. It extends for approximately in a north–south direction through the U.S. state of Wyoming, east of the Idaho state line. It is south of Yellowstone National Park and ...

of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

, it is located in Teton County, northwest of

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...

and due south of

Grand Teton National Park Grand Teton National Park is an American national park in northwestern Wyoming. At approximately , the park includes the major peaks of the Teton Range as well as most of the northern sections of the valley known as Jackson Hole. Grand Teton Na ...

. It is named after the historically significant

Jackson Hole Jackson Hole (originally called Jackson's Hole by mountain men) is a valley between the Gros Ventre and Teton mountain ranges in the U.S. state of Wyoming, near the border with Idaho, in Teton County, one of the richest counties in the Unite ...

valley and is known for its steep terrain and large continuous vertical drop of . JHMR appears frequently in the media as one of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

's most expensive ski resorts.

Ski area information

The ski area partially covers Rendezvous and Apres Vous Mountains and is known for its challenging terrain, including the infamous

Corbet's Couloir Corbet's Couloir is an expert ski run located at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Teton Village, Wyoming. It is named after Jackson Hole ski instructor and mountain guide Barry Corbet who famously spotted the narrow crease of snow shaped li ...

. Half of the terrain is rated expert, 40% intermediate, and only 10% beginner. The intermediate terrain is primarily on south-facing Apres Vous Mountain, while Rendezvous Mountain has Jackson Hole's more advanced terrain, including bowls, glades, and chutes. At over 4,000 vertical feet of skiing, Jackson Hole boasts one of the greatest continuous inbounds rises in the U.S, after nearby Big Sky,

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

, which has an overall vertical of , but its continuous vertical is less; and Snowmass in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, which has the greatest lift-served vertical drop in the nation at ). The slopes on Rendezvous mostly face southeast. In addition to the skiable terrain in-bounds, there is an even larger area to be explored

off-piste Backcountry skiing ( US), also called off-piste (Europe), alpine touring, or out-of-area, is skiing in the backcountry on unmarked or unpatrolled areas either inside or outside a ski resort's boundaries. This contrasts with alpine skiing, which ...

(out of bounds). These areas are accessed through marked gates by expert skiers/boarders who are equipped with avalanche safety gear. Jackson Hole's original

aerial tram An aerial tramway, sky tram, cable car, ropeway, aerial tram, telepherique, or seilbahn is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion. With this form of lift, the grip ...

was closed to the public in the spring of 2006 and replaced with a new tram that opened in 2008. The tram's vertical rise is to an elevation of above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

. Construction on the new, 100-passenger Doppelmayr CTEC tram began the day after the Resort closed for the 2006-2007 ski season. Service began on December 20, 2008. During the two seasons without a tram, a temporary double chairlift named East Ridge was built to service the runs at the top of Rendezvous Mountain. This lift was subsequently moved and renamed the Marmot Chair, which provides access from the base of the Thunder Lift to the Bridger Gondola summit. In the summer, the resort offers numerous activities such as mountain biking, hiking, paragliding, bungee trampoline, ropes course, rock climbing, and the Via ferrata in Casper bowl at the top of the Bridger gondola. The resort and region is served by the Jackson Hole Airport KJAC, located 11 miles north east of Teton Village and offers seasonal service to 20 cities across the United States.

History

Before 1961, the area of the future resort was the Crystal Springs

Girl Scout Girl Guides (known as Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909 when girls requested to join the then-grassroot ...

Ranch. Paul McCollister purchased the ranch and formed the Jackson Hole Ski Corporation in 1963 with partners Alex Morley and Gordon Graham. Construction began a year later, and Apres Vous mountain opened to the public the 1965-66 winter with 3 double chairlifts. Eagles rest, Teewinot, and Apres Vous. The original tram on Rendezvous opened on July 31, 1966; with capacity for 62 people and 1 conductor. It took between 8-12 minutes, depending on speed set, to reach the summit of Rendezvous Mountain at 10,450 ft. The Aerial Tram officially opened to the skiing public Winter Season 1966/67. The Resort opened winter of 1965/66 and reigning

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

gold medalist A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have be ...

Josef "Pepi" Stiegler of Austria was hired that same year as ski school director. In 1992, McCollister sold his interests in the resort to John Kemmerer III. From there, the Kemmerer Family made multiple new changes to the resort, including new lifts, hotels, and new ski runs. Jackson Hole hosted

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

ski races in the inaugural 1967 season, and again in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

and

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

. The most recent races in 1975 were downhills, won by

Franz Klammer Franz Klammer (born 3 December 1953) is a former champion alpine ski racer from Austria. Klammer dominated the downhill event for four consecutive World Cup seasons (1975– 78). He was the gold medalist at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsb ...

and

Marie-Theres Nadig Marie-Theres Nadig (born 8 March 1954) is a retired Swiss alpine skier. Biography Aged 17, she won gold medals in the downhill and giant slalom events at the 1972 Winter Olympics. During her career, Nadig won 24 world cup races and had 57 podi ...

. The first national Powder 8 Championship was held at Jackson Hole in 1970.

Avalanches

Jackson Hole was the site of two in-bounds

avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and earth ...

s in late 2008, first on December 27 and another two days later on December 29. The first avalanche resulted in the death of skier David Nodine, one of three in-bound deaths in the American West in the 2008-09 ski season, the most since three skiers were killed at

Alpine Meadows Alpine tundra is a type of natural region or biome that does not contain trees because it is at high elevation, with an associated harsh climate. As the latitude of a location approaches the poles, the threshold elevation for alpine tundra gets ...

in 1976. The second avalanche occurred in the Headwall area and buried part of the Bridger Restaurant but resulted in no injuries. An in-bounds avalanche swept a longtime member of the ski patrol, Mark Wolling (known as Big Wally), off a cliff on January 6, 2010. Although he was rescued, he later died from his injuries. A double-black-diamond run in Cheyenne Bowl was named after Big Wally. It is marked on the trail map as Wally World. A set of flags lying on the run's fall line indicates where he was found.

Lifts

*Jackson Hole has 13 lifts.

References

External links

*{{official, http://www.jacksonhole.com
Ski Lifts.org - Jackson Hole - current and removed lifts
Ski areas and resorts in Wyoming Buildings and structures in Teton County, Wyoming Tourist attractions in Teton County, Wyoming