JACKSON '21-'22 ~~ w/the 'Ghee, the King, The KC, the Creek and the Passes

[lindenle]

I could do some bikes. Thoughts on this? Bring it.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

[Djongo Unchained]

^^^^^^^^^

Jackson's Quietest Mag.

What's up mang? Swing by...

[panchosdad]

Snow on the Grand this morning!

[Djongo Unchained]

That's excellent PD, always a welcome sign, yes?

Hard to believe we're in the final week of August. Spring/Summer flew by for me.

Time to plan a Fall aspen tour; thinking on a lap to the Sawtooths, been a while. Maybe camp at Craters o'de Moon.

[Bunion 2020]

Each year since 1982, Grand Teton National Park — with its statuesque mountains, valleys and lakes — hosts one of the premier conferences for the world’s top officials steering the U.S. and global economies.

But like all major events, the conference couldn’t happen without thousands of workers — cabdrivers, cooks, cashiers — in and around Jackson, Wyo. And they are finding it tougher to make a living in the area, as costs for housing, gas and food become painfully out of reach.

The small yet sought-after town has always been a tough place to live affordably. But inflation has widened that gap, making Jackson, in particular, a pinnacle of inequality in the U.S. economy. The median price for a home in Jackson topped $2 million last year, as wealthy households and investors scoop up the few homes available. Local rent is up 12.4 percent. That has left many workers critical to the area’s hospitality and tourism industries clamoring for affordable apartments, commuting from hours away, or working multiple jobs to make ends meet.

“I don’t think the economy works for me right now,” said Jesus Montiel, who lives 90 minutes outside of Jackson and works at a toy store in town. “I can’t even find a home for sale anywhere near Jackson that’s less than one million dollars. And that’s for a one bedroom.”

U.S. policy makers misjudged inflation threat until it was too late

Starting Thursday, Federal Reserve officials and many others will descend upon the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, hosted by the Kansas City Fed, to discuss the same inflationary forces plaguing so many of those who work behind the scenes to ensure this charming mountain town continues to shine for tourists.

From a former hotel cook to a taxi driver, here are some of their stories.
Ricky Kairos, former hotel cook

When Ricky Kairos moved to Jackson four years ago, his first home was a small room, no kitchen, shared with a fellow employee at the Four Seasons Resort. Kairos shared a bathroom with multiple other workers, and lived directly across the hall from the hotel restaurant where he worked as a cook. The employee housing cost him $750 a month.

“That was pretty high up in my monthly budget, considering I was making $18-something an hour,” Kairos, 28, said. “It didn’t really leave me a lot of options. It was my first time coming to the area … But pretty quickly, I figured out I wasn’t going to be able to save anything.”

“It didn’t really leave me a lot of options. It was my first time coming to the area … But pretty quickly, I figured out I wasn’t going to be able to save anything.”
— Ricky Kairos

Kairos left his Four Seasons job after four months to finish culinary school, then returned to Jackson, seeking a job in a local restaurant. But steady work was hard to find: Tourism booms during the summer and winter. In the off seasons, tourism and hospitality industries scale back, leaving many workers either without jobs, or with significantly reduced hours, for weeks or months on end.

“The job stability — ‘am I going to have this job 52 weeks a year?’ — is really hard,” Kairos said. “As somebody who wants to make this their home and be here over the long term, it was really hard to ride that wave.”

For Kairos, the best thing to come from his stint at the Four Seasons was meeting his fiance, Irwing Bernal. When they couldn’t find affordable housing, the couple moved in with Bernal’s mother in Victor, Idaho, 25 miles away. The town is home to many Jackson commuters.

What is causing inflation: the factors pushing prices high each month

Now, Kairos and his fiance have more stable jobs, both working for Jackson’s public school system. On $25 an hour, the only way Kairos can imagine moving closer is if the school system or local government makes more employee housing available. Sixty-one people who worked for the school district resigned last year, overwhelmingly because they couldn’t find places to live, according to local officials.

“I would love to stay, but our biggest fear is they don’t raise our wages, and the price for a two-bedroom apartment in Jackson is $600,000,” Kairos said. “There’s no physical way I would ever be able to pay that off.”

Jesus Montiel, toy store sales manager

The drive from Jesus Montiel’s mobile home to his job as a sales manager at Teton Toys takes 90 minutes. On slushy winter mornings, or at the end of a 14-hour workday, he relies on energy drinks to stay alert on the winding canyon roads.

“I don’t think the economy works for me right now. I can’t even find a home for sale anywhere near Jackson that’s less than million dollars. And that’s for a one bedroom.”
— Jesus Montiel

Montiel, 22, pays $950 a month for the trailer that’s home to his family, including his wife and 2½-year-old daughter in Afton, Wyo., some 70 miles away. His uncle owns the mobile home park, which is part of the reason the family decided to live far outside of town.

But sometimes, Montiel doesn’t make it home. To save on gas and commuting time, Montiel will often crash on a friend or co-worker’s couch if that means he can sleep closer to the toy shop in Jackson.

Inflation eased in July from a year ago as energy prices fell

Montiel earns $25 an hour — a good wage, but with the cost of gas and food so high, he’s been taking on as many extra shifts as possible to make his budget work. The grocery tab for his family runs around $400 a month. Montiel’s wife, Krista Mason, stays home with their daughter, because child care is so expensive.

“I’m working a lot of overtime,” Montiel said. “It’s the only way I’m able to afford everything that I need to.”

Five years since moving to the area, Montiel said the exhausting commute is ultimately worth it. He estimates that his job in Jackson pays double what he’d make in Afton, where he said “a lot of the jobs are more for entry level [workers] or high-schoolers.” He takes pride in his work, helping customers find exactly what they’re looking for and keeping the store looking tidy.

“My biggest thing I’m trying to do is bring a smile to people,” Montiel said. “In the time that we’re living in, it can be very difficult.”

Marcela Badillo, cafeteria worker

For Marcela Badillo to own a house in Jackson, she had to build it.

Badillo, 37, lives in a Habitat for Humanity home, not too far from her job serving food in a high school cafeteria. Her three-bedroom, two-bathroom townhouse is a far cry from the hotel room where she and her four children once lived when they had no where else to go.

“It’s tiny, but it’s my house. And I don’t have to worry that the owner is going to sell the house, or about where we’re going move. Even if it’s tiny, we’re so grateful because we have a place to call home.”
— Marcela Badillo

About seven years ago, Badillo said she made enough to cover her family’s expenses working as a breastfeeding counselor and a house cleaner. But then her landlord abruptly decided to sell her rental home, she said, and put her in a frantic search for affordable rent. As she scoured for apartments in Jackson, she found that a handful of rentals accepted pets — but had unusual rules barring children. So her family crammed into a hotel room with two small beds, one bathroom and a kitchenette.

“It’s hard, having little ones and living in a hotel, with a family of six living in one small room,” Badillo said. “It wasn’t even a studio.”

When Badillo applied to build and own a Habitat for Humanity home in 2017, she was nervous her paperwork wouldn’t even be considered. When she immigrated at age 17 from Mexico, she was an illegal resident. Years later, she secured a worker visa, but was still waiting for her resident card when she sent in her application to Habitat, a nonprofit which helps homeowners build their own homes and secure an affordable mortgage.

It was accepted, and Badillo and her loved ones put in 500 hours helping construct her new townhouse. Her family moved in one year later.

“It’s tiny, but it’s my house,” Badillo said. “And I don’t have to worry that the owner is going to sell the house, or about where we’re going move. Even if it’s tiny, we’re so grateful because we have a place to call home.”

Badillo said she’s especially relieved to own her own home as the cost of living strains every other part of her budget. Groceries, gas and clothes are more expensive than ever. Her children range in age from 10 to 18 years, and, Badillo said, “it’s impossible to keep them in the same shoes for a long time.”


Washingtonpost.com © 1996-2022 The Washington Post

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[Bunion 2020]

Moron this story....

Jeff Monteith, taxi driver

As an employee at the majestic Jackson Lake Lodge for nine years, Jeff Monteith knew that the Fed’s annual conference was one of the hallmarks of the summer tourist season.

Monteith started working at the lodge after meeting his girlfriend, Emily Claassen, who planned events at the lodge. For more than a decade, Claassen helped put on the Fed’s conference, setting up rooms and planning menus for the three-day symposium. Monteith drove guests to scenic float trips on the nearby Snake River, and later worked as a bellman. Through work, they got year round employee housing.

“I lived in New York City for 30 years, and moved around from apartment to apartment. I thought I could always find something in a month. How wrong I was.”
— Jeff Monteith

“We were here for the guests,” Monteith said. “We were here to show everyone a good time.”

After almost a decade at the lodge, Monteith worked briefly at a private airport in Jackson, then became a professional limousine and taxi driver for a local company.

When Monteith and Claassen left their jobs at the lodge, they also lost their guaranteed housing. They started looking last year, and it quickly became clear they couldn’t afford to buy a home in town. Even the competition for rentals stunned Monteith.

“I lived in New York City for 30 years, and moved around from apartment to apartment,” he said. “I thought I could always find something in a month. How wrong I was.”

They eventually found a spacious rental house about 25 minutes outside of Jackson.

This summer, gas prices hit Monteith hard, especially as it hovered around $5.25 per gallon in Jackson. Higher prices at the pump meant he got paid less for each ride. Summers are already tighter for drivers, Monteith added, as more tourists rent cars than during the winter ski season.

“We have set prices, and those prices have not changed since gas prices have gone up,” Monteith said. “I definitely make more money in the winter, so like everyone, we’re just tightening our belts. We’ll probably take one or two or three fewer trips this year.”

Even with stable, successful jobs, the couple’s ability to stay depends on whether Jackson’s booming tourism industry can survive inflation. Claassen runs her own events company, and is putting on 21 weddings this year, plus a handful of corporate events. But even in a place like Jackson, Claassen said bookings depend on hotel or airline prices not escalating out of control — and on people wanting to keep coming back and spend.

Plus, the rising cost of living is driving more workers out of local tourism and hospitality jobs, Monteith said.

“Jackson, the way it’s defined, needs tourism, and I personally love showing off my backyard to people, and I want them to have a great time,” Monteith said. “On the other side, you have friends working in the hotel and restaurant industry, and they’re not all fully staffed, so they may have to work extra shifts. And that means they may not get to enjoy the mountain life that they moved out here for.”

[Core Shot]

The hole is fucked.

Good luck getting those services you want for a fair price.
Shit housing. Shitty jobs. Shit shit shit.

Fuck those billionaires.

I started going there when winter was the dead slow season. Should have bought land but didn’t have money. But I got great memories. Oh well.

I feel bad for my boys. It’s their home mountain.
Maybe they can turn sociopathic investment bankers and let me stay with them a few weeks.

[spudbumkin]

The lamentations of the working class in Jackson have been ongoing for decades. One moves there with the expectation of amazing skiing and outdoor activities, but reality immediately sets in and one's plans gradually morph. I can't afford a season pass to the Village, I will get a job at a place that offers a community pass to the Village instead. I can't afford a place in town, I will live in Alpine instead. The canyon is closed, I will drive over the pass and spend more money on gas instead. Pretty soon one realizes the futility of the situation and moves somewhere else instead. Fortunately for the monied class in Teton County, there seems to be an unending supply of adventurous people who think the situation will be different for them and decide to attempt a go at the Jackson lifestyle. I wish them luck!!

[Kevo]

Dr. Mo Brown died this week.

It's such a huge loss to the Teton Valley community. He put both my GF and my dad back together. So sorry for his family and his coworkers and for whatever he was silently dealing with.

[snapt]

Dr. Mo Brown died this week.

It's such a huge loss to the Teton Valley community. He put both my GF and my dad back together. So sorry for his family and his coworkers and for whatever he was silently dealing with.

Days at work don’t get much worse than last week. The valley lost a good one.

[babybear]

Bikes and brews at the vill this weekend, anyone?

I think we’ll be out riding tomorrow morning. Andrew has an afternoon tour, so he will have to depart before the brew part starts but let’s connect.
DJ you too, even though we know you’re a light weight beer drinker

[babybear]

Days at work don’t get much worse than last week. The valley lost a good one.

RIP

And thanks for what you do too snapt

[babybear]

went to go buy my ski pass last eve and they are completely sold out. damn.

I’ve always purchased early, but I waited longer this year bc Andrew thought he might work full time for the resort so then I would get a free pass. But he still wasn’t sure so I went to purchase and SOL.
this would be my 22nd season here and the first without a JHMR pass.
Making contacts with people I know there to see if there’s any way around. otherwise I guess Andrew had to work there full time. soooorrrry

[Core Shot]

Ouch. That sucks.

Never heard of passes selling out in august.
It was always guaranteed
But then icant ski. And April fools early sales. And the invasion happened.

Hope it works out for you. Maybe mountain host?

[schindlerpiste]

On-line, mid-week season passes are still avail. for ~1000.
Who wants to ski weekends in-bounds anyway?

[Djongo Unchained]

Ouch. That sucks.

Never heard of passes selling out in august.
It was always guaranteed
But then icant ski. And April fools early sales. And the invasion happened.

Hope it works out for you. Maybe mountain host?

Mountain Ghost you mean. I think that's a tits idea as most of the hosts today are old slow rollers interested in standing around and helping almost no one.

Actually, she'd be great at it as she's always so stoky and enthusiastic. And her hubby is a veritable shoe-in for any position. They beg guys like him to work there.
The other day, while chatting with JZell at the PO, the new boss of the ski school swerved over and was just fawning all over Jeff, saying how thrilled they'd be to have him come back.
Mr. Bear would be in this miniscule group of workers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The reason for the pass sellout is because they are limiting daily ticket sales.
Or so they say. There's no way of really knowing, short of someone spilling the beans.

I'd guess that last season was the first to have any level of sellout, intially 10 day passes but eventually some other types.
Before that, they'd sell access until the cows came home. Hence the phenominally long lines almost every day from ~2017- 2021.
Last season was freakishly quiet. Don't expect that again

This spring I asked about passes and she alluded to some changes, albeit minor ones, that might accelerate a sell out. She said maybe, which was a first.
I bought early as I can't haggle with those folks anymore. The ticket office peeps are actually trained fairly well but the mountain ops players can be as clueless as can be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thunder lift is coming along nicely. The footings have been poured and the steel is in the lower lot, waiting to be lifted.
They say the new ride will take about 3 minutes. Tracked out faster than ever. By me, bitches.
I'll be there first, and I'll be back in minutes.
The old chess game of getting around the hill on a pow morning is changing and becoming much more dynamic. Knowing where to go, and when, is becoming paramount to getting the best/deepest lines.

Also the groomer offa the top of thunder has been widened. Sliding forward to the saddle, you go left into Laramie bowl or right into Horn's hole, toward the cirque. That first righty drop that takes you to split around Mikey's rock has been widened to the left. Grooming will sweep under the broken goggle zone more. Lost pow turns for more groomed ones. A new merge zone with some blind spots. Typical JHMR engineering. The clown department fo sho.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Took a lap with EastorBust on the gondi the other day. Catching up and whatnot. Dude's so busy with the special lady friend, hardly see him.
Move over the hill and come over and party.
Good to see you two.


Who's planning a JH trip this season? Bueller?

[schindlerpiste]

I'll be in JH from 01/29-02/04. We'll party, for sure.

[Djongo Unchained]

On-line, mid-week season passes are still avail. for ~1000.
Who wants to ski weekends in-bounds anyway?

This is not bad advice.
And anywhere else, I'd say that's a good rule of thumb.
Ironically, some winters here, the best skiing is only on the weekends. I've seen 2 or 3 seasons that it snowed from friday afternoon thru sunday, all season long with hardly a flake during the week. Like with unreal consistency.

It's hard to begrudge the weekend warriors their pow turns, even when we're making firmer ones all week.

And remember, OB access here is incredible and only requires one wait in the tram line. Busy on a Saturday 16" pow morning? Take a Granite lap and know the value. Go stomp Pucker face. Probably not on that morning...

[stevied]

Last season was quiet but also didn’t snow for 6 weeks. I’ll be back for the season starting Jan 4.

[babybear]

Andrew already worked there full time last year so I actually should have gotten a free pass last year. He typically prefers to work more sporadically because of his other travels and camps, but they guilted him into working basically full time.
And they will most likely guilt him into working basically full time this winter again, so I might as well profit.

And my back up plan if Andrew doesn't want to do full time is that I buy a Snow King pass for $600 (the night skiing is my winter jam) and then buy Jackson Hole tickets as needed.
I don't think I have it in me to ski host

But frankly I don't mind their limiting #'s on the mountain. It was noticeably more pleasant last winter- maybe like ~10-15% or so less people, but kind of made the difference between busy and too busy.
it's weird that I waited so long this year and had a nagging feeling this would happen- damn me not listening to my instincts

schindler- look fwd to finally skiing with you. I definitely prefer to ski mid week but I have guaranteed weekend days off too. it's also typically when I ski with most other maggots!

[schindlerpiste]

I would shred a few night laps at Snow King. It sounds like it could be fun, and I haven’t skied at night since before you were born.

[plugboots]

bb, I feel your pain. I got the midweek pass and the Mtn. Collective pass, cuz we will ski some other places. I like to skate ski and bc, so…

[Djongo Unchained]

Yesterday I was at the village picking up my mail and fixing to gotake a tram ride. I swing into Nomad shop and chew the fat with the new brobosses in there. cool kids, always wanna chat me up.

I eventually head out the door, look up the sidewalk towards the bridger center and what do I see?
A juvenile black bear walking slowly towards me; about 120#, probably a yearling from either Granite ridge or the den beneath sweetwater ganjala.
He stops, I stop, a handful of peeps notice him.
Last December, I saw a cub from Teewinot chair walk right up to the WROD that JH was for 3 weeks last dec.
First thought is always, where's momma?

Mind you this is about 35 steps from the tram dock and almost dead center of human activity there in the vill.
I clap my hands and try to get him to turn around and go home. He slowly reverses course and stops to dump and then lounge on the lawn in the shade.
I go into the ticket office, notify Paul and he spreads the word via radio. We walk out to check it out and the security guy is already there. He tells me to stay back. I say some shit and do what I want. Fuck any security staff at a ski area.
I go up the tram, hang for maybe an hour, come down and he's still chilling in the tree. No one bothering him. Pretty mellow interactions really.

Yellowstone grizzlies have moved south into GTNP and surrounding areas, therefore the black bears spread away from them as the grizz will attack and kill them on site. Hence more bears at the village.

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

Yeah, they're less scared of people than the Grizzlys.

We've got one in our neighborhood at Magic. He's become very adept at finding food.

Pic of him opening my friend's car door:


He's gotten into my car also but I don't eat in there so he checked it out and left it alone. Didn't leave a mark on the paint but did leave a very obvious sandy paw print on my driver's seat.

A coupla summers ago, we let a friend that sold her house at Magic stay in our place for the summer. I was heading over (from NH) to mow the lawn and take the garbage to the dump. She asked what to do with the garbage; I told her to just put it in the shed and I would be there in 90 minutes. She went off to get her hair done and when I arrived at the house I found this:

The windows on the shed swing in and I never lock them. The bear smelled the garbage, climbed in through a window which then swung shut behind him. When he couldn't get out the window he went all Kool-Aid man and busted through the door. Took the garbage with him. We couldn't find a trace of it within 300 yards...

He took a dump in my yard last week.

[rideit]

Respectfully, I’m not sure I agree. My experiences with black bears is that if you make noise and yell at them, they usually skeedaddle. Grizzlies, OTOH, don’t give a fuck, and will charge you in the same scenario.

Blacks will cohabitate better in urban-ish areas, I agree with that.