JACKSON 2022/23 {Tetons, Snakes, Gros Ventre, Winds, Wyoming Range, etc.)

[TG]

anyone know if jhmr is still doing the free tram rides for locals deal when it opens up this weekend?

[Djongo Unchained]

^^^^


I'll ask around today when I'm out at the vill.

I kinda doubt it, not sure when the last time it was offered. Thinking pre covid.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~``

This weekend in the Valley is gonna be full of cool stuff to do.

The Mountain Man Rendezvous is kinda fun to check out all the stuff and the people are usually characters.@ the fairgrounds.

The Teton Powwow is excellent, and the dances are incredible. Bring a camera, it's rare to see the different tribes in full regalia. @ the snow king centah!

Elkfest!!! town square ramps up for the antler auction but the vendor's collections of other types of skulls, racks, pelts, etc. are something to see. Probably nowhere else in the world is there a showing of so many trophies for sale.

The Chili cookoff is on the square on Sunday. Get some...

Million Dollar musicfest begins next week if country is yer thang.

Next Saturday is old west days parade, recently rebranded as the Best of the west parade.

And the Brewfest is next Saturday. oompah biotches!

Get some town fun in now cuz it'll be shitesville soon. All the road construction is gonna create plenty o' fuckery around here.

[byates1]

They doing 6 lane highways around town to accommodate the tourons?

[Djongo Unchained]

Well, the park is still "working" on the moose wilson road this summer so I believe it's closed most of the week.
I saw no evidence of any actual work being done and it was only open on weekends last year.

Then the Snake River bridge reconstruction is gonna be a hassle for a year or 3.

A few smaller projects in town are wreaking minor havoc with detours and google redirects already.

Smoke rolled in some today. Damn.

[CrystalMountainSkier]

anyone know if jhmr is still doing the free tram rides for locals deal when it opens up this weekend?

Not unless you bought a pass for next winter.

[Djongo Unchained]

For the first 40+ years, the first weekend of the summer was free to locals.

Been history for a little while. Slowly penciling out the local love, which has always been tenuous at best.

The latest thing is doubling the amount of buddy passes we get, and then halving their value.
What with the golden season passes, ikon cheap access, etc., they've become almost valueless. Taking half off of a $200+ daily was worth it.
Getting 25% of a daily now isn't much to offer a buddy. And it sure won't get them to town.
Just like the resort wants it, making the local perk almost useless.

Thanks Mickey.

[Ski220]

Excellent DJ.
Some pics to go along. (Warning: I’ve posted many of these previously.)

Well, howzabout that winter of 22/23?

That was as fine a winter as one can expect in the Tetons. I've seen so many different types but this one is in my top 2; the winter that stays wintery from end to end.

January 28th had the most avy events: 60 movements inbounds, 20 observed in the BC.

December 2nd was a sketchy day in the BC as 11 events were observed but 6 were over 44". Big moving day there.

on 3/11 it hit 82 max gust and a 34 avg for 24 hours. That day the wind was relentless.

January 28 was the deepest 24 hour dump at 28". That 5 day cycle went: 2.5", 5", 18", 28", 5".

I embrace that shit.
You know how I am...

Tram opening day Dec. 3, 2022.
Glad it stabilized.

Some days were too good to stop even for lunch.
Had to eat on the fly.

some deepo days

I’m in there somewhere

Jan. 17, 2023 was a little sketch
left to right




per my notes; Friday 3/10 was nuclear.
Tram shut down then briefly opened for one more ride
before it shut down again for good.
It was a slow ride to the top and a scary run down into RS.
The next day was solar and my last day at the village.

Been history for a little while. Slowly penciling out the local love, which has always been tenuous at best.

The latest thing is doubling the amount of buddy passes we get, and then halving their value.
What with the golden season passes, ikon cheap access, etc., they've become almost valueless. Taking half off of a $200+ daily was worth it.
Getting 25% of a daily now isn't much to offer a buddy. And it sure won't get them to town.
Just like the resort wants it, making the local perk almost useless.

Thanks Mickey.

.

Word.
Was part of my reasoning on going with the cheaper pass
for next season.
Been getting more Ikonic every year.
Really noticed it a few years ago when my JHMR season
pass showed up with my Ikon photo instead of my JHMR pass photo.
Now their buddy pass discount is the same as Ikons.
They might as well just give us Ikon passes.

Thanks Micky


If they ever put a lift up the lower faces or RS
I’m staying home. But until then ….
The tram will still be the best lift in N.A..

[Core Shot]

A lower faces lift wouldn’t destroy the soul of the hole.

RS. Yes. That would be fuct beyond belief.

[rideit]

Hey DJ, you gonna go up to Beartooth for opening?
Looks like it’s gonna be fun!

[Djongo Unchained]

Yeah, shooting for it. You wanna go? Plenty of great biking up there. And camping and Red Lodge...

I just got back from visiting Dad so ready to get back to real life now.

[babybear]

i can’t do Beartooth this weekend but I’d be up for the following weekend if DJ or anyone else is contemplating that since this weekend’s weather looks dicey.

Well shit.

I thought you had a little twang to your voice so assumed you came from south of us originally. But either way y’all get a pass because y’all are so cool. and also y’all can ski from what I’ve seen

[schwerty]

I usually keep my shit together and try not to bitch too much. But I have to say I’m fuckin pissed the fuck off at the ski corp. not sure our ski resort should even be referenced with that name anymore tho.

My Wife got shut out of a pass this year. Yeah, she waited to the 11th hour but the website still says certain passes are available. When we try to get one it ain’t working. I’m sure she will pull a string or two but shit…that piece in the paper today really hit home. When “locals”, (she didn’t grow up here but has been in the valley since ‘97), get the stiff arm that really sucks. Yup…we learned a lesson but the village isn’t making more money from us. She won’t ride the lofts for 200 bucks a pop. Wouldn’t they rather have the pass cash?

I’m close to giving my full pass back for a refund and skipping the lifts. If UAN agrees to knock on my door on the way up the pass I might just throw in the towel.


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[kokomas]

That sucks Schwerty. Feel for ya. I don't understand how passes sell out in August last year and then somehow before Memorial Day this year unless the resort cut them in half or something. And that shit is weak.

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[byates1]

Should do something like Baker where current pass holders get the first month before they are released to everyone else..

[comish]

Have friends moving to town in a month or so and they were a bit cheesed off to realize that there are no more passes available. I can understand them raising the prices as the summer goes on, but none available?

Anyone know the numbers? As in how many passes they have sold per year? I can't imagine selling out before Memorial Day means they actually sold more passes than in August of last year, but who knows.

[kokomas]

Someone needs to recalibrate that spreadsheet for them.

Not sure what your friends do for work but the restaurants and hotels will all be able to offer the usual JH Air discounted passes as a perk I'm assuming so that would be a way to get one still

[NBABUCKS1]

the flip side is they release more passes and people complain more that there are more crowds ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I assume people probably remembered passes selling out 'early' last year and weren't making that same mistake again.

Next year they'll be sold out by mid may if not earlier. It's how Cottonwoods Canyon traffic works, it gets earlier and earlier...

[Djongo Unchained]

Should do something like Baker where current pass holders get the first month before they are released to everyone else..

This is the remedy but it too will bring it's own set of issues.

I say they need a local's sale for a short window 2-4 weeks before the masses.
You'd have to show a Wyoming driver's license, any county.
If you've lived here for a while but never changed yer license, tough shit. Tourist.

Full pass holders should get a discount on parking passes with a sliding scale depending on the ski pass purchased.
Full tilt boogie passholders get gasoline at $1.27 a gallon all winter. Shit like that.

[Djongo Unchained]

Next year they'll be sold out by mid may if not earlier. It's how Cottonwoods Canyon traffic works, it gets earlier and earlier...

That kind of speculatin' is best left in the Wasatch zone, thank you veddy much.

[Djongo Unchained]

Now to the meat of this discussion. How did we get here?

Simple; daily ticket prices are too high.
If buying a season pass/passes for yourself or your family is paid off in 10 ski days or less, you get that one.
Just make it one long vacation or 2 week long stays and yer saving money already.
Some mags here do this. They're ski buds of all of us.

190-240$ for 7 hours max and often 5 or 6 with busy mazes will make one second guess the math.

The ski corp will ALWAYS prefer to sell a pass to a 2 week tourist than a 120 day local. But that was never a viable approach for skiers before dailies went through the roof.
Now they're looking at less people skiing on any given day, than with the prior model.

They will tell us that they're making the experience better. For whom?
The dwindling handful of locals and the increasing amount of short term visitors.
And by making the experience better, I mean to say, dumbing down the skiing and pussifying the Big mountain.

That sucks Schwerty. Feel for ya. I don't understand how passes sell out in August last year and then somehow before Memorial Day this year unless the resort cut them in half or something. And that shit is weak.

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More people figured it out about the cost-fun ratio; and we had an excellent winter.

Betcha there'll be a metric FUCKton of new season passholders next year. Most 2 week heroes, TFB's and retiree FOGs.

They are always weak. It's a genetic mutation.
Fact. History proves it out.

Have friends moving to town in a month or so and they were a bit cheesed off to realize that there are no more passes available. I can understand them raising the prices as the summer goes on, but none available?

Anyone know the numbers? As in how many passes they have sold per year? I can't imagine selling out before Memorial Day means they actually sold more passes than in August of last year, but who knows.

There are still weekday bypass and 10 day bypass for sale. Hell, it's not ideal but they'd almost have a full pass by buying those.

And the merchant pass/jh air situation rears it's old head as the new way to get a pass. Get a job that offers access to the merchant pass program and you can get a pass, any kind iirc, at any time. And with a 10, 20 or 30% discount on spring prices.

That's how it worked for decades. I can see them hamstringing that right quick.

No one knows the number and the resort is setting themselves up to look like secretive, lying assholes by being so non transparent.
And yes, If a shitload more people saw the light, then jhmr selling out faster is entirely likely.

Tell your friends to reach out. The local mags are rich in stuff.

Someone needs to recalibrate that spreadsheet for them.

Not sure what your friends do for work but the restaurants and hotels will all be able to offer the usual JH Air discounted passes as a perk I'm assuming so that would be a way to get one still

Back when airlines didn't want to fly here much, the JH air/ Merchant program was started to help subsidize more flights inbounds.
Ski corp gives merchant's a pass deal with tiered options.
The merchant pitches in 10, 20, 30k towards the airlines kitty.
Airlines gets mo money, so they pencil in more daily/weekly flights than usually would.

The merchant gets: any employee can buy any pass at any time with the company's discount, which is picked by the merchant- 10k get's 10% off, 20k gets20% off, etc.
Also a company pass/passes that are fully transferable to JHMR, GT and SK, any day.

Not all companies do this but maaaany do. It used to be leverage to get employees then fell off with housing issues. Now it's gonna be a last ditch way to get a pass after May.

[east or bust]

lotta clearing going on at the bottom of sublette…

[Djongo Unchained]

They are going to run the traverse from there to Thunder in one long run methinks. Getting rid of the Z cut.

And gonna try and sell some stuff there at Bear flats, that building and pond area.

[east or bust]

If that’s indeed the case that’d be kinda nice. The area uphill of the current cat track has some nice terrain that could be extended a bit if they filled the old traverse in.


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[raisingarizona13]

A lower faces lift wouldn’t destroy the soul of the hole.

RS. Yes. That would be fuct beyond belief.

I bet it happens within the next 20 years.

If the climate science is right an RS lift isn't going to kill the should of ski areas like Jxn but the prices and crowding will.

I get a a bit of a laugh when I hear people that live in a place like Jxn that they feel safe from the affects of a warming climate. If anything it's going to become a 100 times more unaffordable for working type folks to live, work and play there. The few safe places that will offer the most reliable winter recreation will become so expensive that only the wealthiest people would even consider recreational pursuits like skiing. As the demand grows and the product diminishes with only a few locations that make any sense for a ski areas to actually be worth operating the public land managers will be forced to let resorts expand to appease that demand. With all of that there will have to be lotteries, reservations and ridiculously high entrance fees to even think about going skiing.

I'm already feeling this. The more money skiing costs me the less value I see in participating any more. Climate science aside there's just too many fucking people now. Things are getting real fucky.

Get it while ya can.

[kokomas]

Would add the f*re risk is growing so not really a haven. Can barely build here now, see how long it takes to rebuild when a hundred homeowners are trying to do the same thing. I doubt most people's insurance policies will cover that added expense as well

There are places to refuge but probably not here. Point taken on the winter aspect though.

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