Winter Adventures in Jackson Hole by Arnie Wilson
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The lost world
It’s wild and it’s west. And if ever there were a spot in the USA that made you feel what it might have been like to be a 19th-century trapper, frontiersman, gunslinger, rancher, Shoshone, Crow, Blackfoot or Gros Ventre Indian (there was even a Mountain Crow tribe called the “Kicked-in-the-Belly” people), it’s this remote Wyoming valley or “hole”. The valley is crowned by America’s most photographed mountains, the Tetons. Although it’s the challenging and scenic skiing at Teton Village which makes Jackson Hole such a big draw, there are many other winter adventures to marvel at.
There’s something of a “lost world” about the place. It might even have stayed lost without the annual trade between trappers like Davey Jackson (who lent his name to the valley) and the indigenous Native Americans –- or without Yellowstone National Park, which attracts hordes of visitors, mainly in the summer months.
Winter in Yellowstone is just as impressive, but much quieter (except of course for the tinny roar of your Arctic Cat four-stroke engine as it “competes with the thunderous beat of your heart”). On a busy winter’s day, the celebrated Old Faithful geyser has about 700 visitors, compared with 25,000 during a typical summer’s day.
But then, of course, it’s much colder in winter, and you’ll need to hire a complete snowmobile outfit to witness Old Faithful’s regular eruptions: jacket, boots, snowmobile bibs (padded trousers), mittens, balaclava and a helmet with face shield. Mercifully snowmobiles also have hand warmers. There’s a wide-ranging permutation of guided snowmobile itineraries, and your journey to various parts of Yellowstone and back can keep you busy all day –- or even several days.
Elk spotting
Another outing not to be missed is a visit the National Elk Refuge, just north of the town. Here up to 5000 elk –- the world's largest wintering concentration –- take temporary refuge. They look out across the jagged Tetons, but whether they are impressed with their view is hard to say. Their main concern, after trooping in from summer feeding grounds in the longest herd migration of elk in the contiguous U.S., is staying alive in what can be brutal Wyoming winters and trying to avoid the odd coyote, or even wolf, snapping at their heels. Or worse, sometimes a weak elk will not survive winter here, even though the animals are fed alfalfa pellets daily by refuge employees
From mid-December through to early April, horse-drawn sleighs or wagons
offer visitors a close-up look at the elk herd. These leave from the Jackson Hole and Greater Yellowstone Visitor Center. Visitors are encouraged to use blankets and bundle up, since they are likely to be exposed to “very cold temperatures and chilling winds”. The Elk Refuge is also home to a herd of bison.
You’re likely to find bighorn sheep there too, and an array of waterfowl, including the largest swans in the world – the Trumpeter Swan, the North American counterpart of the European Whooper Swan. It’s a good opportunity to combine the elk tour with a visit to the impressive (and much warmer) National Museum of Wildlife Art nearby.
A visit to the Elk Refuge also usually forms part of Jackson Hole’s winter wildlife safaris. With so much wildlife roaming this part of Wyoming, these four-hour guided safaris can also make for a rewarding day away from the slopes. By heading north along the western boundary of the refuge to Grand Teton National Park in a 4X4, you may well also encounter (and be able to photograph) deer, moose, fox, coyote, bald eagles, and even wolves. Hot drinks, binoculars and guidebooks are provided as well as organic snacks.
Return of Big Red
Not that you need to go on safari to spot moose. They turn up – sometimes at alarmingly close quarters – on the slopes at Teton Village, Jackson’s exhilarating ski area. Last winter the resort’s much heralded gleaming new red “tram” (cable car) – known affectionately as Big Red –- received close attention not only from Jackson Hole’s aficionados, but (albeit inadvertently) from a female moose and her calf.
Although Jackson Hole is prime moose country, it’s not common for these ungainly creatures – sometimes referred to as “swamp donkeys” –- to be seen so close to the resort’s Teton Village base area. This couple was nibbling bark at a small copse at the back of the mighty new lift. Skiers returning to base were whipping out mobile phones to grab close-up images only to find the adult moose pawing the snow before charging at them. Eventually a ski patroller arrived by snowmobile to coax mother and calf away from the immediate vicinity –- for the sakes of both skiers and animals.
But now that Big Red is back after a two-year absence –- bigger and better than ever –- all is well in Jackson Hole. It’s hard to explain and hard to underplay the importance of this iconic lift and its so-called “Tramsformation”. If you removed (temporarily) a cable car from almost any European resort (the Prince of Wales cable car to the top of Gotschnagrat at the Swiss resort of Klosters might be a good example) it would doubtless be missed, but without the gnashing of teeth and wailing that accompanied the final curtain for Jackson Hole’s Tram. It was grounded after the 2005-06 winter because of long-term safety concerns. But mountain trams in the USA are so rare –- there are scarcely half a dozen all told –- that Jackson Hole’s, the most famous of all, had acquired an almost mythical existence since the original undertook its maiden voyage in 1966.
After two tramless winters (including a record-breaking season for snow in 2007-08, when construction continued in the teeth of seemingly endless blizzards), the new one was launched. Designed by Garaventa, a division of Doppelmayr, based in Switzerland, it called for thousands of hand-crafted parts, all numbered, that filled 40 shipping containers and travelled 6,000 miles to Wyoming.
It is twice the size of the old one (so the queue to climb aboard melts away each time rather than lingers), just as red, if not redder, and with sleek new lines befitting the 21st century. At a cost of some $31 million, “Big Red” quickly assumed the up-and-at-em gung-ho let-it-rip character its predecessor had instilled in this wildest of Wild West ski areas. Riding the tram, quite simply, is almost like going into battle.
Mangy Mooses
Before we left, we just had to visit the Mangy Moose, the most popular après-ski establishment in Teton Village, which even has a stuffed moose dangling from the rafters, high above skiers knocking back beers and margaritas after another adventurous day on the hill.
”They’re so gangly,” said our driver, David from the Four Seasons Resort, Jackson Hole. “I know they’re dangerous, but I have difficulty taking them seriously.” One goofy teenaged specimen, we heard, set up stall outside the Four Seasons to take advantage of the heated, snow-free path –- an attractive location during the cold winter months. A traffic jam built up as staff tried to shoo it away. “But then, this is why people come to Wyoming,” said David.