My Page: Shane K. Staley

Snowboarding and Skateboarding

In Laramie, you only have one option for a ski area to ride: Snowy Range.

The same can be said for skate parks. Summit County has Silverthorne and another in Breckenridge, just a 15-minute drive apart.

Denver and its suburbs offer even more possibilities. 

If this same person were to stay in Laramie, they would only be able to skate at the town’s sole park. If they want to skate another park, they have to drive east to the nearest park in Cheyenne, which is 45 miles away.

But, it’s not just the fact that there are more ski resorts and skate parks in Colorado than Wyoming that draws some Laramie skaters and boarders south. They’re also lured by how much more terrain there is available at Colorado resorts and skate parks.

Whether you look at the amount of terrain available at the individual resorts of Keystone, Breckenridge or Copper Mountain, they all stand as colossal giants in comparison to the dwarf that is Snowy Range.

Snowboarding

The go-to for skiers and snowboarders in Laramie, Wyoming, is clearly the Snowy Range Ski Area. But there’s another ski area in the region you can ski or ride—it’s just that it hasn’t been operational for decades.

What now constitutes the Happy Jack Recreation Area, a favorite location for local campers just 15 minutes west of Laramie on Highway 210, was once a fully operational ski area.

According to Colorado Ski History.com, the ski area at Happy Jack ran from the early ‘60s to late ‘70s. It had two T-bar lifts and even featured night skiing.

Yet, even though the small ski area has not been in business for decades, that does not mean local skiers and boarders don’t make use of Happy Jack. They just have to put in the work of hiking to get their runs. Still, riding Happy Jack has its advantages.

Advantage One: It’s free.

Skiing & Snowboarding

During past seasons, if skiers and snowboarders from southeast Wyoming wanted to ride or ski a terrain park, they had to travel hundreds of miles to resorts rather than stay at home at Snowy Range, a ski area located roughly 30 miles west of Laramie. But this season, that’s all changed.

“As far as the last few years go, whenever I was here they would just stick a rail in the ground, put a bump up to it and call that a jump,” Snowy Range Ski Area Terrain Park Manager Erik Clark said.

Since the park was built late in December, local boarders and skiers have five different rails of varying types and two different jumps--one large, one small--to ride at Snowy Range. 

Clark said that the move to design, build and maintain the new terrain park came as the result of meeting the demands of members of the local skiing and snowboarding community.

Skiing & Snowboarding Competition

Shaun White’s half-pipe skills were on display (again) during the most recent installment of the Winter X-Games when the red-headed snowboarder took first place in the SuperPipe final. His park prowess was another thing all together: White failed to qualify for the Slopestyle final.

According to a Jan. 31 ESPN Action Sports article, “White wins first W X Superpipe four-peat,” White took a one-year hiatus from competing in slopestyle events. It might explain why he didn’t make it to Slopestyle final this year.

Yet, it might also point to a potential trend—one that has been forming for some time—of snowboarders moving into areas of specialization or a dominant skillset in their riding forms.

Other examples of this shift were on display at this year’s Winter X-Games.

New West Column

While such news may lead some to place blame for the deaths on the snowboarder who ran into the mother/daughter skiing duo placing culpability on any one person is ill-advised. Fact is, this could happen to anyone who takes to the slopes. 

In his Jan. 19 article “Investigators conclude probe of Hogadon deaths,” Casper Star Tribune staff writer William Browning reported that officials found no evidence that could result in legal charges.

The story described how Craig Shirley was snowboarding down a run when he crashed into Kelli Johnson and her young daughter, Elise, both of whom had stopped on their skis.