New West Network

My Page: Lauren M. Whaley

Burning calories, not fossil fuels

Jacksonites who are still in town Saturday should join in a local event for a global cause: a National Day of Climate Action.

Meet at the Town Square at 11:30 a.m., but don't drive there! Walk, bike, skateboard or ride your horse.

Listen to Mayor Mark Barron, Tim O'Donoghue and Tim Young talk on climate change issues and how our community is dealing.

Following the talks, ride your bike or the START bus over to Jackson Hole Grocer where the Earth Club Kids group will be passing out information about reducing our individual carbon emissions. At 12 p.m., people will gather under the Step it Up banner for a photo op.

The club will also be raffling off environmentally friendly water filtration products to raise awareness about how wasteful it is to buy single serving water bottles.

You could also join three of Jackson's mountaineers who will be climbing and skiing the highest peak in Wyoming on Saturday.

If you're in Portland, as I am, you can jump in Lake Oswego or make a ceramic animal to go aboard the Ark.

Check out all the other community-based events across the nation.

Writing from the road

While most Jacksonites are lying low during mud season or extending the ski season in Alaska, some are still skiing and even celebrating snow.

Jackson Hole Mountain Resort officials, for example, announced that the resort had its second strongest season on record this year, at 402,400 skier visits.

“We cannot thank the local skiers and snowboarders enough,” said President Jerry Blann in a release. “We have had every weather condition possible this winter, and coming off one of our biggest snow years last year, I applaud the tenacity of all locals who just kept coming out.”

Speaking of locals, Resi Stiegler cleaned up last week with a double win in the slalom and giant slolam at the U.S. Alpine Championships at Alyseka Resort, Alaska.

Good job, Resi. And good luck to local Lynsey Dyer who will compete in the Ullr Girl contest in Whistler next week.

(I am aspiring to far less lofty goals like how many fancy coffee drinks I can consume without rotting out my teeth and expanding my belly while on my off-season roadtrip. I’m writing from the west coast where I’m exploring the offerings of the Dragonfly Coffee Shop on NW Thurman Street in Portland, Oregon. If you’re here, try the Dreaming Dragonfly drink while watching passersby scurry in the drizzle.)

Wyomingites excluded themselves from grassroots "Obama for America" parties

His eyes may not be as doey, his eyebrows not as perfectly arched, but Barack Obama pulled a successful LonelyGirl15 all the same when he wooed viewers via live feed over the Internet Saturday.

Business alliance garners attention, support

Local statistician Jonathan Schechter has been busy, and not just crunching numbers and writing columns.

In less than a year, his brainchild, 1% for the Tetons, has won hearts and achieved (at least) two significant milestones.
[more]

Three evenings of skiing, surfing and climbing films

Now in its third year, the Alpinist (née Barry Corbet) Film Festival has been a model for how to build such an event: organic, paying homage to tradition, rooted in the community. No velvet ropes.

Screenings have been packed, last year’s festival was a smash hit, and organizers are expecting a full house this week for all three nights of films in the brand-new Performing Arts Pavilion at Center for the Arts.

Read the rest on JH Underground.

To read Planet Jackson Hole's tribute to Alpinist editor Christian Beckwith, click here. Note the larger than life cover photo on the print version.

All proceeds from the pre-parties, film festival, silent auction, shwag and beer sales and post-parties will be donated to 1% for the Tetons, a branch of 1% for the Planet. Business and individual members of 1% for the Tetons donate one percent of their gross revenues to a fund focused on supporting conservation and sustainability initiatives in and around the Tetons.

Tele-skier dies in Teton County, Wyoming

Jackson Hole blogger, skier and Search and Rescue volunteer Steve Romeo recounts the scene and recovery from Saturday's fatality.

"From what I can tell, two brothers (one from Driggs, one from Steamboat) were ascending the the western slope of Peak 10,028, which is a spur ridge off of Fossil Mountain, from the South Fork of Darby Canyon. One was on a splitboard and the other on telemark gear. As they skinned to the top of the ridge, the slope avalanched, taking the skier (from Steamboat) about 1500-2000 feet down the mountain."

Click here to read the rest on Romeo's TetonAT blog.

The Jackson Hole Daily published an article Monday, naming Paul Maniaci as the victim.

From Bridger-Teton National Forest Avalanche Center:

"On Saturday evening a skier triggered a 2 to 3 foot slab in Darby Canyon on a Westerly aspect around 10,000 feet. He was carried 1,500 vertical feet, buried four feet deep, and did not survive. Our deepest condolences go out to his family and friends. Clearing skies late in the day and warm temperatures likely played a role in this event. If signs of significant warming are observed, which progress from sunballs, to pinwheels, to wet-loose sloughs; wet and dry slabs are becoming more unstable as the surface of the snowpack creeps downhill faster than the snow beneath. Backcountry travelers need to pay attention to these signs, and if seen, alter their plans accordingly."

Update from the Center:

"Skiers investigated the Darby Canyon accident Monday and found that the hard slab slide likely started on buried faceted snow. The West side of the Teton Range has a shallower snowpack than the East side and has persistent weak snow at the base and within the snow."

Sans Hommes: Niles and Van Sciver make Teton skiing history

On Wednesday, in high winds under sunny skies, a pair of local über-gals became the first female team to ski the 13,770-ft Grand Teton.

Julia Niles, 26, and Lisa Van Sciver, 27, spent 14 hours car to car climbing the highest peak in the Teton range and skiing down it via the Ford and Stettner couloirs. Neither had climbed the route or skied the peak before.
[more]

29 women perform in Jackson's first Vagina Monologues

My friend Tiff is on a quest to reclaim some of her feminine real estate. I call it her Pussy Project.

She hopes people will use the word like they use “sick,” “sweet” and “cool.” As in, “the face shots on that last ski run were soooo pussy” and, “Grinding with you last night at Eleanor’s was pus-sy!”
[more]

Man battered, but alive after Granite Canyon slide

On Sunday, Granite Canyon demonstrated yet again why it is a place to be regarded carefully, as it flushed a Jackson skier down the length of one of its 1,000 foot avalanche paths.

Despite multiple life-threatening injuries, including a broken femur, slide victim Adam Smith is alert and awake in Salt Lake City’s LDS Hospital, friends reported Monday.

Read the rest on thesnaz.com.

Jackson Hole's Ben Roth lives the artist's life

With big eyes that dart behind geeky glasses, blackened hands from metal shavings and a notebook filled with scribbled thoughts and sketches, artist Ben Roth is always on the go.

The 35-year-old tries to keep his idea notebook in his pocket, but often resorts to napkins, especially when out to breakfast with friends for the $4 Working Man’s Special at Bubba’s Bar-B-Que.

On the tables of the local greasy spoon, Roth invented the Trucker’s Latte by biting a pin-sized hole in a creamer and squirting it from 12 inches above his coffee to get a foamy, steamed effect. He comes up with many of his ideas for art there, too, over runny eggs and syrup-soaked pancakes.
[more]