Why I Don’t Ski by Andrew Munz

Why I Don’t Ski

By Andrew Munz

Photo: Jacob Lewis Ferguson

I DON’T SKI. I JUST DON’T.

Normally, people don’t go around announcing what they don’t do. What a pointless, interminable endeavor. I literally don’t do so many things every single day. As humans, it’s challenging enough to tell our friends how we actually spend our days. Narrowing our hobbies down by a process of elimination, in turn, seems maddening. Near psychotic, even.

Yet, having grown up in Jackson Hole, a town of self-proclaimed ski gods living atop their Mount Olympus, I find myself in an infinite wormhole of interactions that force me to sheepishly admit that I don’t do the thing that everyone is doing. For many folks, skiing is the very reason they live in Jackson Hole. It’s what brought them here and it’s what keeps them here. Therefore, once I confess that I both live in Jackson Hole and am completely uninterested in the practice of going up and down hills from Christmas to Easter, well, it tends to rile up the base.

It’s not that I’ve never skied. My parents put me on skis early, and I got pretty good at it. When I was six, I was the top NASTAR racer in America in my age group and have the medals to show for it. Somewhere, anyway. But for some reason, the passion never stuck. No ski posters ever graced my bedroom walls. I couldn’t name more than a handful of professional skiers if you paid me. After high school, I even switched over to snowboarding for a couple of winters before losing interest altogether. In 2014, I sold my snowboard and never looked back.

So the question arises: If I’m not taking advantage of Jackson Hole’s world-famous skiing culture, why am I here?

The answer is complicated — a tangled bramble of reasons rooted in family, comfort, simplicity, beauty, pride, etc. As an actor and comedian, I’ve managed to carve out a bit of relevance in the community through my satirical play series, “I Can Ski Forever.” Over the course of four full-length

productions, complete with musical numbers, slapstick humor, and biting satire, I skewered Jackson Hole culture under the guise of comedy. I allowed locals to poke fun at themselves, while also commenting on things like alcoholism, income inequality, dog ownership responsibilities, etc.

Studying improv at the iO Theatre and The Second City in Chicago, I learned the crucial lesson that good comedy is rooted in truth. The audience is an organism, an everevolving collective seeking a reason to connect, to laugh, to belong. The “Ski Forever” shows are full of characters unaware they are in a satire. Every decision they make, every word out of their mouth, is earnest. They are (or were) convinced their lives are genuinely better by simply existing in Jackson Hole, and are constantly searching for validation. As the production begins, the audience laughs at these strange caricatures of Jackson folk, but as these characters unapologetically maneuver through their individual motions, the audience begins to sympathize, and then (“hey, wait a second …”) relate to them.

A man singing about having too much plaid in his closet rips open his plaid shirt to reveal yet another plaid shirt. A wealthy divorcee and her hench-cougars, all of whom live in log mansions, get roped into solving Jackson’s housing crisis for its poorest citizens. A dog-owning barista, who, in a previous scene, was tossing drinks back with a GoPro bro, is now lamenting about her endless

unexpected expenses.

Not skiing allows me a lot more time for observation. My winters are spent creating work, oftentimes spending hours at my favorite table at Pearl Street Bagels, watching my “characters” walk into the shop. They clunk up to the counter in their ski or snowboard boots, many a carbon copy of those who came before and all those who would come after.

Being one of only a few local comedians is both a blessing and a curse. While I’d enjoy collaborating with more artists, in true Wyoming spirit, I love being a pioneer. I’m addicted to pushing boundaries and jolting some sardonic energy into my less-thanhumble hometown. Thankfully, I have the backing of a supportive community to help me make that happen. I am now the first independent artist to ever rent and sell out the Center for the Arts, our largest venue in town. I am proud of that fact, but even more proud that it was achieved by someone local — a nerdy, overweight kid who pushed back and never gave up.

Everyone in Jackson is looking for a reason to belong, to stay forever, to find some semblance of security and permanence. Much like a live audience, Jackson Hole’s populace is also an organism — splitting and morphing, absorbing free radicals, fighting off harmful bacteria, etc. As a result, I’ve felt a bit like a white blood cell flowing through Jackson’s veins, battling invasive ideas that threaten our quaint utopia. I’m desperate to help file down Jackson’s rough edges. I want it to live up to its potential. I want it to be utterly perfect.

It’s ambitious, I know. But, if you’ll remember, my winter months are pretty open.

Maybe if folks paired down their outdoor adventuring and dedicated more time to cultivating the community, we could really establish Jackson as a regional beacon of creativity and expression. It’ll never happen, but that’s totally OK. My passion is art. For others, it’s skiing, hiking, skijoring with their Malamutes, whatever else. It’s all valid.

I want us to celebrate big ideas and throw tons of money at select projects that have the opportunity to change the course of the town’s trajectory, regardless of the medium. I want visitors’ jaws to drop as we show them what’s actually possible when a community empowers and funds its local creatives instead of spending local dollars on flying in “professionals” who collect their paycheck and fly back home.

No, I don’t ski, but I am not anti-skiing. I pivoted my attention to an endeavor that made more sense to me. It doesn’t have to be an ultimatum, though. It is undeniably possible to create local art while simultaneously earning your abs in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Thanks to Jackson’s loving and hungry audiences, I have been able to do so. Even if I don’t have the six pack to show for it.

GOLD GOLD

Photo: Kara Adomaitis

Kathryn Mapes Turner EXPRESSIVE WESTERN ARTWORK 545 N Cache St, Jackson, WY (307) 734-4444 | KathrynMapesTurner.com Amy Ringholz

We’d like to thank the Jackson Hole community for voting Amy “Best Artist” for 2020! RINGHOLZ STUDIOS 160 East Broadway Suite A (307) 734-3964 ashley@ringholzstudios.com CONTEMPORARY COLORFUL

160 E Broadway, Suite A, Jackson, WY (307) 734-3964 | RingholzStudios.com

Amy Ringholz has been painting in Jackson since 2002. Ringholz Studios is artist-owned and operated. She welcomes all types of art lovers and expresses her creativity and love for all things wild from wolves and bears, to owls and rabbits.

Tamara Ashburn King EXPRESSIONIST PAINTER & LIFETIME LOCAL (307) 690-6515 LittleDipperArtStudio.com/about

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