Winter 2013-14 • Complimentary Copy
LO C A L F L AV O R S • 3 0 WAY S T O P L AY • O V E R T H E H I L L • FA M I L I A R FA C E S
ROGER BRINK ASSOCIATE BROKER
BEAR ISLAND ESTATES DIVISION 2 Imagination and creativity will dictate how this unique property in the Idaho Falls, Idaho, area will be used. Located just 12 minutes north of the Idaho Falls Regional Airport, the large custom log home lies in a spectacular 66-acre setting adjacent to the Snake River. The Snake River Plain affords panoramic views of multiple mountain ranges, including the Tetons in Wyoming, and is central to national forests, national parks and numerous recreational opportunities. This property can be used as a single residence or developed with 15 additional, legally platted home sites using existing utilities and on-site nursery stock. It also has excellent potential for creation of a first-class equestrian facility. $2,400,000
TETON VALLEY, IDAHO AND WYOMING roger.brink@jhsir.com • Mobile: 208.351.7417 • Office: 888.354.8880 • Fax: 208.354.8895
Introducing Cardiology Services Visit with cardiologists from the Idaho Heart Institute and Eastern Idaho Cardiology Association, now accepting appointments at Driggs Health Clinic
Specialty Telemedicine Care in affiliation with University of Utah Health Care Telestroke and teleburn care available through Teton Valley Hospital and Driggs Health Clinic
General Surgery Dr. George Linhardt offers the very best in treatment and surgical services for abdominal, breast repair and other general surgery needs.
Low infection rates less than 1% over the past two years
High patient satisfaction scores over 96% in patient satisfaction
Experience healing in Teton Valley We’re Family
We’re Family
208-354-2383
208-354-6307
208-354-2302
Email info@tvhcare.org for more information or call 208 354 6301
Teton Valley Magazine
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IDAHO & WYOMING
FARM
RANCH
LUXURY REAL ESTATE
WWW.TVRRANCHES.COM POWERED BY TETON VALLEY REALTY 2
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Teton Valley Magazine
DEPARTMENTS
6 EDITOR’S NOTE 10 CONTRIBUTORS 14 TETON VALLEY
top to bottom
30 Ways to Play, and more!
18 FAMILIAR FACES
Liz Pitcher
BY KATE HULL
22 TRAIL TALK
table of contents
Skating Over the Tetons BY J. SCOTT MCGEE
46 ALL IN A DAY’S WORK
22
A Binding Deal
BY ROB MARIN
50 TEENS & TWEENS
Finding Balance
BY MEL PARADIS
54 COMPASS POINTS
Journey to the Source
BY MOLLY LOOMIS
58 OVER THE HILL
PHOTOS, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: J. SCOTT MCGEE, STAFF, COURTESY OF EARLE F. LAYSER
62
26
FEATURES
26 DEATH TO THE ZOMBIES
Smart growth, bright minds breathing new life into Driggs BY ROB MARIN
“The mountains are calling and I must go.” BY LIZ ONUFER
38 SOLID ROCK RELATIONSHIPS
Clearing the Connection
BY AMY HATCH
One Woman’s Greater Yellowstone
BY PATTIE LAYSER
62 BODY & SOUL
64 LOCAL FLAVORS
The ‘world-famous’ Trap Bar
BY MICHAEL MCCOY
72 EXPOSURE
34 THE LESSON OF AN AVALANCHE
Four couples manifest one man’s vision BY T. HAMISH TEAR Teton Valley Magazine
PHOTOGRAPH BY T. HAMISH TEAR
DIRECTORIES 11 66 68 70 70
ADVERTISERS’ DIRECTORY DINING GUIDE LODGING GUIDE CHURCH DIRECTORY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
ON THE COVER: For a small, passionate community of skiers, the expansive white landscape of the backcountry is an invitation. To experience the mountains in the winter demands a fine balance between knowledge, experience, and reverence. Illustration by Meghan and Kathleen Hanson. LifeInTheTetons.com | Winter 2013-14
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It takes a community to make a community.
In addition to the obvious appeal of our landscape, one of Teton Valley’s most impressive assets is our thriving nonprofit community. As donors, volunteers, board members, and employees of these organizations, community members are preserving and enhancing local services and resources.
Introducing the Teton Valley Resource Directory
Established in 2007, the Community Foundation of Teton Valley serves as a resource for those interested in making a difference locally. We connect generosity with need through charitable solutions that are meaningful for our donors and to our community.
A place where you can find information about individuals, agencies, and nonprofit organizations that are here to serve health and human service needs in Teton Valley.
Join us in building a better community through philanthropy. www.cftetonvalley.org www.tetonvalleyresourcedirectory.com 208.354.0230 4
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Teton Valley Magazine
• • • • • • • •
Basic Needs Crisis Services Disability & Rehabilitation Family Health Mental Health Seniors Substance Abuse
www.TetonValleyResourceDirectory.com
Properties that are a World Apart….. …. Service that is World-Class
SERVING Buyers and Sellers in IDAHO and WYOMING Two convenient locations! Main Gate—TETON SPRINGS And our NEW LOCATION at…. 40 EAST LITTLE AVE... DRIGGS (next to O’Rourkes)
208.787.8000 Toll Free 866.445.3328 www.allseasonresortrealty.com Home sites
Condo/Hotel
Fractional Ownership Teton Valley Magazine Opportunities
Variety of Homes
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editor ’s note Copies Shipping Graphic Design Architectural Prints Faxes Gifts LOCAL Computer Accessories Printer Ink SOLUTIONS Kodak Photos Posters Frames Signs Invitations Greeting Cards Seasonal Flyers Lamination Binding Adjustments Passport Photos Invoices Postcards Logos Presentations Letterhead Business Cards Public Computer elcome to another Teton Valley winter. I hope you’ll enjoy reading this edition of Teton Valley Magazine as much as I’ve liked working on it. One favorUPS FedEx Office Supplies
Peak Printing 76 S First Driggs, Idaho Mon-Fri 8 to 6 Sat 10 to 3
info@peakprinting.net 208-354-7337
Doing business in Teton Valley ID since 1992
Trail Creek Springs #106: “Our stay here was very comfortable & enjoyable. There was plenty of room for everyone. We enjoyed the hot tub. Thank You.” —Dee A., Urbandale, IA Buffalo Valley #2: “Just wanted to let you know how much we appreciated our stay at the Buffalo #2 facility and how accommodating you were on short notice. The condo was just awesome and it completed our vacation on a very positive note. Thank you again and we hope to be able to stay with you again sometime.” —Doug P., Jewel, IA
f rentals for all seasons b Condos • Cozy Cabins • Luxury Homes Short-term, monthly and long-term rentals
www.grandvalleylodging.com (208) 354-8890 • 1-800-746-5518
W
ite of mine is the feature story “Death to the Zombies” (page 26), in which contributor Rob Marin paints an economic picture of Teton Valley full of promise. “Storefronts are filling,” writes Rob, “the streets look nicer, and folks can find more activities and places to eat. New development is slowly transforming downtown.” Rob acknowledges that these changes are due in part to the general economic recovery, “but they are also the realization of years of planning, public input, and hard work behind the scenes.” (And please don’t blame the author for the article’s title—I simply couldn’t resist. It’s a play off of the May 2012 High Country News report on the valley’s apocalyptic real estate crash, titled “The Zombies of Teton County.”) This being winter, a fair amount of the magazine’s content deals with one of Teton Valley’s most abundant natural resources. That would be snow, and it’s the key element of contributor Liz Onufer’s heartfelt essay “The Lesson of an Avalanche” (page 34), Amy Hatch’s story on what it takes to keep Teton Pass open in the winter (Over the Hill, page 58), and Scott McGee’s narrative about a solo ski skate over spring corn snow from the southern tip of the Tetons to the Teton Creek trailhead (Trail Talk, page 22). Interior endeavors are covered as well, including a report on the Teton Indoor Sports Academy gymnastics group (“Finding Balance,” page 50) and a look into Grand Targhee’s ever-popular Trap Bar (Local Flavors, page 64). Okay, the Trap is typically visited only after a day on the slopes, but one cannot stay outside or inside the whole winter through. On a more somber note, in this issue you’ll also find “One Woman’s Greater Yellowstone,” by Pattie Layser (page 62). Pattie, who passed away in August, submitted the piece some years ago, and we’re running it now as a tribute to one of our longestserving contributors. In the Winter 1998–99 issue of this magazine, Pattie wrote, in an ode to what some people write off as the mud season: “I love spring in Teton Valley. No temperature or weather pattern has secure standing. Folks with a low tolerance for this book flights to Cabo. I like it. I stay.” Fourteen cycles of the seasons later, in the Winter 2012–13 edition, Pattie reported on the Mary’s Nipple Challenge, an annual breast-cancer fundraiser held at Grand Targhee that she helped organize (it’s slated for March 1 this winter): “Mary’s Challenge snowballs community and charity into colossal fun. It’s on my calendar, in my heart. Originally, I moved here because the Tetons forged a singular playscape, but I remain because our mountains attract special people, shaping a community of uncommon character.” Farewell to a woman of truly uncommon character, one who loved any weather the Tetons could throw at her … or caress her with. Have a great winter.
P.O. Box 191 • 158 North 1st Street East Driggs, Idaho 83422 6
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Teton Valley Magazine
Teton Valley Magazine
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Coming this winter season to Warbirds Cafe ...
Publisher Nancy McCullough-McCoy nancy@powdermountainpress.com Editor in Chief Michael McCoy mac@powdermountainpress.com Art Director Sage Hibberd graphics@powdermountainpress.com Design Dave Stein Marketing & Sales Representatives Dawn Banks dawn@powdermountainpress.com Mollie Flaherty mollie@powdermountainpress.com
A NEW LOOK and a FRESH MENU Too cold to ski today? Enjoy a view from the air with one of our scenic flights
Scenic Flights Warbirds Café • 208.354.2550 208.354.3100 • tetonaviation.com 253 Warbird Lane • Driggs, ID 83422
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Teton Valley Magazine
Marketing & Sales Assistant Joan Mosher info@powdermountainpress.com Copy Editors Jeanne Anderson Kate Hull Contributors Lane Griffin Valiante Meghan Hanson Amy Hatch Kate Hull Pattie Layser Molly Loomis Rob Marin J. Scott McGee Liz Onufer Mel Paradis Jennifer Rein T. Hamish Tear
Teton Valley Magazine is published twice yearly by Powder Mountain Press, LLC. 110 E. Little Ave. • P.O. Box 1167 Driggs, Idaho 83422 (208) 354-3466 tel • (208) 354-3468 fax www.LifeInTheTetons.com ©2013 by Powder Mountain Press, LLC. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. Editorial comments, ideas, and submissions are welcomed. The publisher will not be responsible for the return of unsolicited photos, articles, or other materials unless accompanied by a SASE. Printed in the U.S.A. Volume 17, No. 2
The Teton Valley Great Snow Fest
exists to bring joy, excitement, and economic vitality to our community during a traditionally slow time of year. The Festival brings hundreds of visitors to the valley, offering a boost to local businesses and exposure to local nonprofits, while providing fun and diverse events for all ages. www.greatsnowfest.com
Due to the incredible support of our donors, Kotler Arena is now proud to offer: • Warming hut • Skate rentals • Pro-shop • Concessions • Indoor restrooms • Locker room
Kotler
IC arena
January 16-20, 2014
The Kotler Ice Arena offers youth and adult ice programs, including Adult Rec-League Hockey, a Youth Ice Hockey League, and Adult Recreational Broomball. Located in Victor’s Pioneer Park, on the corner of Baseline Road and Agate St, it couldn’t be easier to get out and enjoy the ice.
South Baseline Road Victor, ID 83455 tetonvalleyfoundation.org/recreation/kotler-ice-arena/
Teton Valley Foundation works to make the good life in Teton Valley even better by providing cultural, recreational, and educational programs and facilities that boost the local economy and make our community a better place to live and to visit. Our programs include Music on Main, Kotler Ice Arena, and the Great Snow Fest.
Making the good life in Teton Valley even better.
teton valley FOUNDATION Teton Valley Magazine
PO Box 50, Victor, ID 83455 www.tetonvalleyfoundation.org info@tetonvalleyfoundation.org LifeInTheTetons.com | Winter 2013-14
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contributors
J. Scott McGee (Trail Talk, page 22) got his start teaching cross country and telemark skiing at the Dartmouth College ski school. After a decade of teaching both disciplines of skiing at Grand Targhee, and another overseeing Jackson Hole Nordic Center, he moved his focus closer to his present home at the base of Snow King in Jackson. He now coaches the PSIA Nordic Team and works as the Snow King Mountain Sports School director. Scott recently authored Basic Illustrated Cross Country Skiing (Falcon Guides, 2012). A former telemark competitor, he now dreams of perfect corn snow on spring backcountry skate ski tours. Scott spends his summers guiding climbs in the Tetons for Exum Mountain Guides.
Fifteen years ago, frequent Powder Mountain Press contributor Liz Onufer (“The Lesson of an Avalanche,” page 34) moved to the Tetons for a summer and fell in love. As a teacher, trail runner, rafter, and skier, she instantly connected with the mountain community as home. After many seasons of exploring, Liz was finally tempted enough to try backcountry skiing. Already an avid resort skier, she discovered a new passion in the challenge and solitude of the winter backcountry. She writes about outdoor pursuits, sports, and topics of local interest for both newspapers and magazines. Currently on a working beach hiatus in Carlsbad, California, Liz looks forward to returning to her home in the Tetons.
These days, Rob Marin (“Death to the Zombies,” page 26, and “A Binding Deal,” page 46) is a family guy and Teton County’s GIS Coordinator. But he spent more than two decades as a whitewater guide, traveler, and seasonal worker, with gigs ranging from Caribbean scuba instructor to African health clinic volunteer. Along the way, he squeezed in a master’s degree in conservation geography and extensive mapping work. “As a geographer staring at county parcel data, I think it’s apparent real estate is yesterday’s economic driver in the valley,” Rob says. “Local towns must become more attractive and diversify business opportunities to survive. Driggs gives me hope, because they’re headed in exactly the right direction.”
Mel Paradis (“Finding Balance,” page 50) moved to the valley for “a winter of fun in between jobs,” she says. Thirteen years later, she’s still here. In addition to writing freelance articles for local publications, Mel has worked as a teacher, drama coach, waitress, barista, and office girl. She is currently taking a break from juggling jobs while joining the circus known as motherhood. When not tending to her little one or playing in the kitchen, she can be seen making a fool of herself with Jackson’s improv troupe Laff Staff. Mel lives in Tetonia with her husband, daughter, dog, and some chickens. You can find more samples of her writing at her website, www.melparadis. webs.com
WE DO IT ALL!
With over 67 years of serving the public in the same location— We “moose” be doing it right! 10
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On-The-Farm Service 4x4 Bearing Packs ” Oil Changes “ Alignments Brakes On-The-Road Service Safety Siping & Studs Best Buy on Tires
80 W. Little Ave., Driggs • 354-8161
Advertisers’ Directory All Season Resort Realty............................................... 5 Barrels & Bins Community Market............................ 42 Community Foundation of Teton Valley...................... 4 Corner Drug................................................................... 17 Dang Blessed................................................................ 44 Dining In Catering, Inc................................................ 37 Driggs/Victor Health Clinics....................................... 56 Drs. Toenjes, Brizzee & Orme, P.A.............................. 21
peaked sports for the mountain minded
208-354-2354 • 70 E. Little Ave • Driggs, ID
YOUR FULL SERVICE SKI SHOP
Fall River Propane........................................................ 37 Fall River Rural Electric Co-Op................................... 49 Family Safety Network................................................. 20 Fitzgerald’s Bicycles.................................................... 52 Garage Door Handiman.............................................. 24 Gibbs Smith Publishing.............................................. 61 Grand Targhee Resort ................................................BC Grand Targhee Resort Property Management......... 45 Grand Valley Lodging..................................................... 6 Guchiebird’s.................................................................. 25 Habitat........................................................................... 17 Harmony Design & Engineering................................. 69 High Peaks Physical Therapy Health & Fitness ������ 41 Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce...................... 71 Kaufman’s OK Tire....................................................... 10 Linn Canyon Ranch...................................................... 61 Madison Memorial Hospital................................. 43, 52 McDonald’s® of Jackson Hole.................................. 21 MD Nursery & Landscaping, Inc.......................... 29, 31 O’Brien Landscaping................................................... 43 Peak Printing................................................................... 6 Peaked Sports............................................................... 11 Plan One/Architects..................................................... 20 Powder Mountain Press.............................................. 56
OPEN EVERY DAY 8:30AM TO 6:00PM
Royal Water Systems................................................... 44 Sage Realty Group-Ken Dunn..................................IBC Sotheby’s International Realty-Roger Brink........... IFC St. John’s Medical Center..................................... 13, 24 Teton County School District 401............................... 53 Teton Thai...................................................................... 49 Teton Timberframe....................................................... 65 Teton Valley Ambulance.............................................. 57 Teton Valley Bible Church............................................. 7 Teton Valley Cabins...................................................... 33 Teton Valley Foundation................................................ 9 Teton Valley Health Care............................................... 1 Teton Valley Trails and Pathways......................... 57, 69 Teton Valley Realty Management................................. 2 The Driggs Stovehouse............................................... 25 The Rusty Nail.............................................................. 45 The Summit Foursquare Church................................ 65 Unfurl Therapeutic Massage...................................... 69 Victor Emporium........................................................... 41 Victor Valley Market..................................................... 33 Warbirds Café/Teton Aviation Center.......................... 8 Western Design Conference....................................... 12 Wildlife Brewing & Pizza............................................. 42 Yöstmark Mountain Equipment................................. 53
ALPINE • X-COUNTRY • SNOWBOARD RENTALS SNOWBIKE RENTALS • BOOT FITTING FULL SELECTION OF POWDER SKI DEMOS
SKI TUNES • SKI REPAIRS • DEMOS & RENTALS Rossignol • Dynafit • Atomic • Dynastar • Fischer • Marker 22 Designs • Dalbello • Never Summer • Marmot Mammut • Outdoor Research Teton Valley Magazine
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SAVE THE DATE What does
22 years of
one-of-a-kind artistry look like?
Find out
SEPTEMBER 4-7, 2014 EXHIBIT + SALE WesternDesignConference.com • Snow King Center 12
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888 739 7499 LifeInTheTetons.com | Winter 2013-14
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t e t o n va l l e y t o p t o b o tt o m
WINTER
W O N D E R:
OUTDOORS
1 Rent a fat bike and ride the groomed snowmobile trails in the Big Holes 2 Pick up a stick and pass the puck at Kotler Arena 3 Hockey a bit too rough? Rent the arena for a party and laugh your way through a broomball contest 4 Skate or classic ski on Teton Valley Trails & Pathways’ groomed Nordic trails 5 Join Teton Valley Adventures for a snowmobile tour
6 Take a leisurely ski tour up Fox Creek or Moose Creek, the Tetons’ “critter canyons”
11 Ooh and ahh! over the ice sculptures at the Teton Valley Great Snow Fest, January 16–20
7 Volunteer to walk a dog or three at the Teton Valley Community Animal Shelter
12 Follow the tracks of wildlife on a snowshoe hike with the Grand Targhee naturalist
8 Search unfrozen waters to photograph trumpeter swans (keep your distance, please)
13 Kick back under the lap blankets on a classic sleigh ride at Linn Canyon Ranch
9 Dance with the snow ghosts on a cat-skiing excursion at Grand Targhee Resort
14 Overnight in a yurt with Rendezvous Backcountry Tours or at Harriman State Park
10 Soar over the valley on a scenic flight with Teton Aviation
15 Sniff your way to Ashton for the American Dog Derby dogsled races, February 13–15
PHOTO COLLAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ARENACREATIVE - FOTOLIA; TRITOOTH - FOTOLIA; TREKANDSHOOT - FOTOLIA (2); ISTOCKPHOTO/TECHNOTR; ISTOCKPHOTO/STEVEOEHLENSCHLAGER; TETON AVIATION CENTER; NIKOLAI SOROKIN - FOTOLIA; MICHAEL MCCOY
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PHOTO: DAVE STEIN
30 ways to play
this winter INDOORS
16 Sip an eye-opener and tuck into a pastry at Pendl’s Bakery & Café 17 Kick up your core and your cardio at Anytime Fitness 18 Bag a boiled-and-baked bread product at the new Big Hole Bagels & Bistro 19 Find your equilibrium at Victor’s Balance Studios (pilates, dance, yoga, and more) 20 Grab a coffee and cookie to go from Ricochet Jayne’s in Driggs
21 Check out the eclectic inventory at Dang Blessed, one of the valley’s newest shopportunities 22 So what if it’s winter? Slurp a shake at Corner Drug
23 Treat yourself to a soak and massage at Unfurl in Driggs 24 Enjoy a runway-side repast at Warbirds Café, then check out the namesake vintage aircraft 25 Pick up your Christmas (or Valentine’s or Easter … ) gifts at the Victor Emporium
Teton Valley Magazine
26 Hear snow sagas from locals at the Royal Wolf in Driggs 27 Order a pizza and a pint of Point It! at Wildlife Brewing in Victor 28 Spice things up with a little Teton Thai in Driggs 29 Catch a first-run movie at Pierre’s Playhouse in Victor 30 Sip a nightcap by the fire at Teton Springs’ Headwaters Grille PHOTOS THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: STOCKSOLUTIONS - FOTOLIA; PENDL’S BAKERY & CAFÉ; TETON SPRINGS RESORT & SPA; PENDL’S BAKERY & CAFÉ; SAGE HIBBERD; KSENA32 - FOTOLIA; TREKANDSHOOT - FOTOLIA; BOULE1301 - FOTOLIA
LifeInTheTetons.com | Winter 2013-14
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Forget Monday Night Football, the real action takes place during fall and winter at the Wildwood Room in Victor. For the past eight years, Bill Boney and his wife, Alice, have been trading out their round dining tables for regulation-sized ping-pong tables on Monday evenings, when locals and visitors alike flock to the Wildwood Room to participate in or just watch matches of the Teton International Table Tennis Society (I’ll let you figure out the acronym). While players warm up, Bill, a top regional caterer and graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, prepares and serves an array of delicious dishes, often consisting of local ingredients. Burgers, fish tacos, and pasta plates are some of the items found on his rotating menu. With chef Bill in the kitchen, Alice runs the bar, pouring local beers, wine, and soft drinks. The weekly double-elimination tournament brings a broad range of players to the tables. Lose your first match? No worries, you can return for a chance at redemption in the Losers’ Bracket. Need practice volleying? Step up to the Robo-Pong, a machine that serves up ball after ball. And what, you ask, does the winner get? Bragging rights and a mention on the group’s Facebook page. Frankly, you don’t even need to miss football, as long as the season lasts: It’s up on the Wildwood Room’s giant screen this fall and early winter. Doors open at 6 p.m., and it’s “open tables” until 7:15, when tournament play begins. The entry fee is $4.00. For more information, check out “The Wildwood Room” page on Facebook. —Mel Paradis
PHOTOS: STAFF
Are You Ready For Some Ping Pong?!
Dave Hood purchased his first kicksled to use while nursing a blown knee. “I would push it around outside,” he says, “and when I needed to rest, I’d pick a nice spot, sit on my ’sled, and drink a beer.” That kicksled was busted years ago by a friend. Its demise inspired Hood, a longtime carpenter, to start from scratch and build his own. The unique conveyance looks sort of like a snow-sled/dogsled hybrid. In fact, Hood uses a design that will allow a dog to pull passengers along. Scandinavian in origin, the kicksled’s reputation as a winter vehicle is built on practicality and ease of use. The seat allows cargo or a passenger to be moved, while the operator keeps up
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Teton Valley Magazine
the momentum by kicking between the runners. “On a clean, icy surface, it will fly,” Hood says with a grin. Corvid Kicksleds is purely a local endeavor. Hood uses hardwoods such as hickory for the seat construction and oak for the handles. Majestic Mountain Iron bends the rails, and Hood welds it all together in his Tetonia shop. “Ideally, you need packed snow and a lot of enthusiasm,” he advises. Teton Valley is not short on either, making it the perfect environment for kicksledding. Learn more about purchasing and customizing your own kicksled at www.corvidkicksleds.com. —Jenn Rein
PHOTOS: TANYA ALEXANDER
Wintertime Kicks
CORNER DRUG 10 S. Main, Driggs • 208-354-2334
OLD-FASHIONED SODA FOUNTAIN • pharmacy • lime freezes • huckleberry milk shakes • specialty toys • children’s books • fish & game licenses • • sporting goods • hand-tied flies • Idaho souvenirs
Teton Valley Magazine
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fa m i l i a r fa c e s
by Kate Hull
At home in the powder
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Teton Valley Magazine
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF LIZ PITCHER
Liz Pitcher
O
n a hot summer night this past August, well after midnight, Liz Pitcher stood on State Line Road waiting to see her daughter, Tracey, run down Ski Hill Road, completing her last leg of the 120-mile Grand Teton Relay. A new feat for Tracey, one for which she trained all summer, Liz wouldn’t miss watching and cheering for her at the finish. “I’d just finished my run and right after, Mom said, ‘I want to be the driver of the van next year!’” Tracey says. “She’s the most supportive parent there is.” That’s Liz. A Rocky Ford, Colorado, native, Liz followed her brother, Hugh, and his wife to Teton Valley in 1973. The allure of deep powder and access to an abundance of wilderness adventures enticed the twenty-year-old to plant roots in what was then, compared to today, an even smaller community with few newcomers. “There were not very many outsiders when I came along, and yet we were welcomed,” says Liz, now sixty-one.
“There were so many friendly people, and I feel as if it is the same way now, a welcoming place. It has grown up a little bit since then, but it is still the same.” Tracey describes her mother, the fifth of six children, as “the rock of the whole family,” and the one who brings everyone else together. Although Liz’s other siblings are spread out across the country, her special-needs brother Jim resides in Victor at Teton Valley Residential Care Home. Liz says it’s the perfect spot for him to receive the best care and still have family nearby.
Liz attended high school in the Colorado cowtown/ski town of Steamboat Springs. Soon after, she moved to Teton Valley and was hired on by the U.S. Forest Service as a backcountry ranger. For ten days at a time, she camped and collected data on the number of people utilizing the wilderness. She threw herself into the new job and learned the ropes of valley living as she went. For her, this place instantly became home. “I worked off and on for the Forest Service from 1979 to 1992 doing stand exams, tree planting, and fence building—all during the summertime—and it was a great experience,” Liz says. But in the winters, she could be found gliding across the snow at Grand Targhee Resort, skiing deep powder day in and day out. Liz married in 1976, had her one and only baby in 1986, and moved on in 1993. Along the way, she re-aimed her professional sights at real estate, and in 1992 purchased Grand Valley Lodging. “She really saw opportunity and always had a business-savvy mind,” Tracey says. “Once it started growing, she realized she could be a business owner, be a single parent, and still see me dance and ski with me whenever we wanted. She went for it.” The business has grown over the past twenty-two years from a three-house rental service to managing both short-
Teton Valley Magazine
LifeInTheTetons.com | Winter 2013-14
PHOTO: TRACEY GONSALVES
“There were not very many outsiders when I came along, and yet we were welcomed.”
“They are awesome there,” she says. “Especially when you have a nonverbal brother, you want to make sure everything is really good, because they can’t tell you if it’s not. I am the sibling who is single and has the inclination and the time to be able to spend time with him. He is an awesome guy. We have a great bond and we always have.
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ARE YOU
SAFE?
A healthy relationship has mutual respect, trust, honesty, good communication, and the ability to argue without insult. If you have questions about the safety of your relationship, we can help.
A safe place to start.
208-354-8057 • Hotline: 208-354-SAFE This project was supported by Grant No. 2010-WR-AX-0061 awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.
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Teton Valley Magazine
and long-term rentals, 175 in all. Along with her team, Liz has watched the valley change alongside the ebbs and flows of the economy. “There have been economic ups and downs ever since I have been here,” Liz says, “but the valley always seems to level out and sustain itself. Even now, I would say, we are bounced back [from the great recession]. A lot of people haven’t seen it yet, but we are on the cutting edge of seeing new people and new families come to town.” When not consumed by her active business, Liz enriches her life by spending time with Tracey, who lives “just down the way,” and by volunteering for the Family Safety Network. Formerly the board president, Liz is now vice president and excited to see the nonprofit imbued with new people and energy. Liz is hard to catch, between running her business and staying involved in the community, but she never loses sight of why she moved to the valley four decades ago. Her summer months are filled with gardening and hiking in the mountains. For the past ten years, she and a core group of valley women have taken an annual trip to the northern Wind River Range’s Green River Lakes, a trip they began on Liz’s fiftieth birthday and plan to continue as long as possible. And, come wintertime, Liz can still be found at Grand Targhee with her friends and/or her daughter, sliding down the slopes on her Line Prophet boards, cold air in her face, skiing the fresh Teton powder of her home. TV
PHOTO: TRACEY GONSALVES
ABOVE: Liz (left) and her friend Deb MacKenzie.
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t r a i l ta l k
Skating Across the Tetons Story and photos by J. Scott McGee
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A solo trek in fleeting conditions
Teton Valley Magazine
LEFT: The author atop Wolf Mountain in the Snake River Range, with the Tetons in the background.
T
he crunch of snow underfoot and my deep breathing are the only sounds that break the still morning air. The pine needles give way to sun cups, and the tread on my trainers gives traction. I step too near a tree and punch through up to my knee. Preferring to keep the snow out of my shoe, I delicately extract my foot for about the twentieth time and then veer toward an opening in the gladed woods above. The first hint of dawn peers in from the northeast, while above the waning moon smiles, as do I, wishing for a little better light. Atop Mount Glory, the growing light is still not enough to reveal changes in the snow surface. I swing my pack off and lay it down, with the boots still locked in
ing speed into a short, steep ramp, I park on my edges, then sidestep up to the next wind wale. Just a few feet beyond, a cornice five to twenty-five feet high keeps watch over the bowl known as Little Tuckerman’s. In an effort to avoid the biggest part of the inevitable snowless zone along the ridge, I skate low, just above a high line of stunted trees. Wind ridges extend up from the trees. Both skis pivot swiftly around each sharp spine. Behind some, a trough deeper than I am tall wraps around the trees below, a twisting, threedimensional form, an obstacle to navigate. Forced up to the ridge, I round one swale of snow after another, skiing right, toward the cornice, then turning left to skate up the next wind drift’s shoulder.
here before, when I snapped a ski tip on an ice runnel traversing below a cliff band. A spruce branch and duct tape got me out then, but that was with two skis. I don’t relish the prospect of the long walk out, postholing in woods … maybe I can scooch on one ski if the postholing gets too bad. Such is my thinking at this early and desperate hour. Just over an hour into my tour, and I might have to throw in the towel. Cursing, I begin to climb down to the likely tree wells where the gear might have ended up, praying that they stayed on this side of the ridge with me. First I find the pole, which had slid down under the low branches of a wind-shaped tree. Then, Glory Be! a bit farther down, I find the ski. Breathing a huge sigh of
the bindings. A favorite ritual plays out: minimalist trail runners come off and boots-on-skis go on; boots and skis will trade places again where snow meets trail on the far end. Making the transition just twice is part of the art of the tour. Here at the southern tip of the Teton Range, 1,800 feet above Teton Pass, I push off for a trailhead some twentynine miles away. It’s June 1, at the end of a low snow winter and spring. The first descent is along the lowangle, windswept, drifted north ridge of Glory. The rock-hard surface of the old refrozen tracks makes it hard enough, and the low light makes me wish for a fatter moon. I find the best snow in a winding ribbon just west of the scoured, rocky strip along the ridge itself. Carry-
Swiveling back to my right, skating through a little dip, I turn to avoid the abyss, when my ski slips out from under me. I land flat, inches from the edge, with one ski under me and the other one gone. In the next instant, I see that one pole is missing as well. My worst fear, losing equipment in the backcountry, is realized. Did they slide down the bowl to the east, skittering to a faraway stop or disappearing deep into a tree well somewhere in the dark? Or did they slide down the slope to my left, stopping in a wind well or tangling in a tree? Looking at my boot, I see that it is not alone. The binding, customarily attached to the ski, is attached to my boot instead. I imagine the walk out, carrying one ski and one pole. I’d nearly been
relief, I still have to work out a field repair for the broken binding. Fishing in my minimalist pack, I choose the Swiss Army Knife awl and a Snowbird lift ticket wicket, which I’m fond of including in my repair kits. Soon, I have a hole drilled down through the binding and into the ski, and have devised a method for securing the wire to keep the binding from sliding on its track. The imperfect repair will fail under duress a few more times this day, but not catastrophically. Amazingly, it’s enough to get me through. With that crux behind me, and the dawning light of day illuminating the mountainscape around me, I push on along the Teton Crest, winding through the trees and speeding across the flats to
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Opening Winter 2013-14 Traversing a snowfield in conditions like these can be fast. Sometimes scary fast.
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Phillips Pass. After hiking up the south Rendezvous shoulder and tracing the Teton Crest Trail route down into Moose Creek, I kick step in hard snow up into the Granite Canyon drainage. The familiar terrain yields numerous refinements and shortcuts learned from years of repeating this same, favorite route. Long traverses, followed by short hikes in my skate boots, produce the most timely and direct route. The rare conditions that allow this type of travel come from smooth snow melting and freezing over the course of a few days—before which the “baby corn” is a breakable crust, and after which the surface becomes pocked and virtually unskiable with sun cups and runnels. The route ahead journeys through the other heart of the Teton Range, a spine of tilted strata, with shelves that make this type of tour possible. Cruising along
Signs of life are few: a lone set of mountain lion tracks, the occasional early riser marmot, a soaring raven. Death Canyon Shelf at 10,000 feet for about four miles, watching the Cathedral Group with its towering Grand Teton grow larger with every glide, my quest for the best route becomes a game in this hundred-meter-wide, rolling, boulder-strewn shelf with cliffs above and cliffs below. I dog onward, twenty miles in, despite warming, slowing snow. Signs of life are few: a lone set of mountain lion tracks, the occasional early riser marmot, a soaring raven. One April, ladybugs, thousands of them, dotted my way as they crawled slowly in
Representing over 150 American artisans the melting corn snow, each a few feet apart, as if evenly distributed by some unseen hand. The sun climbs higher, the day warms; the snow gets slower still. Rounding the bend at Mount Meek Pass, the broadening, barren, wideopen shelf loses eleven hundred feet over the next four miles, making for a gentle, long-distance downhill. It is here that you too can make a mile-long “figure eleven.” The snow is harder and faster, especially on slopes slightly north- and/or west-facing. I rocket toward the route-finding crux, Devil’s Stairs, which drops another eleven hundred feet in just over a quarter mile, through thick trees. After the thin ribbon of snow threads the needle through the cliff band, it rolls to some rarely skied, protected lower-elevation northeast-facing meadows and chutes. The route emerges onto the summer trail, winding through willows along Teton Creek. Bushwhacking to connect the snow patches and skating as far as possible, I delicately plod through some bare spots, walk over a few logs (skis on), and ski through increasingly dirty and sun-cupped snow. Again, I seek the one rock that I can sit down on and change into my running shoes. I find a good one; the skis-on-boots come off as one, and the shoes go on. But still, I walk over stretches of snow before arriving at the trailhead. A few miles later, lush spring grasses and bushes leave no lingering hint of the snowy alpine zone beyond. I bask in the sunshine and relish in the eight hours of wilderness travel, skate skiing and boot packing and making turns on variable snow, route-finding and photographing, breathing hard and cruising. And wondering when the next weather window will present itself. TV
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Smart growth, bright minds breathing by Rob Marin
EMPTY SHOPS. Weedy vacant lots. A business district straight out of some post-apocalypse flick. If you were looking for a mountain town to vacation, live, or do business in, would you choose that scenario? Or would you prefer a place bustling with activity, with well-kept streets, greenery, and thriving businesses? Driggs, Idaho, has sometimes displayed that zombie-ravaged feel, especially in the aftermath of Teton Valley’s apocalyptic real estate crash—a scenario covered in depth by Colorado-based High Country News in a May 2012 story titled “The Zombies of Teton County,” wherein “the zombies” referred to abandoned subdivisions. But these days the city shows new signs of life. Storefronts are filling, the streets look nicer, and folks can find more activities and places to eat. New development is slowly transforming downtown, providing a greater number of attractions and ser-
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vices. Such changes are in part due to the inevitable recovery from the economic slump, but they are also the realization of years of planning, public input, and hard work behind the scenes. Initiatives that began in the early 2000s are nearing completion, and the town’s leaders are fully committed to efforts that will continue to enhance Driggs’ economy and quality of life. Building the Community First Talk about economic development strategy frequently makes the local news, but what exactly does that mean, and how will it work? Should local government loosen land use regulation and bet heavily on real estate? Good luck in the current, glutted market. Perhaps emissaries should be dispatched to recruit major industries with economic incentives? Possibly, but the odds are slim that a big company
Teton Valley Magazine
new life into Driggs
PHOTOS: STAFF
will suddenly move in and save the day. Building a sustainable local economy will more likely require a persistent, multifaceted approach. “We want to build resiliency into our economy,” says Driggs’ community development director, Doug Self. That means attracting, encouraging, and supporting diverse small businesses. To do this, Driggs’ leadership first wants to make the town a better place to live. “Economic development starts with community development,” says Driggs Mayor Dan Powers. He feels business owners are drawn to Driggs because of the amenities it offers more than some particular tax, regulatory, or market advantage. Outdoor recreation on surrounding public lands is an obvious selling point, but a lot of western communities boast pretty mountains and rivers. According to Powers, Driggs needs to be a town people want to live in, with pedestrian- and bike-
friendly attributes, a variety of places to eat and shop, fun activities, good infrastructure, and a sense of vitality. Developing the community “is the core of our economic development work,” he says. At the same time, he adds, the city is trying to help prospective entrepreneurs get established by providing good information, subsidized rents, financial aid, and better business networking opportunities. Creating a Vision The roots of Driggs’ community development work go back at least a decade, when city revitalization efforts were framed by rapid growth in the county. The valley was booming, yet the center of town suffered blighted areas, and sprawling commercial development threatened to undermine downtown retail business. Adding to these challenges, a 2003 fire gutted several buildings on Main Street,
Teton Valley Magazine
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“To the extent possible, we wanted to focus growth in and around the city. That’s been heavily agreed upon.” — Doug Self provided significant new revenues for downtown enhancement. The URA’s projects included removing unsightly power lines, testing for soil contaminants on vacant property, and funding a management plan for the Highway 33 corridor. This plan paved the way for ITD funding of a scenic byway visitor center, soon to be located in Driggs. “That was a major door opened,” says Johnson. Plans for downtown redevelopment were taking shape. Then came the bust of 2008, by which time DDCA had become largely inactive, Hensel says. New building permits dried up. Property sales ceased and businesses shut their doors. The city’s Industrial Building, which housed various home-related businesses, emptied completely. DDCA had helped organize Driggs’ highly successful Music on Main series (subsequently run by the Teton Valley Foundation), but it moved to Victor after 2009 for lack of an adequate venue. Driggs needed a boost. “If you look at our sales revenue, it bottoms out in 2009,” says Mayor Powers. By the time he took office in 2010, “we’d had two full years of declining-to-flat growth. It became pretty apparent things weren’t going to rebound on their own, and we needed to be proactive,” he says.
Teton Valley Magazine
PHOTOS: STAFF
creating a gaping hole in the commercial district. According to Dave Hensel, current chair of the Driggs Downtown Community Association (DDCA), his organization initially formed to address the holes left by the fire, but soon moved toward planning the redesign of downtown. DDCA, with support from the Valley Advocates for Responsible Development (VARD), collaborated with the City of Driggs on revitalization plans. In 2004, an urban renewal district was established to collect and administer tax revenues directed toward improving downtown. Lou Christensen, mayor at the time, and Self, then a planner, hosted a “Your Town” workshop that year, gathering national design and planning experts, and the public, to create a vision for a better community. Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) funds were also secured for a major redesign of Main Street. Over the next two years, a comprehensive plan was developed, articulating many of the town’s smart-growth goals, like creating a more compact business district, maintaining traditional character, developing vacant property, enhancing parking, beautifying streets, and promoting commerce. Self, recognizing impending development during the boom, facilitated the adoption of new design standards and city zoning in accordance with the plan. “To the extent possible, we wanted to focus growth in and around the city,” says Self. “That’s been heavily agreed upon.” Hyrum Johnson, chair of Driggs Urban Renewal Agency (URA) and mayor-elect, says the development of the Broulim’s supermarket complex in 2006
Among the newer structures adorning downtown is the Driggs Community Center (below); a very old building newly renovated is the Key Bank (top left).
MORE THAN JUST A GREENHOUSE
“The Main Street project is as important as anything we’ve done to date.” — Mayor Dan Powers Bouncing Back Before the crash, Self’s job had been divided between day-to-day planner duties and community development initiatives. When building stopped, his planning tasks slowed, so he shifted priorities toward jump-starting economic and community development goals. “I wrote a bunch of grants,” he says, “with about a 75 percent success rate.” These grants would prove critical toward reinventing downtown. DDCA began re-forming in 2010, says Hensel, with an emphasis on beautification and promotion of activities. It supported the 2011 art box competition, where local artists painted beautiful murals on electrical boxes around town, and helped create new events to generate downtown traffic. The Great Snowfest has brought new life to town during a traditionally slow part of winter, while the Driggs Digs Plein Air art festival has partially mitigated the loss of Music on Main crowds during the summer. The Driggs Friday Farmer’s Market and Artwalk also help generate downtown business and fun. The downtown visioning work of the mid-2000s yielded fruit in a big way in 2011, when Driggs’ Main Street redesign became a reality. It gave downtown the badly needed facelift envisioned by former Mayor Christensen and the public. “The Main Street proj-
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able for public events, as well, like the Great Snowfest Snowball. Self says the city is also hoping to establish a new concert venue and an agreement with Victor to allow Music on Main to alternate between the towns. Important infrastructure improvements are in the works, too. Utilizing the city’s share of county road-levy funds, Driggs’ streets have already seen significant improvements. The town’s wastewater treatment plant is undergoing a major upgrade; it will include an expansion of treatment capacity, employing a state-of-the-art biological aeration process. Costs to local citizens will be reduced by Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and community block grants. Self says West Little Avenue will soon undergo a streetscape overhaul, and the city plans on extending its excellent Safe-Routes-to-School pathway system to the high-density Valley Center neighborhood on the north end of town. Driggs will also continue to push for faster broadband Internet connections in town to further enable telecommuting and digitally dependent businesses. Attracting Entrepreneurs, One at a Time The city’s Industrial Building on Highway 33 was among the empty spaces lending an air of decay to post-boom Driggs. But unlike privately owned buildings, the city directly manages leases there. By lowering rent and focusing on outdoor recreationbased enterprises—which Powers describes as “a good fit” for the community—the city has begun filling this underutilized space, creating what the
Teton Valley Magazine
PHOTOS: STAFF
ect is as important as anything we’ve done to date,” says Powers. Soon, the long-awaited scenic byway project, now officially known as the Teton Geotourism Center, will begin construction, building on the Main Street improvements. URA chair Johnson says nearly $600,000 provided by ITD grants will be sufficient to open the 3,000-square-foot facility “at a basic level,” during the summer of 2014. But URA funds of at least $95,000 will also be applied toward upgrades, and ongoing fundraising efforts are underway to make exhibits even better. Teton Valley Chamber of Commerce will likely staff the visitor center, according to Johnson. Self, who left his planning administrator job last year to become full-time community development director, says the Geotourism Center will be integrated with other major improvements to the city building, including a new Main Street Plaza design and an adjacent transit center. The transit center will provide a covered area for passengers boarding START (Southern Teton Area Rapid Transit) and TRPTA (Targhee Regional Public Transportation Authority) buses, as well as the highly successful Grand Targhee shuttle, operated by the city. It will be funded by an $830,000 federal grant, also to be used to purchase and construct a 110-space Park & Ride lot. In addition to the well-established Senior Center, remaining city building space will be a multi-use facility, housing the Teton Rock Gym indoor climbing facility, as well as Teton Indoor Sports Academy gymnastics (See “Teens & Tweens,” page 50) and the Yama Judo martial arts program. Space will be avail-
city describes as a “business incubator.” Telemark ski binding manufacturer 22 Designs moved in during 2012 (see “All in a Day’s Work,” page 46), followed by Cast, another innovative ski-biz outfit developing AT-Alpine binding adaptors, and Recaps, a company producing unique hats from recycled materials. Recaps owner Anneka Herndon says work space that would have cost $500 to $700 per month in Durango, Colorado (where she formerly operated), costs only $123 at the Industrial Building. The city’s willingness to help her get established was persuasive. “It was awesome,” she says. “They were so helpful. I was really impressed.” Because local food businesses are also on the rise—such as 460 Bread—Self says the city may create a “culinary business incubator” by installing an industrial kitchen and food preparation facilities in the remaining space. Another economic incentive offered by the city is its micro-loan program, through which businesses can borrow between $1,000 and $50,000 at 2 to 4 percent above the Wall Street Journal prime rate. The city has contributed $115,000 toward the loan fund, to be matched by The Development Company, a nonprofit out of Rexburg that manages the program. The Development Company, which owns the old Ford garage building north of downtown, is also key to a $1.5 million grant announced late last summer that will bring in workforce training programs in association with Eastern Idaho Technical College. Approximately 75 percent of the building will be devoted to business development space for start-ups.
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growth. According to grantee estimates, the monies are expected to help create a hundred jobs and generate some $850,000 in private investment. The grant will fund renovation of the 20,000-squarefoot, two-story building, bringing it up to code and repairing the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems. “One of the Obama administration’s top priorities is ensuring American
workers have the skills they need to compete for good-paying jobs,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker in announcing the grant. “The Teton County Professional Technical Education and Business Center … will help train workers and ensure local businesses have the skilled workforce they need to be successful.” Mayor Powers says the city hasn’t yet
SELF IMPROVEMENT
Initially working as an environmental planner for the City of Bainbridge Island in Washington state, Self moved on to New Zealand, where he contributed to conservation and geotourism projects. He later performed habitat analysis for a Puget Sound nonprofit, assessed wilderness suitability for the High Country Citizens’ Alliance in Crested Butte, Colorado (where he met Bonnie, his future wife), and performed fire station location analysis for the city of Ithaca, New York.
presented with the “Planner of the Year” award from The Western Planner, an affiliation of thirteen western state planning associations.
A common sight at public meetings and nonprofit events over the past decade has been Doug Self. His steady demeanor, analytical style, and listening skills are welcome traits in the sometimes contentious local political arena. He quietly and consistently gets things done, year after year. Raised in the sprawling suburbia of Louisiana’s “Chemical Corridor,” Self describes his hometown of Baton Rouge as “an example of how not to develop.” After a semester at Louisiana State University, he fled the heat and humidity of the South, eventually landing in the Seattle area. There, he attended the University of Washington’s College of Forest Resources, earning a degree in Environmental Planning with a focus on Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Since then, he says, all of his jobs have focused on “problem solving,” using GIS as a primary tool.
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After Bonnie took a job with Friends of the Teton River in Driggs, in 2003 Self accepted a nine-dollar-an-hour, part-time job as the Driggs planning administrator. He spearheaded community visioning efforts and wrote grants invaluable to Driggs’ revitalization. He has improved city design standards and introduced smart-growth concepts to Driggs zoning, aiming to create a mixed-use, efficient, pedestrian-friendly community. In 2008, his efforts were recognized when he was
Teton Valley Magazine
In his current position as community development director, Self promotes business, community events, and ongoing beautification efforts. “One of the things I love about my job is having an open door,” he says. “People come in with great ideas to make the community better. It’s very rewarding to help make those ideas a reality.” He and Bonnie are firmly established in the valley (she is now operations director at the Teton Regional Land Trust), along with their seven-year-old daughter, Zoe. “It’s one of the best places to raise a kid,” Self says of Teton Valley. “People come for natural beauty and recreation, but end up staying for the amazing people.” Sorry, Louisiana.
PHOTOS: STAFF
Known as the Teton County Professional Technical Education and Business Center, it’s being funded by the Economic Development Administration (EDA), an agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce. It makes investments in economically distressed communities in order to create jobs for U.S. workers, promote American innovation, and accelerate long-term sustainable economic
By the city taking advantage of its share of county road-levy funds, Driggs’ streets have seen significant improvements in recent years.
“We want to offer the same level of amenities as competing communities in the West.” —Doug Self focused much on direct business recruitment, “but we try to do everything we can to make it easier for those who walk in the door.” Information for prospective entrepreneurs, like a permitting guide and various market analyses, are provided by city staff, as well as on the city’s website and through informational brochures co-produced with VARD and DDCA. Recent economic studies indicate that e-commerce, telecommuting, and niche manufacturing are particularly wellsuited to Driggs. The remoteness of the valley is less of a concern for firms that can operate anywhere, so local amenities and community support can be important draws. Powers says the city also puts business owners together with retail property owners to facilitate negotiations, hopefully leading to more occupied storefronts. This year, Driggs began organizing “Chance Meetings,” monthly social and networking gatherings for local business people. A variety of businesses have moved into empty downtown spaces over the last year or so, including The Liquor Market, Dang Blessed clothing boutique, the Graffenberg Gallery and Tattoo Parlor, Big Hole Bagels, and Agave Mexican Restaurant. Grow Huts, a local manufacturer of high-quality greenhouses, has made use of a vacant lot on Main Street to showcase its products. Self says the influx of such businesses contributes to reaching a “critical mass” of dining and shopping opportunities that generate consistent downtown traffic and a thriving atmosphere, which attracts yet more business. While existing restaurant owners may have reservations about dilution of their market, Powers says food sales keep rising in
Driggs. “They’re now about 25 percent above what they were at the height of the boom,” he says. “The pie keeps getting bigger, the pieces don’t get smaller.” During his term in office, Powers has lobbied the state to modify laws limiting Driggs to just two liquor-by-the-drink licenses. He believes these rules stifle business and inhibit tourism. He says reforms have been blocked by existing liquor-license holders, but thinks the state may eventually be open to license transfers between over- and underserved parts of Idaho. This could be a big shot in the arm to local dining, helping build toward that “critical mass.” Powers steps down when his term ends in January. While he hasn’t accomplished everything he’d hoped for, signs are looking up. One big step was taken in October, when the Teton Valley Business Development Center, on whose board Powers sits, hired Brian McDermott as its first executive director. Recruiting new businesses will be among McDermott’s goals. “I think we’ve laid the groundwork,” Powers says. “We have seen consistent sales tax growth over the last eight or nine quarters.” New Mayor Hyrum Johnson will have his own agenda, but there are some things Powers believes need to happen. He feels new residential development should be encouraged, filling in vacant land within the city. Most importantly, he thinks local businesses need to overcome minor divisions and “pitch in and work together” toward a common vision. Self will continue working toward that vision with Johnson. “We want to offer the same level of amenities as competing communities in the West,” he says. “We want Driggs to be a great place to live and do business.” TV
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Teton Valley Magazine
by Liz Onufer Illustrations by Meghan Hanson
THICK, LOW CLOUDS, RELENTLESS SNOWFALL, AND UNYIELDING WINDS had swallowed the Tetons for days. For the first time in a week, the sun rose visibly. The clouds wisped round and round, light and airy, revealing the blue above. My gear was packed and my skis were propped next to the front door as I waited for my partner to pick me up. The anticipation bubbled inside of me.
F
or many locals, the winter months mean admiring the Tetons from the valley floor. For others, the top of Targhee is enough to satiate their mountain calling. But for a small, passionate community, the expansive white landscape is an invitation. To experience these mountains in this season demands a fine balance between knowledge, experience, and reverence. My draw to the mountains and the deep snow that morning was dampened only slightly by the high avalanche danger. My ski partner and I discussed a conservative route for the day—one that would keep us out of the big avalanche terrain. We were well aware of the new snow loading and the temptations of a blue sky day. Skiing the backcountry invariably places skiers in avalanche terrain. The memorial markers of expert Teton locals who have lost their lives in avalanches accompany many others around the West and throughout the world. The losses reach across mountain towns, sliding deep into the core of the backcountry culture. Over the past two winters, the topic spread from local bars and trailheads to the front section of The New York Times and the pages of Outside magazine. Avalanche tragedies have become the material of mainstream media. The deep blue sky offered us a breeze while we skinned uphill on a light track set by skiers ahead. Arriving at the top of Maverick Ridge, we scanned the surrounding mountains for signs of danger —recent avalanches, scoured areas, wind loading. The mountains exposed nothing, spoke no threatening signs. But the morning’s report from the Bridger-Teton National Forest Avalanche Center echoed through my mind: “Human triggered slab avalanches likely on steep slopes. Surface slabs up to three feet deep lie on slick old snow surfaces. Deep instabilities persist. Humans who venture onto steep slopes are likely to trigger these surface slabs and could trigger full depth hard slabs. Natural avalanche activity is possible.” Avalanche forecasts are considered only one factor of the decision-making equation. Current practices in avalanche education focus on a triad of influences: snow science, terrain evaluation, and the human element. It is the latter, though, that is now recognized as the greatest contributor to avalanche accidents. Bruce Tremper, author of Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain, points to this statistic: “In 93 percent of avalanche accidents, the avalanche is triggered by the victim or someone in the victim’s party. Which is good, because as the Pogo cartoon says, ‘We have met the enemy and he is us.’”
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“The mountains are calling and I must go.” —John Muir We had been moving quickly and arrived at our planned destination earlier than expected. Another thousand feet of climbing and we could gain the summit of Peak 10696. My partner suggested we give it a try. My eyes and mind swept across the looming, silent snowfield above us. “We could just head that way and see how it feels,” he urged. “At least, let’s go to that saddle.” He raised his ski pole and pointed at a rocky spot along the ridge—Shoot the Moon Saddle. Hesitantly, I agreed, and we began skinning uphill again. Backcountry skiers have a name for this—bluebird syndrome. The symptoms are found in experienced mountaineers and novices alike. The avalanche forecast is daunting, the risks are high, and prudent decision making is paramount. But then the skiing begins—the perfect weather, the boundless energy, the bottomless powder. Judgment begins to be clouded by desire, and, sometimes imperceptibly, plans begin shifting. As I crested Shoot the Moon Saddle, the wind hit me and scraped at the raw, cold skin of my cheeks. I had been sweating on the climb and, suddenly, the wind blasting over the saddle tore at my neck and chest, exposed at the top of my zipper. Beads of sweat froze instantly. The heat was wrung from my body, layer by layer—skin, organs, blood, bones. I turned my back to it and wrestled the coat out of my pack. It flapped violently in the gusts as I fought to get it on and zipped. The cradle of the saddle was scoured free of snow; I was standing on rock. The wind, the avalanche report, and the giant snowfield all percolated inside me. Backcountry temptations are married to mountainous consequences—the place where terrain and science meet the human factor. The most common human errors are labeled “heuristic traps” by Ian McCammon of the National Outdoor Leadership School. “To balance our constant need to make good decisions against our need to make them quickly,” McCammon writes, “we often use simple rules of thumb, or heuristics.” He categorizes these traps into four areas: familiarity (knowing the terrain), social proof (others are doing it), commitment (sticking to the plan), and scarcity (bluebird syndrome). To counter errors in judgment, Tremper offers a suggestion that is as much psychological as it is philo-
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sophical: “One lesson I continually have to relearn— the lesson that avalanches teach so well—is that in order to survive in the mountains, we must learn to leave some of our individual and collective human foibles behind. Around humans, be human. In the mountains, think like a mountain.” Frozen on the rocky saddle, I watched my partner start out on the leeward side of the ridge, breaking through a crusty layer of snow and sending small slabs sliding down the snowy slope. I shouted to him, “Hang on! I’m not ready! I’m not too sure about this!” But my words were stolen by the wind and carried into the next canyon. He tried to shout back, but his words, too, were lost. My body refused to move off the solid rocky perch. My partner relented and retreated back to the saddle. Our words were now close and caught. “I don’t want to go,” I said. “I don’t like this.” It was something deep inside of me that spoke: the viscera of fear, an overwhelming of the massive, an immediacy of conditions. Physical responses to backcountry conditions are recognized as an integral part of the decision-making process. In Deep Survival, Laurence Gonzales addresses the gut reaction of humans: “The most remarkable discovery of modern neuroscience is that the body controls the brain as much as the brain controls the body.” In life-threatening circumstances, he explains, the logic of the brain is whitewashed by the physical response to the situation. This is the construct of human survival. “When a decision to act must be made instantly, it is made through a system of emotional bookmarks,” Gonzales writes. “The emotional system reacts to circumstances, finds bookmarks that flag similar experiences in your past and your response to them, and allows you to recall the feelings, good or bad, of the outcomes of your actions. Those gut feelings give you an instant reading on how to behave.” Decisions made in such moments may well reflect a person’s avalanche knowledge. More importantly, though, the skier’s past experiences play a fundamental role.
Teton Valley Magazine
I quickly indexed through the information I had gained in avalanche courses and in our experience of the new snow that morning. I knew only one thing for sure: Our weight and movement had not caused an avalanche during our climb. Our ascent route would be the safest descent.
lowing from the deep canyon floor, creating a mist of cloud over the mountain. The snow appeared to have accumulated ten feet deep in the bowels of the bowl. One small strip of unslid snow remained, holding our ascent track. I skied to my partner, and we stared wide-eyed at one another.
Winter backcountry travel is an imperfect science, both intuitive and calculated, and bound by rules. “…If you know what you’re doing, staying alive in avalanche country is predominantly a matter of choice, not chance,” Tremper asserts. “But knowledge and experience take us only part of the way. The rest comes from good habits and good techniques.” Adhering to what Tremper labels the “Ten Commandments” greatly increases the safety margin for backcountry travelers. Identifying safe zones and escape routes, communication, and terrain management are all critical practices in avalanche country.
The combined years of experience, countless ski tours in the Tetons, and avalanche certifications were meaningless in that moment. We made just enough right choices that day to save our lives from a series of bad ones. I stared down at the debris field, where boulder-sized snow chunks had frozen in their stopping place. I looked up at the half-mile wide swath of snow missing from the mountainside. The three-foot crown indicated the snowfield’s breaking point, and I had just found mine. The trigger teeters on human decisions. I did not stop skiing after that day, but the experience of that avalanche was permanently imprinted. It has affected all of my decision making in the mountains since. This was the fundamental lesson of an avalanche. TV
Gingerly my partner made his first turn, and the snow whomphed as a buried layer collapsed beneath his skis. Nothing visible. Only a sound. And a feeling. He glanced back up at me. We both knew there was only one way down. I was safe on the rock of the saddle, clenching my teeth against the wind, the cold, the instability. He made his next turn. Two hundred feet away, a tiny pine tree became the trigger point. The snow cracked. The crack raced across the entire face of Peak 10696. The snow pulled away from everything—the rocks, the face, itself. My head spun, searching for my partner. I caught him sideslipping to a solid rock outcropping. The entire mountainside slid and steamrolled; collapsed and clawed and churned. “Oh no no no,” were the only words I could breathe. The snow cascaded up and over the lip of the ridge and thousands of feet down into the next canyon. Through my tears, I saw giant plumes of snow smoke bil-
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POSTSCRIPT Throughout the mountains, prayer flags flit weightlessly in light mountain breezes. Many of us have lost those we’ve partnered with in the mountains and in our lives. My partner of that day passed away two years later in an avalanche in Grand Teton National Park. For those of us who survive other members of our skiing community, time is filled with both grief and awe as we seek to rectify our relationships with the mountains. “...by bringing myself over the edge and back, I discovered a passion to live my days fully, a conviction that will sustain me like sweet water on the periodically barren plain of our short lives.” —Jonathan Waterman
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BACKGROUND/FRAME, GRAPHICSTOCK.COM
Four couples manifest one man’s vision by T. Hamish Tear
I
n 1924, at age sixteen, Paul Petzoldt made the fourth-ever ascent of the Grand Teton, in cowboy boots and dodgy conditions. At his ninetieth birthday party in 1998, he said: “I was lucky to get out alive. I learned I was a damn fool, and that if I was going to live around mountains and do these things, I had to get some horse sense.” A seed was sewn. In time, Petzoldt recognized a need for other mountaineers and backcountry travelers to benefit from guidance in proper training, preparation, techniques, skills—and leadership. Today, some 7,500 feet below that summit, a subtle enhancement of life in Teton Valley, along with a
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piece of the puzzle of the well-being of the Yellowstone cutthroat trout, can be attributed in part to Petzoldt’s precarious moment. Over the span of sixty years, Petzoldt became a tour de force and legendary character in the worlds of mountaineering and outdoor leadership education. At twenty-one, he owned the first mountaineering concession in Grand Teton National Park, the American School of Mountaineering. In the 1930s he was first to double-traverse the Matterhorn, and he nearly summitted K2 without oxygen on the first American expedition. He was the first chief instructor for Outward Bound USA, where he saw the need for
Teton Valley Magazine
PHOTO: FRITIOF FRYXELL COLLECTION, AMERICAN HERITAGE CENTER, UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING
SOLID ROCK RELATIONSHIPS
“Mention the Grand Teton and the name Paul Petzoldt comes to mind.” — From On
Belay, by Raye C. Ringholz
PHOTO: COURTESY OF AMY AND DAN VERBETEN
further and better training of outdoor educators. This led Petzoldt to found, in 1965, the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) — arguably the world’s preeminent outdoor leadership institution and Petzoldt’s most recognized achievement. (Although today, climbers across the globe use Petzoldt’s voicesignaling rope-management protocol [‘On Belay’], usually without knowing it was his device.) Petzoldt could not have imagined the extent to which NOLS would grow and influence. There are now fifteen branches worldwide, including the one in Teton Valley, founded in 1999 (though there’s been a NOLS presence here since 1971, and Petzoldt himself maintained a tiny cabin in Victor for years). Nor could he have known how the organization would touch lives. With all the benefits of Rocky Mountain small-town living, Teton Valley is a magnet for NOLS instructors and staff, and almost five dozen current and former ones now call this valley home. Imbued with the institution’s three-core-basics curriculum—environmental studies, leadership, and outdoor skills—they are a valued addition to the community. Not that NOLS is an intentional singles service, but couples—like the four described below—inevitably meet up as they zing about the country and the world attending courses as students or instructors. They find they have common interests in adventure and education, and there’s the strategic advantage of being practiced at calm and collected problemsolving. That is, they have learned the skills to keep relationships together, including their own. NOLS accommodates these couples working together in its various branches—but that doesn’t come with guarantees of togetherness. Water and Ice Amy and Dan Verbeten came permanently to Driggs in 2007, having coveted Teton Valley since teaching NOLS courses here in previous summers.
Dan and Amy Verbeten taking a break while hiking in the Tetons’ Alaska Basin with their dog, Rio.
Dan, who became the branch operations manager, also joined the nonprofit Teton Valley Trails and Pathways (TVTAP) as a board member and volunteer groomer of its Nordic ski trails, and he coached the Teton High School Nordic Team. Amy immersed herself in the valley’s aquatic affairs as education director for Friends of the Teton River (FTR), a Driggs-based nonprofit created to protect and conserve the watershed, its environs, and, yes, the native trout. Without NOLS, she says, she may never have gained the leadership skills and experience that helped her attain this position (although a B.S. in biology with a minor in geology and an M.A. in education also helped). Wishing to expand upon several years of mountain guiding, and to further her Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) certification from the Wilderness Medicine Institute in Colorado, Amy attended a NOLS student course in 2001, then an instructor course at the Southwest branch in Arizona. “NOLS was the leader in the industry,” she says. “I was interested in guiding longer courses and in earning higher skill levels.” Amy instructed and advanced through the organization, leading courses in Australia, Colorado, Arkansas, Wyoming, California, New Mexico, Texas, and Teton Valley. What she hadn’t planned on was meeting her future husband, Dan, a fellow student during her 2001 course. A psychology graduate,
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Bruce and Kat Smithhammer met at NOLS’ Patagonia
with their kids, Peter and Isabel.
branch in Chile.
talented skier, and educator/counselor, Dan had experience working with at-risk youth and with Meet the Wilderness, an organization committed to the personal growth of young people. He was a natural for NOLS and a perfect fit for Teton winter courses. He and Amy were similarly smitten by the work and life of a NOLS instructor. Amy became FTR’s executive director in February 2013, embracing the role with enthusiasm. “In Teton Valley, water is part of everyone’s life,” she says; “and, as a result, I get to work with [a variety of] people—fishing outfitters, policy makers, farmers, ski industry officials, and families just wanting clean water … ” She attributes much of her success to NOLS: “What I learned in leadership skills, supervision, and facilitation of groups has been directly applicable to my role here.” Work That Makes a Difference In 2012, Dan Verbeten became assistant director of NOLS Teton Valley. Abby Warner is his boss. But if there’s a “Director” sign on her office door, it’s hidden under a collage of photos of her two youngsters and their artwork. The interior of the office is no different. Abby’s kindly demeanor and twenty-three years with NOLS, including more than two hundred weeks in the field and eighteen years in branch management, have earned her the devotion and cooperation of the staff. “It’s work that makes a difference,” she says. “I’m here because the way we teach lets people know how great learning is, and knowing you can learn things is so important—especially when what NOLS teaches is good for the world.”
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Abby looks on as a group of fifteen-year-old students gear up for two weeks of wilderness backpacking. Even with the most capable of instructors on staff, she is still responsible for the group, and every detail is running through her mind. “Each of these people is somebody’s child,” she says. There’s a purposeful, no-fuss, happy pace as the group prepares; anticipation is on simmer. “Instructors and students should get out there relaxed,” Abby says. “The teachers will be better teachers; the students will be better learners. We want our outcomes to be fabulous.” An in-the-blood outdoors woman—“My grandmother could kill a squirrel with a bow and arrow”— Abby took her first multi-day hike in the high Colorado Rockies at age eight. Later, during a high school backpacking camp near Steamboat Springs, she spent a month in the backcountry. Her future as an outdoors leader was sealed. At eighteen she took a NOLS student course at the Alaska branch, followed by an instructor course in Wyoming’s Wind River Range … then it was off to college to study economics and geography. “After that, I came to work for NOLS and have done so ever since,” she says. For seven years prior to directing NOLS’ Teton Valley branch, Abby had worked at NOLS Canada, where husband Willy Warner was director, having come up through the usual instructing channels. Willy had scouted and established branches in Smithers, British Columbia, and in Whitehorse, Yukon. The Warners oversaw the consolidation into one Canadian branch—NOLS Yukon—and operated it until Abby came to direct the Teton Valley branch in 2002.
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PHOTOS: LEFT, TONY JEWELL; RIGHT, COURTESY OF BRUCE AND KAT SMITHHAMMER
Abby and Willy Warner enjoying a winter yurt getaway
Willy went on to study at the Leadership Institute of Seattle, where he consulted with teams and organizations, skills he brought to his new role as outreach coordinator for Teton Valley’s Family Safety Network. Also an advocate for troubled teens and families, he serves on the board of the Teton Valley Community School.
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Married for a Reason Bruce and Kat Smithhammer met at one of NOLS’ more extreme locations, the Patagonia branch in Chile, where Bruce was a senior instructor and program supervisor, and Kat was a student instructor. In time, this NOLS couple was to bring an interesting twist as their career paths led them to Teton Valley. The Smithhammers worked five summer seasons together in Chile, but they were separated during the Patagonian winters (which are, of course, summers north of the equator): Kat alternated between instructing at the NOLS Yukon branch and at the NOLS Rocky Mountain branch in Lander, racking up some 176 weeks camping in the backcountry. Bruce spent those seasons instructing sailing and sea-kayaking at NOLS Alaska and at NOLS Mexico on the Baja Peninsula. While both enjoyed these years of working at such far-flung outposts, they found the long separations difficult— separations that extended into the Patagonian summers: They had come to that branch together only to find that they would co-instruct on very few courses, tough when semesters are seventyfive days in the wilderness with little or no communication. A common thread running through relationships like this is the writing of letters to each other while stationed out of the same base, and retrieving them from in-boxes at the end of courses. The Smithhammers, who married in 2004, have lived in Teton Valley since 2006. While Kat still occasionally leads distant courses (at the time of this writing, she was off to Alaska for a month
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with Wharton MBA students), she likes to keep it closer to home by working out of the Teton Valley branch. “We got married for a reason,” she says. Locals and non-locals alike opine that Teton Valley is the hub of some of the best fly fishing in the Lower 48, with the South Fork of the Snake River, the Henry’s Fork, and the Teton River the spokes of the wheel. Bruce Smithhammer is one of the locals. For more than eleven years, part of his job as program director for the backpacking-and-fly-fishing courses run out of NOLS Patagonia was to explore the remote Chilean wilderness on multi-day horse-packing trips, scouting potential fly-fishing locations. He is now in his element here, working as a guide with Jackson Hole outfitter High Country Flies. He also co-authors fishing e-books and writes features, gear reviews, and columns for fly-fishing publications and other magazines (including this one), and is on the board of the Idaho chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. What Bruce brings from NOLS is an unambiguous desire to teach clients more deeply, calling on his diverse experience. For him, it’s not enough that they just catch fish. “If they’re going to spend time in a small boat with me,” he says, “they’re going to go away having learned something.”
PHOTO: COURTESY OF ANDY AND MOLLY TYSON
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Although Kat continues to instruct occasional field courses, she specializes in a third, autonomous department of the organization, the Professional Training Program, or NOLS Pro, of which she has been a member since 2006. With a master’s degree in leadership and training, and having taught high school in her earlier years in Canada, she was a natural choice for this position. “I’ve always been interested in adult education and leadership,” Kat says. Now a senior account manager and professional training program coordinator in human development and leadership, she enjoys coaching individuals and teams, with clients ranging from NASA personnel and Google directors to Four Seasons hotel managers. She helps these individuals reach their full potential by simultaneously challenging them physically, intellectually, and emotionally—something readily achieved on hardy expeditions. In December 2009, Kat created a leadership consulting business, Leadership at Play, with partner Allison Bergh, also from NOLS. Much of their work is with nonprofit organizations, including such local entities as Teton Science Schools, Central Wyoming College, Teton Valley Community School, Teton Valley Mental Health Coalition, and—back to Amy Verbeten—Friends of the Teton River. Quick Acquaintances Also finding themselves at home in Teton Valley are Andy and Molly Tyson. Mountaineers at heart, they have coauthored a volume for The Mountaineers Books titled Climbing Self Rescue: Improvising Solutions for Serious Situations. Molly’s tagline sums it up: “Writer, Adventurer, Globetrotter.” She chronicles her adventures in a multitude of publications, including those of Powder Mountain Press (see this issue’s Compass Points, page 54). Her impressive mountaineering resume was launched by scholarship-funded expeditions with college girlfriends to Alaska’s Little Switzerland area and the Juneau Icefield. “We just went through college teaching ourselves to climb and learning from
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our mistakes along the way,” she says. Molly’s busy mountaineering life includes serving as a climbing ranger for the mountain rescue team in Grand Teton National Park, and as a writer of articles about mountaineering trips. In local circles, she is known for having guided an eighty-year-old to the top of the Grand Teton, thought to be the oldest person to summit the peak. After attending a NOLS instructor course in 2001, Molly met Andy in 2002 when they were co-instructors on a course out of the Rocky Mountain branch in Lander. “Relationships can progress kind of quickly [in such a setting], because you are reacting to accelerated stimuli,” Molly says. “You’re ‘out there’ and in charge of ten to fourteen students, which lets you see all sides of your fellow instructor in a condensed amount of time.” The couple married in 2006.
“Relationships can progress kind of quickly [in such a setting], because you are
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reacting to accelerated stimuli.” —Molly Tyson Andy recognized that the occasional, low-paying, and far-flung nature of an instructor’s work isn’t for everyone, nor forever. He decided to prime his future by working with NOLS at a deeper level. “There is room within NOLS to follow the interests that you have,” he says, “and the career path you’d like to shape. You can instruct for a while, but then learn additional skills in oversight roles.” As program director in Patagonia, he oversaw guide training, staffing, and scheduling, which also helped him develop a long and diverse mountaineering career with Exum Guides, Alpine Ascents International, and Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions. Dovetailing with the practical knowledge he gained, an enhanced environmental ethic became more and more a part of Andy’s makeup. This is true of NOLS alumni everywhere, and it espous-
es Petzoldt’s teachings in his classic 1980 publication The Wilderness Handbook. Andy’s twenty-something years of leading monthlong courses in the wilderness, appreciating the natural environment, and sharing conservation themes with students had a strong influence on him. “Instructors eventually bring the outdoors, energy-saving ethic into how they lead their lives,” he says. “Everything we do relates to energy and resources conservation. We carefully consider things like how we get our water and what resources we use and don’t use. I became interested in ‘the renewables.’” Andy’s time and training with NOLS culminated in a partnership with two other instructors in the launch of Creative Energies, a solar design and installation company. They have offices in Lander, Salt Lake City, and Victor, where Andy is supervisor. He is certified in solar photovoltaic design and installation, and serves as chairman of the Solar Task Force for the Idaho Strategic Energy Alliance.
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More than 220,000 students have graduated from NOLS courses. By default they, and the instructors who guide them, spread the diverse message of the NOLS philosophy around the globe. Benefiting Teton Valley directly, it’s a legacy borne of a cold climb in cowboy boots made ninety years ago. Paul Petzoldt died in 1999 at the age of 91, just three years after founding yet another outdoor education entity, the Paul Petzoldt Leadership School. In many ways, the Grand Teton is Petzoldt’s peak. Features and firsts on the monolith bear his name. He climbed it at age sixtysix to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of his teenaged climb, and again at seventysix (the oldest at the time) for the sixtieth anniversary. He was finally turned around at age eighty-four by bad eyes and foul weather. It could also be said of this pioneer of American mountaineering, this man who lived large and made few apologies for it—Petzoldt was thrice divorced and four times married—that he was, and is, even in death, a most unlikely matchmaker. TV
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all in a day ’s work
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Teton Valley Magazine
A Binding Deal by Rob Marin Photos courtesy 22 Designs
22 Designs’ Pringle and Valiante are on the haute route to success
I
OPPOSITE PAGE: Collins Pringle (left) and Chris Valiante are the engineers/telemark skiers behind 22 Designs. ABOVE: Taylor Phillips testing out the Axl binding.
f loving what you do and living where you want are measures of success, Collins Pringle and Chris Valiante have it pretty well dialed in. Mechanical engineers by training, these former college roommates are often cited by Driggs community leaders as the sort of grassroots, recreation-based entrepreneurs that represent Teton Valley’s economic future. But they might not phrase it that way. They’re just glad to be making a living in a business that allows both of them to ski a lot (or requires it, really). Their company, 22 Designs— named for the Wyoming state highway that traverses Teton Pass—designs, produces, and sells what may be the bestperforming and most durable telemark bindings on the market. Pringle grew up near Syracuse, New York, while Valiante, born in Washington D.C., moved to Wilson, Wyoming, at the age of ten. The pair met while studying engineering at Clarkson University in upstate New York, using the nearby Adirondack Mountains as their telemark training grounds. Looking back, Pringle says Eastern skiing made for fun adventures, but it was not quite the Tetons. “The problem is the trees are so thick,” he says, “… especially when you’re trying to learn how to tele ski.” After graduating in 2002, Pringle took an engineering position customizing fire trucks in New York, and Valiante returned to Jackson Hole, picking up some short-term construction work. Pringle says his engineering job was fun, “but I got super restless being in
New York.” He subsequently moved west to Colorado. While both Pringle and Valiante were enthusiastic telemark skiers, owning a binding company was certainly not part of the game plan at that point in their lives. That all changed in 2003, after Valiante took an internship with a small binding company in Wilson called Rainey Designs, owned by Russell Rainey. At the time, Rainey was marketing his new Hammerhead binding directly to consumers online, but thinking about leaving the business. Valiante says he approached Rainey with the idea of purchasing the Hammerhead, and during the next year he and Pringle discussed a partnership. The idea came together, Pringle says, when the two embarked on a ski trip to Argentina in 2004. A deal was completed a few months later. Rainey worked with his young successors to make the transition possible, helping out with financing. The fledgling 22 Designs initially adopted Rainey’s direct sales model, but soon expanded into wholesaling the Hammerhead to retail ski shops. At this point, the Hammerhead was only a couple of seasons old, so there was some resistance to the new product. Word-of-mouth endorsements from ski shop employees familiar with the product helped them out. “Sometimes when you’re talking to a corporate store it’s hard to break through,” says Pringle, “but a lot of shops called us, too.” He says they probably sold 1,500 to 1,700 bindings that first season.
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FAR LEFT: 22 Designs’ new resort-skiing-oriented Vice binding. LEFT: The innovative Axl binding.
Valiante describes the Hammerhead as “pretty innovative” when it was introduced, but says it was not a true touring binding. Until recently, a disadvantage of tele bindings was that the cables constantly applied tension to the skier’s heel, an asset during descents but a source of fatigue while walking uphill. Alpine Touring (AT) bindings freely pivot at the toe in walk mode, eliminating the heel pull. This advantage caused many skiers to abandon telemarking in favor of AT gear and its growing availability. While the spring tension and pivot point of the Hammerhead were technically adjustable, it was “kind of a pain” to adjust on the fly, Valiante says. After Black Diamond introduced the O1 telemark binding, which featured a free-pivoting toe at the push of a button, the guys at 22 Designs realized they had some catching up to do. By this time, the business had relocated from Wilson to Driggs. Valiante and Pringle purchased a house in town together, where they built and prototyped new binding designs in the garage. They also lived there, along with a revolving roster of roommates. Both say they were initially apprehensive about the move from Wyoming to Teton Valley, but they’ve come to prefer the quiet side of the Tetons. Grand Targhee’s powdery glades and accessible backcountry have become excellent proving grounds for new binding designs. The first post-Rainey addition to the 22 binding line was the Bombshell, a female-oriented version of the Hammerhead; it’s a smaller design with softer springs. But the true innovation came with the development of the Axl, a completely new binding with the downhill performance of the Hammerhead, plus a free-pivoting tour mode. Springs
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on the Axl moved from the front of the binding to underfoot (losing the signature Hammerhead-shark look of the earlier design), providing even better control and protection from wear. The most recent offering is the resort-skiing-oriented Vice, modeled on the Axl design, but without the touring mode. Pringle says new designs have each taken a couple of years to move from concept to production. Prototype parts are designed in CAD software and shaped in the 22 Designs workshop using a CNC router, a metal lathe, and other hardware. The design process has involved extensive testing by partners, friends, and participants in their beta testing program, whereby skiers can purchase prototypes at retail price, provide feedback, and receive a new set of bindings when the final product is released. The company’s sales have grown roughly fourfold over the years, about equally divided between touring and downhill-oriented models. Valiante says reliable sales numbers are hard to come by, but they estimate that 22’s sales probably rank second or third in the global telemark binding market. Like many successful homegrown businesses in Teton Valley, the key to 22’s viability here is a market base reaching well beyond the valley. Their products are distributed in eight countries, with 110 dealers in the U.S. Last year, 22 Designs moved operations into the Driggs Industrial Building on Highway 33. The building had lost all of its tenants during the recession, so the city offered greatly reduced rents, focusing on attracting firms in the outdoor recreation and apparel industry. While some assembly of the bindings was formerly farmed out, now they are almost entirely built in-house at the Driggs
Teton Valley Magazine
location, using domestically produced components based on 22 Designs’ specifications. In addition to Valiante and Pringle, the 22 family currently includes three seasonal employees, Linsey Edmonds, Louis Kalina, and Brett Strickler. The 22 boys have come a long way from the college roommate days. For one, they no longer live together. Valiante and his wife of four years, Lane Griffin Valiante, purchased a home and in October welcomed their first child to the world, a girl named Cora. Pringle and his girlfriend, Emily Erickson, also recently closed on and moved into their own place. The partners continue to enjoy life in Teton Valley and are happy with the creativity and challenges their business offers. While not getting fabulously rich, they are “getting by,” they say, while enjoying skiing, boating, and biking in the Teton region. “We’re just doing what we’re doing for the conceivable future,” Valiante says. For now, that sounds a lot like success. TV THE TELEMARK BINDING BACKSTORY Mid-1990s cable bindings weren’t conceptually much different from the woven birch-root straps used by Norwegian tele skiers a century earlier. However, leather boots had given way to stiffer, taller plastic boots, which — combined with fatter, Alpine-like skis—allowed for increasingly aggressive free-heel skiing. Skiers were putting a lot of stress on bindings, which became the weak link in the system. They allowed excessive flex and broke a lot. Major manufacturers like Black Diamond, Voilé, and G3 scrambled to update their designs, with varying degrees of success. In the early 2000s, Wilson, Wyoming-based Rainey Designs, owned by Russell Rainey, created the Hammerhead binding. Its beefy cables were less prone to breakage, it had powerful springs offering unprecedented downhill control, and it was adjustable for different skier styles and sizes.
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teens
& tweens
Finding Balance
by Mel Paradis
Teton Indoor Sports Academy helps young people build skills and self-confidence
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Teton Valley Magazine
PHOTOS: OPPOSITE PAGE AND LOWER RIGHT, JEROD PFEFFER; UPPER RIGHT, STAFF
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ouncing on the trampoline, running down the tumble track, jumping around on the spring floor … activities that bring to mind an image of screaming toddlers and young children frolicking at the gym. But this is not always the case at the Teton Indoor Sports Academy. While TISA, located in the back of the Driggs City Center, does offer open gym and recreational classes for children as young as six months, several days a week boys and girls of all ages can be found flipping themselves around on the equipment. Young people take note: Whether you are a gymnast practicing to compete, a skier or snowboarder wanting to up your aerobic hiking capacity and hone your aerials before hitting the slopes, or just a kid looking to have a good time, TISA is the place to be. TISA is currently owned by Cheri Milne. A former competitive gymnast, she has been a coach with the program, originally known as Gymnastics Junction, since its inception in 2004. “Gymnastics is the base for so many sports,” Milne says. “More importantly, the selfesteem that we bring out is amazing. Kids of all shapes, sizes, and ages come here. Some walk in quite low, but come out high.” Self-confidence is one of the necessary components for competitive gymnasts. “You have to believe in yourself before you can accomplish something,” says eighteen-year-old Sara Dery, who competed in gymnastics for seven years, two of them with TISA. The Elite Team, TISA’s competitive gymnastics group, is composed of around twenty girls ages seven to fifteen. In the winter, the girls practice
between six and twelve hours a week. Each practice starts with a cardio warmup and moves on to strength training and conditioning exercises. The team then splits into leveled groups to practice bar, vault, beam, and floor. “It is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life,” says Hadley Hill, a freshman who has been with the team for four years. “But once you are at a meet, it is worth it,” pipes in eighth-grader Haily Kunz.
FAR LEFT: Hannah Milne does her balance beam routine at a TISA fundraising event last October. THIS PAGE, BELOW: Cheri Milne, owner of TISA. The former competitive gymnast has been with the program, originally known as Gymnastics Junction, since its inception in 2004. BOTTOM: Spotted by coach Cheri Milne, Airyuana Hoyle practices some of her moves.
“The self-esteem that we bring out is amazing.” — Cheri Milne Team members have traveled to meets in towns as nearby as Rexburg and as far away as Coeur d’Alene. For a relatively young competitive program, TISA has been very successful. Not only have individuals earned several medals, including first place all around, but the team has also placed in competition. Middle schoolers and high schoolers who aren’t looking to compete, but want to learn or advance their gymnastics skills, are not left out. This fall, TISA
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began offering a weekly Teens/Tweens recreational class. An hour and a half in duration, each session is multi-level in terms of skill and experience, designed to get and keep older students in the gym. Beginner through intermediate level students focus on skills ranging from cartwheels on the mat to handstand dismounts off the balance beam. “I added the class because gymnastics doesn’t have to be [performed] at a competitive level,” Milne says. “It can be recreational—and this age of students, regardless of what level they are at, work so well together. They really encourage each other.” Another program that brings in both boys and girls is the Dryland Training, which is really just a term for open gym. Three nights a week, participants arrive ready to up their cardio capabilities, get limber, and practice flips and handstands and tricks on the equipment. The session begins with cardio warm-ups and stretches; afterward, participants split up to work with coaches to learn and perfect aerial tricks on the tram-
PHOTO: STAFF
Comfort, Close to Home
IPOWDER IPERFECT
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poline or tumble track. Senior Sam Dery says Dryland Training has been extremely beneficial to his skiing. He enjoys starting off the season in great cardio shape, often being able to outhike those he is riding with in the snow. He also likes “learning the gyroscopics of certain tricks so you know the basic idea before you try it on snow.” Accolades for TISA participants are not limited to competitive gymnastics. During the 2011–2012 ski season, after participating in TISA’s Dryland Training, Sam Winship, then sixteen, competed in an invitational Junior Olympics event for top skiers under the age of eighteen. He credits the program for getting him ready to compete. “I initially joined for the gymnastics and trampolining,” says the young man who finished third at the juniors event. “But I liked the satisfaction that I got from being physically ready for the season. It was a noticeable difference in the first month or so; I felt more ready and comfortable than I had in the past.” In TISA, middle and high school students have a place not only to get physically fit, but also to work on coordination, balance, and self-confidence. “Through my many years of training, competition, and now coaching, I have learned the importance of having selfconfidence,” says Sara Dery. “Gaining the quality didn’t just help me in gymnastics, it also helped my social life and my academics. Gymnastics gave me the boost I needed to break free of my shell and become a more outgoing and confident individual.” For other young people looking to become stronger, both physically and mentally, a class schedule may be found at www.tetonindoorsports academy.com. TV
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c o m pa s s p o i n t s
Journey to the Source
S
MONGOLIA
CHINA
The source of the Yellow River (Huang He).
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The Yellow River and its headwaters represent the cradle of Chinese civilization
Winter 2013-14 | LifeInTheTetons.com
now falls on the Sun and Moon mountains as men with cigarettes dangling from their lips like icicles push a faded sedan through wet, spring snow clogging the highway. Trucks, weighted with food for a village a thousand kilometers away, belch toward the dim dip of the mountain pass. “The Sun and Moon mountains are the boundary between Tibet and China. It is where farming ends and the grasslands begin,” explains our guide, Dawa Tsering, as we arrive at the mountain pass. We’re an hour outside our departure point of Qinghai’s capital Xining, in
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a vast province bordering China’s Tibetan Autonomous Region. Shrugging off vendors peddling fox pelts, I look east then west from my snowy perch in the pass’s parking lot. Even through a light veil of snow, the differences are clear—to the east is a flat fabric of fields; to the west, the gentle undulations of the Tibetan Plateau. For more than four thousand years, Tibetan nomads have not only survived but thrived in this harsh landscape. It’s not so different from Teton Valley a few decades back, when winter temperatures regularly plunged below negative
MAP: CREATIVE COMMONS/ WIKIPEDIA.ORG/SHANNON
Story and photos by Molly Loomis
LEFT: A group of nomads outside their traditional tent woven from yak wool. THIS PAGE: Tsering Paljor, one of Tibet’s remaining nomads.
forty degrees—just higher in elevation, rising to an average altitude of nearly 15,000 feet above sea level. Some say that within a decade, nomads moving their caravans of yaks across the plateau may be entirely gone, the result of a government relocation program that’s putting them in resettlement villages. As someone who has spent most of her adult life moving with the seasons, and the better part of many years sleeping under the stars, I’ve come to see the nomads firsthand before they are gone. I’ve come to pay my respects while I still can. As Tsering entertains us with stories of his youth—including beautiful girls in tents guarded by vicious dogs—the brittle golden scrub of the plateau rolls by, all part of one of the world’s largest grassland and wilderness areas. Puffs of dust burst into the air where Tibetan gazelles scratch patches of hard, sunbaked dirt for roots, and Saker falcons stand sentry atop fence posts, tracking the Jack-in-the-Box popping of pikas. Herds of domestic sheep, yak, and wild ass stand hiding their heads in clumps of tall, dried grass. It’s late spring and the pantry is picked over. Tsering says that, come summer, the plateau turns lush and green, “with so many wildflowers, it’s as if your shoes are painted in colors.” Finally, I find the courage to ask Tsering if we might have a chance to glance inside one of the nomad’s black tents. Almost immediately, he pulls the car over. In the cozy womb of the small black tent, Tsering translates as the lady of the house, Dolma Tenzi, and her sister discuss the recent snow and the difficulties their animals are having finding food. She dips her hand into a tightly woven saddlebag, offering us tsampa, a Tibetan staple, and butter to mix with it. Outside, the wind lifts the dry, new snow to meet the clouds. Dressed in a heavy green robe lined with sheepskins, Tenzi
pushes a mass of long black braids over her shoulder and leans down to fill my tea cup. She apologizes that she can’t offer milk—the yaks are out to pasture with her husband. The glaring sun filters through the loose weave of the tent,
After two long days of bracing against the bounce of potholes, we arrive in Mado, the final outpost and last stop before our ultimate destination, the headwaters of the Yellow River. It’s located inside the Sanjiangyuan Nature Reserve, at 31.8-million hectares a parcel slightly larger than Poland. On the outskirts of town we pass rows of identical, squat concrete houses. While the buildings would appear to most travelers as a cheap, sterile subdivision, I know they’re for relocated nomads. The settlements are part of the government’s latest attempt at bringing economic prosperity to the plateau and protecting the Yellow River region from massive erosion and degradation officials blame on the nomads and alleged overgrazing. Technically, relocation is voluntary, although in some counties government agents have told nomads that the relocation effort is part of an international conservation initiative. Many nomads
For more than four thousand years, Tibetan nomads have not only survived but thrived in this harsh landscape. It’s not so different from Teton Valley a few decades back ... casting shadows as she tosses a handful of dried sheep pellets through the stove’s small door. She offers tea to the others in hushed tones, gold teeth flashing through her smile. Small blades of green grass, the first sign of spring, poke their way through the hard, dirt floor. There are so many questions I have. Would Tenzi and her family prefer a house in a village? Have they been asked to relocate? But political tensions are too high—in the last week, bit by bit, police have been closing the plateau to foreigners and even to Tibetans moving between villages. I’m lucky to be here at all.
at first welcome the change, but quickly find themselves adrift and purposeless without their yaks. Some of the relocation villages have developed the moniker “robber villages,” for the increase in crime they see. Just outside Mado, less than ten miles from the source of the Yellow River, we stop to watch a procession of strange silhouettes plod across a flaxen meadow. Too large to be wild ass, too numerous to be brown bear. We pull on our coats and leave the vehicle’s warmth to inspect. Five yaks carry the entire contents of a family’s material life—a dented tin kettle, a black stovepipe, a lonely
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rubber boot, a dirt bike, and a massive tent. A black-and-tan mastiff perks his ears as we approach. “Hallo!” shouts his owner, dressed in a towering fur-lined hat, a robe of bright blue brocade, and tall rubber boots. Tsering Paljor is eager to chat. His limited English includes, “Cigarettie? Cigarettie?” and he’s delighted when we gave him a pack. His sister never says a word, her chestnut eyes focused on the family’s belongings and the twenty-odd smaller yaks grazing among the five snorting moving vans. The rest of the family curves in a dark line around the lake’s distant shore, as
Puffs of dust burst into the air where Tibetan gazelles scratch patches of hard, sun-baked dirt for roots, and Saker falcons stand sentry atop fence posts, tracking the Jack-in-the-Box popping of pikas.
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they move to spring pasture from their winter home. We walk slowly, practicing Paljor’s ABCs while the yaks’ bells clank like poorly timed metronomes. Occasionally, Paljor flaps the long sleeves of his robe at the yaks, like a bird waving his flock in the right direction. It’s with great reluctance that we finally leave. I feel like I’m watching a snowflake melt in my palm—something unique and irreplaceable. We return to
Got Brains? ( Wanna keep ‘em?)
Yaks carry a nomadic family’s possessions
Wear a helmet.
as they move between their winter and spring homes.
the Jeep and rev the engine, charging up a four-wheel-drive road to the official headwaters of the Yellow River. Slightly nauseous and fighting an altitude-induced headache pounding at the base of my skull, I stand on a hilltop at 15,567 feet, trying to absorb the immensity of the grassland. The enormous, oceanic expanses of Gyaring and Ngoring lakes stretch out before me, frozen and quiet. I share my spot on this lonely hilltop with an abstract iron statue of yak horns, tangled in a spider’s web of faded prayer flags. The statue was built to commemorate this mountaintop as the headwaters of the Yellow River. The Chinese revere this 3,395-mile water course as the cradle of their civilization and the nation’s breadbasket. That’s why its health and future are considered so important, allegedly justifying the nomads’ relocation. A dark slate cloud hangs over the lakeshore where we left Paljor and his sister. Watching ribbons of white streaming from the cloud’s underbelly, I wonder if one day they will be among the nomads that the government moves; if they would rather be watching the flakes fall from behind the windows of a relocation house. We return to the Jeep amidst a flurry of snowflakes, as if the sky is reaching down to feed the river in its endless cycle. A cycle the nomads have followed for thousands of years. TV
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ov e r t h e h i l l
Clearing the Connection by Amy Hatch
By the time the first morning commuters stream over Teton Pass, one man has already made the climb and descent several times at the controls of a massive snowplow ...
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Teton Valley Magazine
PHOTO: COURTESY OF JAMIE YOUNT/WYDOT
B
ruce Daigle’s shift began at three a.m. in a cavernous garage south of Jackson, where the heavy machinery needed to keep the pass open through the winter is stored. He is part of a small contingent of Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) employees charged with battling the area’s famously bitter and ferocious winters. Jackson-based WYDOT employees also clear the roads through Hoback Canyon, Snake River Canyon, and the area north of Jackson leading to Grand Teton National Park, but their chief challenge is the winding stretch of pavement that climbs more than 2,000 feet, cresting at 8,465-foot Teton Pass. While crews from both Wyoming and Idaho work to keep the highway open through its demanding terrain, the critical areas most prone to closure happen to be on the Cowboy State side of the border. Wyoming State Highway 22, as the Teton Pass road is formally known in that state, crosses ten named avalanche paths, has an average grade of 10 percent, and sees between three thousand and four thousand vehicle trips per day in the winter. That’s
RIGHT: Bruce Daigle’s shift begins early and often ends late. “In this job, you don’t leave your lunch bucket where you can’t get to it,” he says.
PHOTO: AMY HATCH
like funneling interstate volume traffic onto a road more suited to access the local ski area. But for many Teton Valley, Idaho, residents—who choose to live on this side of the pass for its affordability, uncrowded trails, and community character—their best and sometimes only job opportunities are over the hill in Jackson. So the daily commute becomes a routine part of their lives. “Now you get these big, long lines of traffic coming over in the evening and in the morning during rush hour,” says WYDOT maintenance foreman Ed Smith. “I mean, it stretches from one end of the hill to the other.” And, he adds, if you have one or two vehicles that spin out or slide, it causes a chain reaction over the whole pass. ‘It takes a special person’ Maintenance foreman Smith, who started with WYDOT at age eighteen, has seen his share of harrowing moments in thirty-five years working on Teton Pass. He remembers when the pass closed for fifteen days straight in 1987, due to immense amounts of snow layered with huge winds. Those were in the days before the state did regular
Crews from both Wyoming and Idaho work to keep the highway open through the winter, but the critical areas most prone to sliding happen to be in the Cowboy State. avalanche mitigation, leaving snow to collect in the avalanche chutes throughout the winter. “Everything slid up there,” Smith says. “You couldn’t tell where the road was.” During the subsequent winter, in 1988, a snow plow driver got stuck in a Glory Bowl slide and barely survived. “He was buried in the truck,” Smith says. “The guys had to go up and dig him out. It was pretty intense.” Veteran snowplow driver Daigle also knows too well the dangers that come with his job. He had his own near miss with Glory Bowl. “If I’d have been thirty seconds slower, I would have been in the middle of a slide, because it slid right behind me,” he says. Even when avalanches don’t pose a threat, whiteout conditions and slick roads often do. “I’ve been down this road backwards and sideways,” Daigle says. “It will make you sit up and take notice, that’s for sure.” He tells one story of sliding down the road sideways and
lifting up the blade of his plow just high enough to skim over the roofs of cars he was careening past. “It takes a special person to want to plow out here,” he says.
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Avalanche Control Daigle, along with every other driver on Highway 22, puts a great deal of faith in Jamie Yount and his team of WYDOT avalanche technicians. It’s their job to track the weather and snowpack conditions, and trigger avalanches manually before they have a chance to run naturally. The tools of the trade include four Gazex devices permanently installed in avalanche starting zones in Glory Bowl and Twin Slides. These French-designed avalanche control tools use a mixture of propane and oxygen to remotely set off a gas explosion that can trigger slides. “That’s been a really effective tool for us,” Yount says. “We’ve certainly had some challenges. It’s hard to maintain that type of equipment at 10,000 feet.”
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Thanks to Stephanie Harsha, WYDOT public relations specialist for District 3, and the maintenance technicians who helped her come up with this list of questions and answers. What does a new snowplow cost? An eight-yard, fully rigged truck is $140,000. It costs $105,000 before all the components are added. What does a snowplow consist of? A tandem-axle truck with a dump box, a sander, a front plow, a wing plow, and liquid tanks, which dispense an additive into the sand to lower the freeze point How many miles are put on a snowplow before WYDOT sells it? 300,000 How often are plow blades changed? An average of three times per year per truck What do plow blades cost? There are two setups for plow blades. The first includes general steel blades with carbon that come at a cost of $158 per blade. The second is referred to as winter blades. These are thicker
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and come at a cost of $483 per blade. Plows on Teton Pass often use the thicker winter blades, and each plow requires multiple blades. How much sand is used on Teton Pass each winter? An average of 3,500 tons How much sand can the average plow haul? Ten tons per load What is the average sand dispersion rate? 500-600 pounds per lane mile What is the average price for sand? $24.30 per ton What is the average price for salt? $71 per ton What is the average price for Apex additive? 94 cents per gallon What is the average price for salt brine for WYDOT? Sixteen cents per gallon. WYDOT makes this in-house to save money. The average cost to set up a brine plant is $40,000.
Teton Valley Magazine
The Cost of Doing Business All of this work comes at a hefty, halfmillion dollar annual price tag, paid for through a mix of state and federal funds. In the 2011 fiscal year the total road clearing cost was a little more than $455,000. That year, WYDOT spent $166,527 on labor, $172,921 on equipment, and $115,605 on material. Added onto those numbers is a $115,000 budget for avalanche mitigation, which includes man hours for two avalanche technicians and around $45,000 devoted to maintenance and explosive purchases. (The avalanche mitigation budget
PHOTO: AMY HATCH
PLOW-TISTICS
With the Gazex devices now twenty years old, maintenance is becoming an increasingly challenging issue. The avalanche control team also uses two Doppelmayr Avalanche Guards, permanently installed towers from which explosives can be launched into starting zones. “They’re a big part of our program now,” Yount says. “Between the two systems we have a little bit of redundancy.” If something goes wrong with the Gazex devices, the avalanche technicians can control for slides on Glory Bowl and Twin Slides with the Doppelmayrs, which can also hit other targets where there are no Gazex devices. The technicians also occasionally use artillery, helicopters for dropping charges, and hand-tossed charges. The increasing popularity of backcountry skiing has created a new dynamic for avalanche control. “Once people start accessing all that terrain, we can’t do any control work, because we can’t account for everyone,” Yount says. This creates extra pressure to foresee when the avalanche danger will rapidly increase during daylight hours. Human-triggered avalanches that cross road corridors and popular access trails are also a growing reality. In response, WYDOT encourages skiers to stay off the slopes on hazardous days and has developed this straightforward educational message: “It only takes one.”
also covers some work in Snake River Canyon and other local areas, but the majority is spent on Teton Pass.) The total cost can fluctuate substantially, depending on the severity of the winter. In the 2010 fiscal year, for example, the road clearing cost was $380,833. How do these numbers add up? The average cost per hour to run a snow plow is $77.05, including the driver’s hourly wage, fuel, machine maintenance, and materials, such as sand, salt, and Apex de-icing additive. WYDOT generally keeps a snowplow on Teton Pass around sixteen hours per day in winter, with the machines operating longer hours during big storms. New equipment purchases also factor into the mix. Life is a Highway Back in that cavernous WYDOT garage, snowplow driver Daigle looks over his machine. He checks under the hood and boots up the high-tech computers that tell him everything from road temperature to gravel dispersion rate. Next, he pulls the plow around back and hops in a front-end loader to screen gravel before dumping it into the dump box of the plow. He then records the plow’s mileage onto his iPhone and uses the radio to sign in with dispatch in Cheyenne. He also double-checks to make sure the beacon dangling from the ceiling of the cab is turned on. Finally, Daigle plugs his iPhone in and a Tom Cochrane tune fills the cab: “Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long.” A pretty good line for someone who starts work at three a.m. and often goes weeks, if not months, without a day off. To help him get through the long hours on the road, Daigle keeps his rusting, NASCAR-decals-covered Stanley thermos filled with coffee. He also has a lunch pail stowed nearby. “In this job, you don’t leave your lunch bucket where you can’t get to it,” he says. “You don’t know what’s going to happen. You don’t know how long you’re going to be out.” TV
Catherine Coe Photography
Linn Canyon RanCh A Classic Taste of the West
Elegant Sleigh Ride Dinners holiday Parties • Private Events • Winter activities
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b o dy
& soul
One Woman’s Greater Yellowstone
A personal journey into nature
I
was born in a big city, but grew up provincial. A hot house flower of the Deep South, I was sheltered, protected. The fenced backyard of a quarter acre lot in the suburbs effectively contained azaleas and roses and my life’s experiences. But time passed. First I was married. And then I wasn’t. While I was a couple, we took a few trips. Scrawled dates on the backs of photos tell me where we were, doing what we knew to do. We celebrated the Great Indoors at highly polished places boasting four-star cuisine and garden tours for the wives. When I was single again, I moved west. Suddenly finding myself under skies smeared crayon-blue, I opened
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an art gallery in Big Sky Country. Now I understood the appeal of landscapes— whether rendered in oil or watercolor, framed in gilt or barn wood. Nine years passed. When Earle walked into my gallery, I took his hand and walked outside. Our first trip, my premiere camping experience, was in Yellowstone National Park. Starting at Mary Bay, we canoed Yellowstone Lake, rounding its long, outstretched finger to fish along the Promontory’s south arm and to strike our tent at the mouth of Chipmunk Creek. That day I caught my first cutthroat trout. We drifted past a moose feeding, his jowls dripping lake water and ropes of grass as he lifted his head to eye our
Teton Valley Magazine
passage. On land, we built a campfire for cooking, but also to smoke out and temporarily displace kinetic mosquitoes peppering the air and shrouding our heads. We foraged elk thistle, and Earle steamed their hearts as a side dish. My mouth was stuck open, mimicking wonder’s “Oh!” It didn’t matter that I was discovering what others had long known. I didn’t need reasons to love Nature; I was powerless to resist her charms. What she evoked in me, I couldn’t yet name, but I recognized it as important, re-orienting a city dweller toward landscape. My new husband and I turned Greater Yellowstone into our playgroundclassroom. We combed the ecosystem, my innate love for natural history fine-
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF EARLE F. LAYSER
by Pattie Layser
“Now I see the secret of making the best person: it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.” — WALT WHITMAN, from Pattie’s journal
tuned by Earle, a naturalist and field scientist by disposition and education. The places we went, I remember with or without snapshots. These memories allow us sunlight at midnight, wildflowers in winter. A lot of roaming and field study transformed my picture-book view of landscape into a storybook. A real page-turner. Each chapter read as good as the last: tracking wolves in Lamar Valley, camera-stalking bears in Hayden Valley, marking spring’s advent by the return of sandhill cranes to Teton Valley, and photographing herons at a rookery there. We monitored the northern Yellowstone elk herd and slept out on a hill overlooking Jackson Hole’s Elk Refuge. We scoped bighorn sheep in Wyoming’s Whiskey Basin, visited native cutthroat fisheries along Snake River tributaries, and walked a little caddywhampus, mimicking whooping cranes, in Grays Lake National Wildlife Refuge. Learning to move across the land, I shadowed Earle as he hiked, biked, canoed, rafted, cross-country-skied, and climbed mountains. I was clicking photographs, actual or virtual, constant-
ly—expanding my awareness; forming for myself what author Diane Ackerman calls “a natural history of the senses,” a creative appreciation of life that revels in its biodiversity. Whenever I couldn’t be outside, I was reading the experiences of those at home there—Thoreau, Muir, Burroughs, and Leopold; Dillard, and McPhee … I chuckled at the ineffectual stammering from Edward Abbey’s pen. “I am not a naturalist,” he protested. “Hardly even a sportsman. True, I bagged my first robin at the age of seven, with a BB gun back on the farm in Home, Pennsylvania, but the only birds I can recognize without hesitation are the turkey vulture, the fried chicken, and the rosybottomed skinny dipper. My favorite animal is the crocodile. I’ll never make it as a naturalist.” What Abbey did recognize were relationships: the necessary counterbalance
between humans and other-than-humans. He empathized with the world’s growing number of alienated and disenfranchised people, while marveling at the infallible homing instinct passed on to endless generations of migrating birds, insects, and animals. He hunted nature for what man had lost. Like coup de foudre—love at first sight—from his initial exposure, America’s red-rock country seemed familiar to Abbey. It stirred remembrances that provided his spirit with ballast, and with buoyancy. What his writing about canyonlands celebrates as “a sense of place” tells me he found “home” in the wild nature. On our backpack adventures, I’ve felt at home in all kinds of places, one of which was Abbey’s canyonlands, all far removed from my safe, comfort-filled post-and-beam log home. Some of those open spaces seemed somehow more familiar, and even more reassuring. I don’t know how I got so lucky. But I will always be thankful that, over time and space, a Southern girl’s backyard morphed into Yellowstone National Park and other western wildlands—and that somewhere along the way, I opened my eyes to my life’s landscape. TV
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lo c a l f l av o r s
Suds and Spuds, with a Side of Slide (Guitar) by Michael McCoy
The ‘world-famous’ Trap Bar serves them all
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Teton Valley Magazine
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF GRAND TARGHEE RESORT
I
n March 1990, a fire destroyed Grand Targhee Resort’s original base lodge, which also housed the bar. I thought I’d heard somewhere that “Trap” was the name applied only to the new bar built after the conflagration. So, I rang up Mori Bergmeyer, who owned the resort at the time. “I think it’s always been the Trap,” he said. “Anyway, it was when I bought the resort [in 1987]. The big metal bear trap now hanging on the wall was one of the only things that survived the fire.” So, even if I didn’t remember the name, it was indeed the door of the original Trap Bar to which I received a key in the winter of 1973–74, when I served as Targhee’s night cook. It was like giving the fox a key to the henhouse. I can’t remember exactly why the bar manager did this, unless he thought I’d need an early afternoon belt before swapping my powder suit and poles for an apron and potato scrubber. (Considering my nearly total lack of culinary skills, he may have been onto something.) Even now, forty years later, the Trap Bar and Grill is the only place at the Targhee base where a swarm of tired but ecstatic powder people can grab a beer and a bite to eat—rated “far-better-than-bar-food” by SKI magazine—in the presence of live music. But its corner on the Targhee après-ski market doesn’t prevent the Trap staff from striving for excellence. “This winter, our bar offers thirteen beers on tap with local and regional microbrews,” said Trap manager Beth Byrd, “along with a full liquor selection featuring locally distilled potato vodka, an extensive hot drink menu, and specialty drinks. And we’re excited to welcome new chef Matt Renshaw to refresh the Trap Bar menu. He’s bringing in new ideas and adding menu items, while still keeping Trap Bar favorites.” I was relieved to learn that one of those retained faves is my favorite—the Wydaho Nachos, featuring a huge pile of waffle-cut fries smothered in fresh veggies and homemade salsa.
Hours of Operation Seven days a week during the ski season, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. (open later during evening music) Weekly Specials (from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.) Monday Wing Night: Ten sizzling hot wings for $5 Taco Tuesday and Open Mic: Four beef or chicken tacos for $4 and $5 house margaritas Wednesday Happy Hour: Teton Teas (sweet tea vodka and lemonade) for $5 Thirsty Thursday: Select drafts from Teton Valley’s Grand Teton Brewing for $3 Special Events December 31: New Year’s Eve Party January 23: Whiskey Tasting February 20: Tequila Tasting March 1: Mardi Gras Celebration March 17: St. Patrick’s Day Party March 30: 1980s Daze Just as I’m looking forward to sampling whatever tasty treats Chef Renshaw whips up, I’m anticipating another ski season filled with highquality tunes in the Trap. In the past I’ve caught national acts like bluegrass veteran Peter Rowan and rockers Lukas Nelson & the Promise of Real, regional standouts like the Hooligans, and locals such as the ever-popular Miller Sisters. And lots of other top-notch performers whose names I cannot recall, from Cajun and reggae to horn-blowers and straight-ahead rock ’n’ roll. The Trap is not your grandmother’s intimate music venue: In 2007, Poindexter’s Audio-Visual Environments out of Bozeman souped the place up with stateof-the-art sound equipment, including a sophisticated acoustic-dampening system. It turned a tavern already known as a terrific place to catch live acts into a fountainhead of sound. Poindexter’s also installed the flat-panel televisions that alternately screen ski/snowboard flicks and live sports, and provided other, more subtle touches, such as up-lighting in the bar area that highlights the booze-bottle display. I’ll see you at the Trap … still wearing your powder grin, no doubt. TV
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dining guide BANGKOK KITCHEN 220 N. Main St., Driggs, ID 83422 208-354-6666 Open Daily 11am–9:30pm www.bkkitchen.com Bangkok Kitchen offers authentic Thai-style dishes with tastes that will transport you to the very threshold of Thailand. Our experience and formal training ensure that only the highest-quality dishes are served with as much Thai authenticity as desired. Review the lunch and dinner menu and you will want to try our delicious Thai-style cooking. We also offer a sushi bar. We look forward to seeing you, and we believe that your experience at Bangkok Kitchen will be one you will want to have again and again. BARRELS & BINS 36 S. Main St., Driggs, ID 83422 208-354-2307 Open Daily 9am–7pm Teton Valley’s source for all-natural and organic products including local produce, meats, cheeses and bulk food; 460 Bread baked fresh daily; beer and wine; nutritional supplements; health and beauty products; all natural pet foods; and much more! Now serving organic wraps and quinoa salad for those on the go. Coming soon—an organic juice, smoothie, and sandwich bar! (p. 42) BROULIM’S FOOD AND PHARMACY 240 S. Main St., Driggs, ID 83422 208-354-2350 Open Mon–Sat 7am–11pm The Service Deli at Broulim’s grocery serves breakfast daily from 7am to 9:30am. Broulim’s also features a Daily Special six days a week (closed Sundays). You can order sandwiches to go made from your choice of Columbus meats and cheeses. There is a full menu at the Pack Saddle Grill, with burgers and sandwiches to go, as well as hot baked or rotisserie chicken all day, along with Italian sodas, smoothies, take-and-bake pizza, and other meals to go. Don’t forget about all the freshly prepared salads, and Broulim’s own Sushi Bar and hot Asian food. Now also offering a wide selection of delicious smoked meats prepared to perfection in our new smoker. Inquire at the Deli for catering services. CORNER DRUG 10 S. Main St., Driggs, ID 83422 208-354-2334 Open Mon–Sat 9am–6:30pm Located at the stoplight in historic downtown Driggs, the family-owned and -operated Corner Drug has been a local favorite for satisfying that ice cream craving for more than a hundred years. Try a fresh lime freeze or a huckleberry milkshake. Corner Drug also has your weekend essentials and a full-service pharmacy. Hunting and fishing licenses and tackle available. (p. 17) DINING IN CATERING Bill Boney, Owner & Executive Chef 208-787-2667, toll-free 800-787-9178 www.diningincateringinc.com Dining In Catering, Inc. is the region’s most experienced outdoor event catering company, receiving rave reviews for great food and service. Owner and executive chef Bill Boney and his staff have catered the biggest events, weddings, and corporate retreats to take place in Jackson Hole and Teton Valley. Dining In Catering also offers a banquet location in Teton Valley—The Wildwood Room, the gathering place for Teton Valley’s best events since 2003! Experience Teton Hospitality at its Finest! (p. 37) GRAND TARGHEE RESORT 800-TARGHEE (827-4433) www.grandtarghee.com Looking for a romantic dinner after taking in those incredible views of the Grand Teton, or for a pint and some world-famous Wydaho Nachos after a day of deep powder turns on our slopes? The variety of restaurants and eateries at Grand Targhee Resort offers just the ticket.
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Teton Valley Magazine
Grand Targhee Resort dining establishments feature the finest local ingredients and a wide variety of menu items made from scratch. The Branding Iron offers slopeside dining, served up with homemade recipes with fresh local ingredients and Idaho-raised beef. Kick up your heels and unwind at the Trap Bar after a day on the slopes. You’ll find about a dozen beers on tap, sports games on TV, and the best Après live music around. Snorkel’s Coffee House & Bistro is your neighborhood coffee house, serving freshly baked pastries, pancakes, breakfast burritos, and piping hot coffee in the morning. You’ll also find deli items and homemade soups during the lunch hour. Wild Bill’s Canteen is much more than your average ski-day café, offering a range of fresh lunch options from soups made from scratch daily, to south of the border creations, to American “Kobe” Wagyu beef burgers. (BC) LINN CANYON RANCH 1300 East 6000 South, Victor, ID 83455 208-787-LINN (5466) www.linncanyonranch.com Linn Canyon Ranch is a winter wonderland where sleigh bells ring as you dash through the snow in an authentic horse drawn sleigh. Join us for a cozy western evening and an elegant dinner in our historic lodge. Experience the fine hospitality the Linn family is known for. Twenty-four hour advance reservations required. We also offer holiday and private parties. (p. 61) McDONALD’S® 1110 W. Broadway @ Hwy 22, Jackson, WY 83001 307-733-7444 Open daily 5am–12 midnight or later Fast, Affordable, and On Your Way! Whether you’re driving over the pass on your way to Grand Teton National Park or commuting to your job on the “other side,” make McDonald’s® a part of your day. We’re serving your breakfast favorites like the classic Egg McMuffin®, new Egg White Delight McMuffin®, and McCafe™ beverages featuring Lattes, Mochas, and Frappes. Premium Salads and new McWraps®, Real Fruit Smoothies, and Fruit and Maple Oatmeal are delicious choices to support your healthy, active lifestyle. (p. 21) PENDL’S BAKERY & CAFÉ 40 Depot St., Driggs, ID 83422 (1 block NW of the stoplight) 208-354-5623 Open Daily www.pendlspastries.com Looking for a latte and warm Apple Strudel? Find them at Pendl’s, where Kitzbuhel Konditor Fred Pendl has passed his baking traditions on to daughter Martha. From Nussknackers to Florentiners, Linzertorte to Chocolate Rolls, Old World Austrian pastries and confections continue. Delectable assortments of hand-rolled pastries and strudel baked daily, with homemade muffins, savory quiches, and cranberry granola rounding out your morning. Enjoy fresh coffee and fine espresso any time of the day. Eat in or take out a tasty lunch special from 11:30am to 2pm. Open seven days a week. We look forward to welcoming you at Pendl’s. RICOCHET JAYNE’S COFFEE SHOP 25 E. Wallace St., Ste. 2, Driggs, ID 83422 530-647-6135 ricochetjayne@gmail.com www.facebook.com/javajaynes “Ugly building, Amazing coffees!” We are Teton Valley’s only full-service espresso shop, roasting coffee on site. Monin syrups and Ghirardelli chocolates make delectable beverages that allow the expertly crafted espresso to shine, as well as the truly decadent cocoas. Try our signature drink, The Ricochet Jayne, which has dark
and white chocolate swirled with two shots of espresso and cream, topped with whipped cream and drizzled with chocolate and caramel. If you enjoy teas, we have multiple varieties of Chai tea lattes, local teas, as well as global teas. Bring your own travel mug for BuckACup freshly roasted house coffee! Fast, genuinely friendly, and affordable. Locally owned and operated. See our Facebook page for seasonal drink specials and hours of operation. Located between the Phillips 66 gas station and Bank of Commerce in downtown Driggs. TETON THAI 18 N. Main St., Driggs, ID 83422 208-787-THAI (8424) Lunch Mon–Fri 11:30am–2:30pm; Dinner Mon–Sat 5:30–9:30pm www.tetonthai.com Voted “Best Restaurant, Teton Valley” in the Jackson Hole Weekly. Teton Thai offers something for everyone. Enjoy a variety of exotic dishes, from Crispy Duck Pad Gar Pow to Muslim-style Masaman curry, all made from our family’s recipes first created in Bangkok. Sit at the kitchen counter and watch our chefs prepare your dish. Enjoy specialty saki cocktails, as well as a range of imported beers and wine. Dine in or take out. (p. 49) THE HEADWATERS GRILLE AT TETON SPRINGS 10 Headwaters Dr. Victor, ID 83455 208-787-8130 www.TetonSprings.com The Headwaters Grille serves dinner Thursday through Saturday during fall, winter, and spring operations from 5 to 9pm (children’s menu also available). Conveniently located at Teton Springs Resort, the Headwaters Grille offers outstanding fresh fare in a casual and spectacular resort and club setting. Guests enjoy an intimate dining experience in a warm and friendly atmosphere complete with a roaring fire, or seating that affords incredible mountain views. Full bar service also available Thursday through Saturday from 5 to 9pm. NFL Sunday Ticket 11am to 8pm every Sunday, with special Football Menu and drink specials (through NFL season only). Teton Springs is also the optimum place to host business meetings and banquets, or to say “I Do!” THE ROYAL WOLF 63 Depot St., Driggs, ID 83422 (from the stoplight, go one block north and turn left) 208-354-8365 Open seven days a week, serving lunch and dinner 11am–late www.theroyalwolf.com Since 1997, locals and visitors alike have enjoyed discovering this off-Main Street establishment offering a diverse menu of sandwiches, burgers, salads, appetizers, and entrées all served in a casual, smoke-free pub-style environment. Complementing our menu is a full bar serving all of your favorite beverages, including cocktails, wine, and an ever-changing selection of regional microbrews on draft. Please visit our website to view the full menu. The Royal Wolf also features outdoor dining on our spacious deck during the summer, daily food and beer specials, Wi-Fi, and billiards. Stop by to meet old friends and make new ones. Snow sagas and fish tales told nightly. TONY’S PIZZA & PASTA 364 N. Main St., Driggs, ID 83422 208-354-8829 Open for lunch and dinner seven days a week, 11am–11pm www.tonysbrickovenpizza.com Tony’s Pizza & Pasta is one of the best-known and -liked restaurants in Teton Valley. We use 100 percent fresh products for our hand-tossed pizza and Italian entrees, and we bake all of our items in an Italian brick oven. Try our exciting grill items, such as burgers, steak, and
Teton Valley Magazine
salmon. You can choose from our selection of twentyfive beers on tap while you watch your favorite extreme sport or sporting event—including football, basketball, baseball, and hockey—on one of our nine 45-inch flatscreen TVs. Also offering the complete Winter Olympics package this season! Come in and enjoy our vaultedceilinged, log-cabin ski lodge/Italian restaurant. We deliver to Teton Valley! VICTOR EMPORIUM 45 N. Main St., Victor, ID 83455 208-787-2221 Open seven days a week www.victoremporium.com For more than sixty years the Victor Emporium Old Fashioned Soda Fountain has served milkshakes, including the World Famous Huckleberry Shake. Gourmet coffee and espresso served daily. The Emporium is also a great place to pick up those unusual gifts. Where the locals meet before and after skiing. (p. 41) VICTOR VALLEY MARKET 5 S. Main St, Victor, ID 83455 208-787-2230 Open daily 7am–9pm Victor Valley Market is your local grocer and the place to get fresh seafood and choice meats in Teton Valley. Our community market offers a unique selection of groceries, from organic and specialty items to your everyday kitchen needs, including a full selection of wine and beer. Stop by our gourmet deli counter where we offer delicious house-made takeout dishes along with sandwiches made with locally baked bread, fresh salads, house-made soups, and so much more! Whether you’re planning an evening in or a day out enjoying the wonders of the Tetons, Victor Valley Market has all that you need to make it delicious. Every day, every grocery need … we’ve got you covered. (p. 33) WARBIRDS CAFÉ/TETON AVIATION CENTER 253 Warbird Lane, Driggs, ID 83422 Located at the Driggs-Reed Memorial Airport, one mile north of downtown Driggs 208-354-2550, Serving dinner Tues–Sat, reservations recommended www.tetonaviation.com/warbirds-cafe Enjoy delicious food seasoned with spectacular views of the Tetons at Warbirds Café. A full bar and thoughtful wine list complement our contemporary bistro fare, which is enhanced by daily specials and occasional live music. Our window-banked dining room parallels the taxiway, where an impressive array of private planes arrive and depart throughout the day. You can turn your meal into an adventure with a scenic airplane or glider ride; or, if you prefer to stay grounded, visit our free display of restored vintage warplanes. Drive or fly in today for a memorable dining experience. (p. 8) WILDLIFE BREWING & PIZZA 145 S. Main St., Victor, ID 83455 208-787-2623 Open 4–9pm daily; Lunch Thurs–Sat beginning at 12 noon www.wildlifebrewing.com Teton Valley’s most popular establishment. An awardwinning and family-friendly microbrewery with the best pizza in the Rockies. Also offering salads, appetizers, sandwiches, pastas, wraps, buffalo chili, nachos, desserts, a kids menu, and yes, even vino! Come in and enjoy a game of shuffleboard, pool (free on Sundays), darts, or bubblehockey, and stop by on Wednesday evening for Open Mic Night. Groups and private parties are welcome, and kegs are available on request. Come see why Wildlife Brewing is the locals’ place with big taste! Like us on Facebook. (p. 42)
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lo d g i n g g u i d e
GRAND VALLEY LODGING PROPERTY MANAGEMENT PO Box 191, 158 N. First Street E., Driggs, ID 83422 208-354-8890 or toll-free 800-746-5518 mail@grandvalleylodging.com www.grandvalleylodging.com Grand Valley Lodging is the premier property management company in Teton Valley, Idaho, renting properties since 1992. We offer great rates on vacation homes, cabins, and condominiums throughout Teton Valley, as well as managing and renting long-term homes and apartments. Our beautifully equipped vacation rentals can be found thirty miles west of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Our location on the quiet west side of the Teton Mountain Range offers exquisite views and access to Grand Targhee Resort and Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, as well as to Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. Please contact us about managing your second home in Teton Valley. (p. 6) LINN CANYON RANCH 1300 East 6000 South, Victor, ID 83455 208-787-LINN (5466) www.linncanyonranch.com Our lodging combines the best of luxurious accommodations against the backdrop of an Idaho winter wonderland. Sleep peacefully in our timberframe cabin, nestled in the snowy foothills of the Tetons. Join us for a sleigh ride and dinner during your stay. We are also happy to help you reserve offsite adventures, such as snowmobile tours or crosscountry and downhill skiing. (p .61) TETON SPRINGS LODGE & SPA 10 Warm Creek Ln., Victor, ID 83455 208-787-7888 or toll-free 877-787-8757 fax 208-787-7889 guestservices@tetonspringslodge.com www.TetonSpringsLodge.com Situated in the heart of Victor, Idaho, and operating year around, Teton Springs Lodge & Spa offers fifty-one casually elegant guest rooms and suites. Three-, four-, and five-bedroom luxury mountain log cabins nestled on the border of the Caribou-Targhee National Forest are also available, and offer a unique retreat and spacious upscale living. The resort’s Stillwaters Spa & Salon offers a full range of spa and salon services, including massage therapies, body treatments, facials, skin care, and hair and nail services. Winter adventures include heli-skiing in the surrounding mountains, ski and snowcat packages with Grand Targhee, and snowmobile trips in the Big Hole Mountains. Back at the lodge, follow the tracks of a winter hare on snowshoes or enjoy a leisurely cross-country ski on the resort’s groomed
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Teton Valley Magazine
trails. Meeting and banquet services available. Summer fun includes golf packages with the awardwinning Byron Nelson-designed Headwaters Golf Club; guided fly fishing trips on the world renowned Henry’s Fork, South Fork, and Teton River; and swimming, tennis, basketball, hiking, and biking. Additional activities nearby include horseback riding, whitewater rafting, and day trips to Jackson Hole and Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks. TETON VALLEY CABINS 34 E. Ski Hill Rd., Driggs, ID 83422 208-354-8153 or toll free 866-687-1522 stay@tetonvalleycabins.com www.tetonvalleycabins.com Nestled amongst mature cottonwoods, Teton Valley Cabins welcomes you for your special getaway, vacation home base, or family or group reunion. Quaint charm, rustic cabins, and affordable rates await you at Teton Valley Cabins, just one mile from Driggs, with its restaurants and shops. Enjoy our grounds with the Jacuzzi, or explore Teton Valley from here. We are centrally located, with Grand Targhee Resort up the road, and other recreational opportunities within a few minutes’ drive. Various room types are available. Our rooms are equipped with microwave, fridge, satellite TV, and Wi-Fi. (p. 33) TETON VALLEY REALTY MANAGEMENT 253 S. Main St., Driggs, ID 83422 208-354-3431 mail@tvrmanagement.com www.vacationrentalstetonvalley.com We hope you will allow us to find that perfect home or condominium to make your vacation a memorable and extra-special one. All of our homes are nicely furnished, meticulously maintained, and fully equipped to accommodate your group at a fraction of what you would pay for a few hotel rooms. All homes come complete with linens, kitchen necessities, cable or satellite TV service, soaps, and paper products; some have high-speed Internet service. Basically, you receive all the conveniences of home, away from home. (p. 2) PHOTO: LIGHTWAVEMEDIA - FOTOLIA
GRAND TARGHEE RESORT 800-TARGHEE (827-4433) www.grandtarghee.com After a day of skiing, it’s time to relax with the family in a variety of western-style slopeside accommodations. All lodging is located just steps away from an array of shopping, dining, and activities. For those who desire a more intimate family retreat, consider Grand Targhee Resort’s Vacation Rental lodging opportunities in Teton Valley, perfectly situated between Driggs, Victor, and the resort. Call 800-TARGHEE to book your stay. (BC)
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110 E Little Ave, PO Box 369, Driggs, ID 83422 • 208-354-1331 • www.harmonydesigninc.com
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NATIVE GRASS (PET EXERCISE AREA)
PROPERTY LINE (TYP.)
Well Groomed Since 2000 www.tvtap.org
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Myofascial Release Joint Range of Motion Trigger Point Therapy Sports Recovery
Winter Events Calendar
Integrated Swedish
More info @ www.tvtap.org DECEMBER 14, 2013 TVTAP Nordic Fundraising Dinner JANUARY 11, 2014 TVTAP Teton Ridge Classic 20 & 40km Classic Style Nordic Race JANUARY 16 TVTAP Winter Wildlands Alliance Backcountry Skiing Film Festival
DONATE TO TVTAP TODAY!
PreNatal
All proceeds from events support our Nordic Grooming program and keep Nordic Trails in Teton Valley FREE for all users.
JANUARY 25 Spud Chase Nordic Race Peaked Sports Event supporting TVTAP
Danielle Monique
FEBRUARY 22 Alta Vista Freestyle Nordic Race 10-20km Freestyle (Classic or Skate) race
Driggs, Idaho
110 E. Little Ave. 307.256.6837 Teton Valley Magazine
Th e r a p e u t i c M a s s a g e
Unfurl
Keeping Teton Valley
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c h u r c h d i r e c t o ry CALVARY CHAPEL TETON VALLEY 53 Depot St., Driggs, ID 208-354-WORD (9673) www.ccteton.org Visitors welcome. Our motto is to simply teach the Bible simply—and thus, our pattern of study is verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book, right through the Bible. Sunday service starts at 10am, and typically consists of worship, teaching, and fellowship. Dress is nice casual and the service usually lasts about an hour. Children’s church and a nursery room are provided. Wednesday Bible study starts at 7pm and lasts about an hour; dress is casual. One block north of the stoplight in Driggs, turn left (west) onto Depot Street (opposite Wallace St. and the gas station); the church will be on your right. CHURCH IN THE TETONS Driggs City Center, 208-354-HOPE (4673) www.churchinthetetons.com Church in the Tetons (CiT) gathers for worship in the Driggs City Center at 9:15 on Sunday mornings. We celebrate the Lord’s Supper on the first Sunday of the month. On the fourth Sunday we share a meal together after worship. On fifth Sundays we assemble briefly at our regular time and then go out as the hands and feet of Jesus into our community serving any of our neighbors in a variety of ways— landscaping, painting, snow shoveling, passing out hot drinks to chilly skiers on the pass, however we can be of service. At CiT we have committed ourselves to the joyful and substantive work of being a biblically grounded, Christ-centered, gospel-shaped, mission-focused community that exists to serve Teton Valley and the world to the glory of God. We believe God is present and active in Teton Valley and God profoundly loves all people. The CiT community is often described as authentic, biblical, earthy, relational, genuine, honest, and thoughtful. No pretense, no judgment, no entitlement, no nonsense. Nursery is available for infants and toddlers two and under. Education is provided for kids three and over. Join us. GOOD SHEPHERD CATHOLIC CHURCH 245 S Hwy. 33, Driggs, ID 83422, 208-354-8960 www.uppervalleycatholic.com Winter Mass is held every Saturday at 4:30pm in English and at 6pm in Spanish—until Memorial Day weekend, at which time Mass will be held every Sunday at 5pm in English and 6:30pm in Spanish through Labor Day weekend. Also, every Wednesday, adoration, from noon to 6:15pm, is followed by Mass at 6:30pm. Confession is offered on Wednesday from 5 to 6:15pm. For more information call 208-624-7459 or email idahocatholic@yahoo.com.
LDS DRIGGS IDAHO STAKE The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints —Teton Valley Wards Ward Contact Person Phone Times Driggs I Roy Moulton 354-8211 11am Driggs II Wade Treasure 354-8806 9am Driggs III Mitch Blake 354-2379 1pm Tetonia I Tetonia II
Brent Robson Ronald Berry
456-2871 456-2362
11am 9am
Victor I Victor II Victor III
Lynn Bagley Val Kunz Stan Marshall
787-2211 787-2026 787-3678
11am 1pm 9am
ST. FRANCIS OF THE TETONS EPISCOPAL CHURCH Ski Hill Rd., Alta, WY 83414, 307-353-8100 Sunday worship includes Sunday School for children at 10am. St. Francis of the Tetons Episcopal Church welcomes worshippers of all walks of faith. In the shadow of the Tetons, this historic church offers an opportunity to experience God’s presence and join in fellowship, spiritual renewal, and service to others. TETON VALLEY BIBLE CHURCH 265 N. 2nd E., Driggs, ID 83422, 208-354-8523 tvbc@silverstar.com Sunday School starts at 9am; Morning Worship at 10:30am, with Pastor Jim Otto teaching. Youth group meets Monday nights (seventh through twelfth grades). AWANA meets Wednesday nights during the school year at 6:20pm. (p. 7) THE SUMMIT FOURSQUARE CHURCH 30 N. 1st St. E., Driggs, ID 83422, 208-354-8822 www.thesummitlife.com Sunday Worship starts at 10am. Because of what God has done for us through Jesus Christ, The Summit is Loving God, Loving People. We are real people with real stories of God’s love and forgiveness, learning to love others as we: Gather to worship, offering our lives; Grow in our ability to love others; and Go serve all creation as God directs. Please join us for a Sunday and see all that we have to offer. We have kids’ church for ages two through twelve, and a nursery. (p. 65)
p u b l i c sc h o o l s
Teton High School: grades 9–12 (208-3542952): As a four-year high school, THS strives to recognize the uniqueness of the individual in preparing the student for a lifetime of learning. THS provides a safe and academically focused learning environment, where students are challenged for career and college readiness. Basin High School: grades 9–12 (208-3548280): Basin High School is an alternative option for students who meet the state criteria for enrollment. Students obtain credits through a state-approved, independent study format, with assistance from certified staff.
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Teton Valley Magazine
Teton Middle School: grades 6–8 (208-3542971): Teton Middle School is dedicated to providing a quality education through which students will grow in academic achievement, respect for themselves and others, self-discipline, integrity, honesty, and responsibility. Teton Elementary Schools: grades K–3 at Victor (208-787-2245), Driggs (208-354-2335), and Tetonia (208-456-2288); Rendezvous Upper Elementary grades 4–5 in Driggs (208-3548280): The mission of the elementary schools of Teton School District 401 is to be integral in the partnership between school, home, and community in nurturing and encouraging all children to become productive citizens and lifelong learners.
PHOTO: ISTOCK.COM/SELIMAKSAN
TETON SCHOOL DISTRICT 401 District Office: 208-354-2207 www.tsd401.org Teton School District 401 strives to provide a safe and exceptional learning environment, where career and college readiness are the academic cornerstones of a relevant and progressive education. The three focuses for students in all schools are Respect, Responsible, and Ready. (p. 53)
It wouldn’t be the wild west if it wasn’t filled with adventure. We have a lot to celebrate in this beautiful valley. With amazing landscapes and wildlife, a colorful western legacy, art and culinary, and an unmatched playground for outdoor enthusiasts. Join us for one of these many Jackson Hole celebrations. Adventure is just a road trip away.
InternAtIonAl PedIgree® StAge StoP Sled dog rAce (IPSSSdr) January 31 – February 8, 2014
WInterFeSt
February 14 - 23, 2014
World cHAmPIonSHIP HIll clImb March 20 – 23, 2014
elkFeSt
May 17 - 18, 2014
old WeSt dAyS May 21 - 24, 2014
FAll ArtS FeStIvAl September 4 - 14, 2014
JAckSon Hole mArAtHon September 21st, 2014
112 Center Street • PO Box 550 • Jackson, WY 83001 • (307) 733-3316 • jacksonholechamber.com
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exposure
photograph by T. Hamish Tear
backcountry bound A pair of skiers, their gear packed on sleds, head out for a wintery wilderness adventure.
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Teton Valley Magazine
Exceptional Properties... in an Exceptional Place
Teton Valley, Idaho
S T U N N I N G H O M E N EXT T O N AT I ON AL FOREST Custom 4,900 sq ft log home borders National Forest. Breathtaking valley views, 3.1 acres of private hillside, mature trees, an alpine meadow, a gourmet kitchen with granite countertops, wrap-around decks, main level master bedroom suite with fireplace and jetted tub, R12-031 and a walkout basement. $799,000
HO ME O N T H E R AN GE This 2,975 sq ft custom home boasts fabulous views across the Teton River to the Grand Tetons. With 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, this home features in-floor hydronic heat, white ash custom cabinets, hickory floors with mahogany stairs, and full Teton Views. Easy to maintain with a thoughtful layout and 20 acres R13-017 to explore. $662,500
Y ELLOW ROSE HOME! Impressive 4 bedroom, 4 bath home in Alta, WY sits on two lots totaling 13 acres. Fabulous valley views and adjoining BLM and National Forest provides great riding trails out your back door. A detached shop, backup generator, hot tub, and loafing shed complement R08-002 this wonderful home. $950,000
FOX CREEK TREA SURE Hidden on a treed hillside, with Fox Creek rushing through the property, this 2,440 sq ft home offers one of the most peaceful settings in the valley. With sweeping views from the wrap deck, a 2-bed 1-bath apartment, hot tub, and all the wildlife viewing you desire, this is an R13-015 exceptional offering. $349,000
RURA L LIVING IN DOW N TO W N VICTOR A rural feel within walking distance of downtown Victor on 1 acre, with a 2-car detached garage, shop, fenced yard, hen house, established plum trees and irrigation rights. Enjoy 1,518 sq ft, 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, a wood stove, covered porch R13-011 and no CC&R’s. $199,000
There has rarely been a better time than now to buy property in Teton Valley! My expert knowledge of this area can make your Teton Valley dream a reality.
Ken Dunn BROKER
208 .221.3866 kdunn@sagerg.com
CO U N T R Y H O M E This beautiful 2,784 sq ft home offers direct Teton views from Hastings Farm. The custom home features Australian Cedar floors, river rock fireplace, granite counters, tiled bathrooms, a steam shower and 3 covered porches. With 3 bedrooms, 3 baths and a large dining area, this home R11-024 offers tasteful finishes and an exceptional location. $445,000
189 NORTH MAIN SUITE 100 DRIGGS ID 83422 208.354.9955 www.sagerg.com