Jackson Hole: A Thrilling Ride

By Christopher Stahl
December 16, 2008

She's wild, unforgiving, and stands 4,139 feet tall in northwestern Wyoming, and for 40 years, the only things that could manage her day to day were two big red boxes. But that all changed two years ago when the Jackson Hole Aerial Tram was taken down.           

"The big red boxes stand for everything that is beautiful about skiing," said Sam Reinsel, a skier from Montana.           

The 10-minute, 30-second ride on the tram was suspenseful as skiers and snowboarders of all ages waited to be welcomed by the piercing cold wind, rocky cliffs and knee-deep powder of Jackson Hole's Rendezvous Peak.         

Stepping off the tram gave riders an overwhelming sense of joy and fear that created a surge of adrenaline as their eyes glance briefly at a foreboding caution sign which exclaims "Our mountain is like nothing you have skied before," and warns of dangerous cliffs with the possibility of serious injury or death.           

On a clear day, beautiful, undisturbed mountains and fields are visible in every direction for miles on end, and in every direction; the only way to go is down.           

Built on a mountain range littered with giant cliffs, and jagged rocks, the tram is famous to skiers and boarders around the world for giving access to some of the best, and most ruthless in-bound and backcountry terrain readily available.           

After two years of waiting, once again riders will be reading the infamous safety message and feeling the pit in their stomachs as the two red boxes return in December.           

Jackson Hole, one of the last independently-owned ski resorts, is famous for its rewards and its punishments, which is exactly why skiers and snowboarders come from all over to try to tame its mountains.           

"You know it's the Wild West out here still," said Teton Gravity Research Supervising Producer and Cinematographer, Josh Nielsen. "There's a lot of ranch land and cattle, real cowboys and it's really cold and nasty, and it gets a lot of snow. So it attracts pretty much the hardcore skiers looking for the best skiing you can get in the states or possibly in the world."

Jackson's Rendezvous Peak stands at a height of 10,450 feet above sea level and falls 4,139 feet to its base, giving it the longest continuous vertical rise of any ski resort in the United States.           

The resort is comprised of Rendezvous and Apres Vous Mountains, and has 116 named trails.

But with an average snowfall of 459" (38.25') a year over the past 10 years, both mountains offer a combined 2,500 acres of in-bound, skiable terrain featuring woods, cliffs, steep slopes, deep powder and one of the lowest skier densities of any resort in the country.           

For the extreme and hardcore skiers, however, Jackson offers much more. With the tram in place, the open backcountry gate system offers over 3,000 acres of backcountry terrain.           

"Basically my take on Jackson Hole is this," said Virginia Tech student and snowboarder Ben Overstreet, "the tram lets you access a mountain that is a playground; features everywhere!"           

However, in the world we live in, it seems where there is light there is dark, and Jackson Hole is no exception of this rule.           

While the mountain offers some of the toughest and most accessible backcountry and in-bound terrain, this also makes it one of the most dangerous resorts in North America.           

According to Jackson Hole's Avalanche Lab, since 2000, 12 skiers and snowboarders have been killed in avalanches in the Teton Range alone. This excludes deaths caused by trees, rocks, cliffs, and collision with other riders.           

Fifty percent of the in-bound terrain is meant for expert skiers, 40 percent for intermediate, and 10 percent is for beginners.          

While Apres Vous and Rendezvous Mountains are beginner and intermediate friendly in parts, the majority of the resort is meant for experts and can be deadly to anyone attempting to ski or snowboard beyond their limits.          

However, this seems to be part of the appeal of the resort, and the reason the aerial tram has become so famous.           

"We pretty much call it the crown jewel of U.S. skiing here," said Nielsen. "This is pretty much the pinnacle of big-mountain style freeskiing in the lower 48, and we're proud to call Jackson home.

"We travel all over the world, and still some of my best days have been in Jackson on a good powder day, and a lot of that can be attributed to the tram."

For 40 years, the Jackson Hole Aerial Tram gave skiers and snowboarders access to terrain that is extremely tiring and difficult to reach on foot.           

"It's definitely a huge icon of the mountain," said Nielsen. "We call it The Big Red Heli, because its pretty much like heliskiing. The thing takes you up to the top of a 4,000 foot vertical run, and you can have some of the best days of your life right here in Jackson.           

"A lot of these places we get to access easily with the tram would be incredibly difficult without it."           

The original tram was two-thirds funded by federal money through the Area Redevelopment Administration, and took 26 months to complete.           

The tram was finished in 1966, and made its maiden voyage on July 31 of that year.           

The two red boxes were enclosed cabins created by Swoboda of Austria that held 52 passengers in the winter and 45 in the summer.           

They were mounted on a double reversible tram and rode 12,600 feet of cable to the top of the mountain and back.           

The cars traveled at 1,575 feet per minute, had an uphill capacity of 300 passengers per hour, a ride time of 10 minutes and 30 seconds, and showed both winter and summer passengers beauty that only nature can create.           

It was an emotional time when the original tram was announced to be taken out of service, as skiers and snowboarders were not sure at first whether it would be replaced or not.           

"It was a sad day for sure," said Nielsen. "Just in the sense that we had used the tram for so many years, and it's a critical piece of equipment for us in order to be able to film and access the backcountry."           

However, when the word got out that a new, larger, and better tram was going to replace the original, a buzz of excitement began to spread throughout the skiing and snowboarding community as the plans for the new boxes were under way.           

"It was exciting for us at the time to know that we were going to get a new tram, a better tram, and yeah, now it's finally here so we couldn't be happier," said Nielsen.           

The new tram began construction in April 2007 and currently hangs on the cables under wraps.

The cars will be unveiled on the night of Dec. 19 during an unveiling ceremony where the covers will be removed to show the final product.           

Like the original tram, the new tram is a double reversible tram, has five towers that support it to the top, is a big red box with the Jackson Hole symbol on the front and side, and gives skiers and snowboarders access to rugged backcountry and in-bound terrain.           

But this is where the similarities stop.           

According to Jackson Hole, the new tram is faster, climbing the mountain in 9 minutes at a maximum speed of 1,970 feet per minute; larger, carrying 100 passengers plus one operator up the mountain each trip; and more sleek, made by CWA Cabins in Switzerland and 100 percent funded by resort ownership.           

The new tram also has larger windows for better viewing of the mountain and surrounding area as it climbs.           

The two years without a tram made the trek to the top of Rendezvous Peak considerably more difficult, but that did not stop the resort, dedicated skiers and snowboarders from finding a way up.          

However, with the addition of the new Jackson Hole Aerial Tram, the rugged upper level in-bound, and backcountry skiing that the mountain is famous for, is once again easily accessible with a nonstop trip to the top.           

"The resort did an incredible job keeping the mountain open and keeping everything skiable," said Nielsen. "But it took four lifts to get up to the top of Rendezvous peak. That was good, it definitely got us by; but a big part of skiing in Jackson is that one ride up the tram to get to the very top, and we couldn't be more excited about having the new tram here."        

The season looks to be a bright one for Jackson Hole with the addition of the new tram and a one-way ticket to the top.          

Like many other skiers and snowboarders, Ben Overstreet is "Looking forward to getting to the top and being able to choose a line in the deepest pow."