Reading Week at Jackson Hole

February 23, 2020

Reading Week at Jackson Hole

One week later and I’m back to writing in airports. This time it’s Jackson Hole as Amy and I wait for our flight to Denver on our way back to school. A restaurant in the airport overlooking the Tetons is definitely not the worst place I’ve written one of these posts. Despite a rough start to the week due to a resurfacing of strep, we had a great week skiing and relaxing and thinking almost not at all about school.

A snowstorm on Sunday as we flew in brought some fresh snow to the mountain, and we were able to get some of the powder on Monday after a stop at the clinic to confirm that my sore throat was, in fact, strep. Tuesday I stayed in to avoid exacerbating the strep, and by Wednesday I was feeling much better. We went out early on Wednesday with an instructor to get access to the early tram up the mountain that let us be the first on the corduroy. After a bunch of awesome, fast runs down groomers, we (me, Amy, her mom, her grandpa, a family friend, and the instructor) hit some ungroomed bowls and trails. We found some good snow, and having traded to some fatter, longer skis after the groomers, I was able to stay on top of the bumps and have a lot of fun. On Thursday my legs were feeling it, despite having stuck largely to the groomers again. Without fresh snow, most of the off-trail stuff was hard moguls, and by the end of the day the corduroy was gone and replaced with the very beginnings of more bumps. To save some leg strength for the next two days, when I’d be skiing with my family, I went in early that afternoon and did some school work.

Thursday night my family flew in, and we had dinner with them at the house. They came back early the next morning to ski with us, and we got in another day of good groomers, plus a few bowls. We had bluebird days from Tuesday onwards, so it was nice to be able to show them the incredible views from the top of the mountain on Friday. While there are spectacular views from almost any place on the mountain, the top of the tram overlooks all of the Tetons, the “hole” of Jackson Hole, and tons of other mountain ranges for 360 degrees. The top of the tram is also where the waffle station is, which always requires a visit. Yesterday was me and Amy’s last day skiing, and we went out with my family again. The weather was a bit warmer, softening the snow, and although my ski boots were destroying my feet, it was a great last day.

We went out to eat most nights, and I feel like I got a good overview of the food scene in Jackson and in the village by the mountain. Some of the highlights were Bubba’s, a barbecue place, and Roadhouse Eatery and Pub, which had a very strange variety of food, but all delicious. Another highlight of the trip was the access to a hot tub, and time in the evenings to just hang out without worrying about homework and studying. I was definitely ready for a break, and it has done me a lot of good to have had this time off. I’m pretty ambivalent towards the prospect of going back to school; there are things I’m looking forward to and a workload I’m not. But, there are only about six weeks left before classes end, and I’m sure it will go by quite quickly, even if it is somewhat painful. It’ll be strange to be back in the cold rain after a week of subzero temperatures but dry air, although temperatures in Vancouver are supposed to rise a bit over the next week, so we may be feeling spring soon!

Here are a bunch of pictures from the trip to make you jealous/inspire a trip to Jackson Hole:)

One of my favorite shots from the week!

Top of the tram

Attempting to make a super touristy picture a little more comical...Jake was struggling to hold me

I swear we like each other

More views of the back of the top of the tram

These captions are getting repetitive

Action shot, and a view of the hole

A little hard to see, but the lit up peak is Sleeping Indian, and you can see what looks like a Native American laying down with his arms over his chest and his headdress behind him.