Hundred Days
02/13/11
GRIPPED ON CODY
As we met the first pitch of the boot pack to Cody, a torrent of wind poured over the ridgeline with ruthless indifference. “It’s blowing about 50 mph on Rendezvous Bowl,” said the Tram operator as we exited a few minutes earlier. Now on this unprotected ridge in the back country, I wondered how hard it was blowing. More distressingly, I wondered if this was a good idea.
The first section on the boot pack is an exposed rock latter, The Hillary’s Step of Cody Peak if there ever was one. Gripped to the rock on all fours, I methodically climbed, trying not to notice the catastrophic injury or death that lay waiting on each side if to fall. Strapped to my back, my skis acted as a half deployed parachute, jarring me violently in the wind. With each passing gust, a cacophony of fear played over my mind and numbed my senses. Though exerting myself, I did not have the faculties to register the normal pains in my lungs or legs. All that existed was a voice commanding: “Do not fall. Do not fall.”
Sacking that first pitch, we collected in a partially protected grove of pine trees. Few words were exchanged, just the occasional groan to an onslaught of wind. Looking ahead to the staircase that led to the top, we watched the wind scour rocks and polish cornices. While I tried to think of it technically as air passing from pressure systems, it was hard not to personify the meteorological forces at hand in some mythical way. In this profound setting so removed from everything, the wind was a juggernaut careening over the earth, trying to thwart our push to the top. And though not on some heroic quest, there was a potent sense that we were on a mission.
We reached the top unceremoniously, our minds fixed upon quickly scouting our lines down No Shadows and drawing up a plan of attack. Inflamed by our successful arrival, the wind descended upon us ferociously. I slung my backpack to the ground, and carefully removed my skis. Clipping in, the emotions of the experience culminated and hit their crescendo. “It’s time to do this,” I whispered into the wind. We each sidestepped to the edge, and with “eyes-on,” dropped in one at a time. After watching Kevin and Steve, it was my turn. I clinked poles with Jake, and pushed off over the cornice.
SILENCE.
Total, complete silence consumed me. I passed into another realm, from foreign to familiar. Though having never been there, this was a place I knew well: making turns on snow. All the angst on the long ascent dissolved in the first moment of descent.
When first moving to Jackson, I remember being baffled by the tracks on Cody. Each struck me as the signature into a fraternity by some phantom skier or rider. At the time, making those tracks was off my radar, existing only as a source of wonderment. Sinking into that snow today, scribing my name next to those of my closest friends, I sensed a chapter of my own life being written.
-Z
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03/10/14 - 2nd Annual Ski Joring Championships
Written and Photographed By: Stephen Williams
Ski Joring is an event with a perfect mix of Jackson Hole's historic cowboy culture and the new ski bum lifestyle. Presented by the Shriner's Club as a part of Jackson hole Winterfest, the skier lassos up the horse and rider and hangs ...
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02/19/14 - Competing in the Freeride World Qualifier Stop at Crystal Mountain
Written By: Rachel Fortier
Photos By: Paul Moseley
On about the 13th hour of my 15 hour drive I started to ask myself, “What’s the point of all this?” I am headed to Crystal Mountain, southeast of Seattle in the Cascades for my 1st Freeride ...
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02/16/14 - Road Tripping to Big Sky and Moonlight Basin
Written and Photographed By: Stephen Williams
When it comes to snowboarding, I have definitely become attached to the terrain around Jackson Hole. A couple days a season at Grand Targhee Resort, a few dozen more in the backcountry of Teton Pass and Grand Teton National Park, ...
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01/29/14 - Bif-Pop-Burn, Coming Back From a Knee Injury
Written By: Adam Glos
For those reading who have experienced a knee injury, you know the realization that your ski season is over is far more painful than the injury itself. When your doc tells you your ACL is “missing” from your MRI, what he’s really saying ...
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01/24/14 - U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix Olympic Qualifier at Mammoth Mountain
Written and Photographed By: Egan Gleason
So, I was sitting at home Thursday night editing photos when my friend John Deesel called to ask if I wanted to go to the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix Olympic Qualifier at Mammoth Mountain. I, of course, jumped on ...
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01/22/14 - The 2014 Coldsmoke Awards
Written By: Ellie Stratton-Brook
Photography By: Stephen Williams
Have you ever been asked why you choose to live in a town where the temperature rarely rises above 20 degrees for a full six months? Typically the answer is universal. The pull of winter sports and exploration in these gorgeous mountains is ...
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01/14/14 - Jackson Hole Storm in Photos
Photography and Writing By: Stephen Williams
A storm cycle that started last week dropped over 40 inches of new snow and put the total snowfall at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort over 18 feet for the season. Teton Village was in a powder frenzy as the tram line snaked its ...
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01/12/14 - Powder Day Frenzy in Jackson Hole
Written By: Ben Glatz
Powder flew as the jubilant crowd rushed towards the first box in a powder induced frenzy. Fresh lines of storm dropped and wind loaded snow awaited the crowds who were soon to be at 10,000 plus feet above the calm sea. Hoards of people ...
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12/17/13 - RFID and What It Means to You
Written By: Heather Cosby
By now, you’ve probably either heard about or passed through one of the new RFID gates at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. RFID, or Radio Frequency Identification isn’t a new technology. It’s been around since the ‘70’s and is used to track library ...
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12/13/13 - The Messengers: A Much Needed Dream Boost
Written By: Ellie Stratton-Brook
Photos By: Oliver Hollis
The show will always go on, especially if Amy Ringholz has anything to do with it. Providing art scholarships for local high school students, creating riveting and unique artwork, inspiring others—these are a few of her favorite things. Hailing from ...
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12/09/13: Split Decision
Photos and Writing by: Ben Glatz
The almighty snow dance has been working here in Jackson as witnessed by the recent storm that left over two feet of fresh snow in most parts of the Tetons and Snake River Range. With new snow come new complications. So what do fresh powder, deep persistent weak ...
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11/26/13: Opening Day at Grand Targhee Resort
Photos and Writing by: Heather Cosby
Let's Go Skiing
If I was going to write a song about the 2013-14 opening day at Grand Targhee Ski Resort, I’d include a verse about snow lingering on branches glistening in the sun, a line of cars making their way up to Fred’s Mountain, ...
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11/14/13: Early Season Skiing in Jackson Hole
Photos by: Egan Gleason
Jackson Hole received a last of winter last week, and photographer Egan Gleason was chomping at the bit to get out and get some early season turns in the backcountry. Check out a few photos he took of some friends riding on Teton Pass, and make ...
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09/09/13 - Sharing The #JacksonHole Experience
Written by: Kevin Wittig
Ranging from community events to natural beauty, the recent collection of images shared by Jackson Hole has been an incredible visual experience.
Gathered here are images representing moments captured in the Tetons and shared with the world on Instagram using the hashtag #jacksonhole. With so ...
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08/14/13 - 26th Annual Targhee Bluegrass Festival
Written by: Ellie Stratton-Brook
Photos by: Christie Quinn and Harper Hollis
Continuing the 2013 Summer of Music, Grand Targhee Resort’s Targhee Bluegrass Festival brought in a relaxed vibe full of string instruments and acoustic jams. Upbeat in a different way than Targhee Fest, these bluegrass artists were constantly collaborating and rocking ...
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My grandfather David would often say, “this puts me in mind of”, and then he would promptly careen off into a tale. Z’s account of Cody Peak puts me in mind of the first time I encountered Corbet’s Couloir.
Early eighties, I had never skied “out west”, and was not accustomed to what any normal westerner would think of as snow.
There’s ice, and then there’s snow. You could say I was weened on a little snow, and a lot of ice.
My entire stay that first visit to Jackson could be described as nothing short of overwhelming.
First, the presence of snow, not ice, made me have to reinvent my entire ski career from age 12 forward.
Add to that being taken to Paintbrush, Toilet Bowl, Bird in the Hand. Not your easiest first western skiing.
When I finally was presented with Corbet’s, I completely knuckled.
Z’s account of his experience at Cody gave me a shiver, and at once a warm glow.
I probably could have survived Corbet’s.
In hindsight, I suspect I had more skill than I gave myself credit for having. But what I lacked was the indescribable that has been so beautifully described here in Z’s piece.
Fear, presence of mind, caution, but the ability for forward motion in the face of fear. Motion to move, motion to live. Fully.
Years later, I did have a chance to relive, and ultimately reinvent the missed opportunity that day in the eighties on the precipice of Corbet’s.
Snowbasin Utah, blizzard conditions, nearly a total white out, standing on a precipice vaguely similar to Corbet’s with the wind swirling a torrent of snow all around me,. I felt the peril, quite fully, but also knew somewhere very deeply that I possess the skill. I could do it. I could be one with the sense of danger, and, the sense of exhilaration.
I was on the razors edge of life, where both worlds can be known and embraced, without paralyzing fear.
I did prevail, and was forever changed.
Bravo Z!