I thought I’d take a break from cooking today to comment on the endless snow that has been blessedly falling for the past several weeks here in Jackson Hole and how special it is to watch the winter Olympics with such a powdery, winter-idyllic backdrop.  During the past month we’ve scored and scored on the ski mountain (Sunday will officially be my 40th ski day, Chris is probably on his 45th).  In our relentless pursuit to ski as much as humanly possible, I snap on the TV at night and smirk to myself that I could ski 1450 days in a row and never even come close to what Ted Ligety, Bode Miller, Hannah Kearney, Julia Mancuso, and the many other heroic skiers are throwing down.  They have been inspiring me each and every day (and God knows if their skiing isn’t incentive to choke you up, those Thank You Mom P&G commercials will get you every time!).  A very enthusiastic congrats to our U.S. ski team – they are making us proud!

But back to our little corner of the world in Jackson, WY, I thought I’d take the opportunity to share a couple of photos of two much more modest skiers.  While Olympic medals are not our reality, the amount of powder these 2 East coast skiers have experienced is enough to feel like we’re earning something special.

Our first trip down Headwall – also known as a 20 minute boot pack hike up “Pepi’s Bench.”  Personally, I have never been one to hike up to earn my turns – I’ve always  been of the chairlift variety – but here it’s fairly standard behavior and I have to admit it’s a great way to burn some calories and does yield some heavenly un-tracked lines.

Skiing below expert chutes is always guaranteed goods.

Chris blatantly posing in front of Snag Tree.  It looks like he’s skiing on the moon in the photo.

Yew!

I love this photo – mainly because I took it.  Doesn’t Chris look like such a ripper?

One morning we were lucky enough to score first tracks  in Tower Three (named after the third Tram tower).  Skiing chutes was not something I typically did prior to skiing here, but this “trail” has become one of my favorites on the mountain and makes you feel like a hero.

Unusually sunny day at the top of tram right before the snow really began in late January.  If you happen to visit Jackson Hole the chances of witnessing the top of the tram with visibility and minimal wind is slim to none.  The tram has been shut down three separate times in the past week due to high winds.  It’s not for the faint of heart, but I’m glad we were able to experience it on this clear day.