By David A. Gonzales
Photos by Julie Zell

In the past week, after the online dustup over the December 29, 2008 headwall avalanche at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, I felt like I’d barreled over a few people myself. When the avalanche occurred, I, like many others, was upset by the resort’s seeming reluctance to provide comprehensive information about the event, even after it was clear that nobody had been hurt. So I did what’s so easy to do today – wrote a screed then hit “send,” or in this case, “publish.”

Now, I’d like to clear things up, eat a few words, and share what I learned.

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This shot by Bob Woodall shows the massive natural slide that recently ripped out the east face of Buck Mountain. Here’s what today’s BTNF Avy report had to say about it:

Yesterday, clear skies enabled observations of the natural activity in the backcountry that has occurred over the past few days. A very large avalanche was reported on the east face of Buck Mountain. This slide, with crown depths near 10 feet, took out the majority of the east face and propagated to the cliffs below Static Peak.

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JHMR isn’t all about new trams, avalanches, snarly bloggers, and backcountry gates. There are also superhip kids doing sweet forward flips, bite-sized groms shredding the terrain parks, and the stoked coaches who are making these kids’ Saturdays about as fun as a Saturday can be.

The video comes from Tate MacDowell, who is psyched on his new fisheye lens. Thanks for the vid, Hot Tate!

Last night, a Jackson Hole Mountain Resort representative called to express her displeasure at my contention that resort officials were being “hush hush” about the Headwall avalanche yesterday morning.

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Click the pictures to expand them.

The Headwall at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort avalanched this morning. Or at least part of it. Reports are sketchy. It might have been a natural slide; it might have been the result of a sweeper patroller setting off a 2-pounder strapped to a piece of bamboo.

The slide impacted the new building that houses the Couloir Restaurant, and a wall of snow wrapped around to the front of the building, burying up to their necks at least three ski patrollers, pinning them to the front windows. At least one was hit by a chair that had been swept up in the snow; another was hit by a picnic table.

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Just a little tightening and smoothing. Please bear with us. Thanks.

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Merry Christmas from the Snaz and Michael Brown of Serac Films, who gave me permission (back at OR — remember, Michael?) to post the Jackson Hole segment from “Yoohoo! I’m a Bird.” Michael’s father Roger Brown and famed couloir namesake Barry Corbet produced “Yoohoo” for United Airlines in the late 60s, obviously not long after Jackson Hole Ski Resort opened. Look at all that untracked pow!

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Wrong again.

We keep getting it wrong here at the Snaz when it comes to Jackson Hole’s Aerial Tram. We thought the tram’s construction would proceed like it did for the first tram, which required far more money and time than original founders Paul McCollister and Alex Morley initially budgeted.

The new tram, which opened officially on Saturday, came in at $31 mil (a 24 percent overrun, probably not that uncommon around here), and was delivered right on schedule.

And we’ll be damned if Blann and Kemmerer didn’t hit it out of the park. After festooning the Village with such log-tumored doozies as the Bridger Center, the Cody House, and the Teton Club, JHMR built a sleek, glass temple in which to house its new favorite machine. Sure, it was sad to watch the old tram building beheaded of its Tyrolean clock tower, but the new building fits the Village better. It looks cooler. Meaner. Like the tram’s crib should.

And appropriately, the tram was delivered to us in full rock star style.

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