I fell in love with skiing at Jackson Hole ski resort in Jackson, Wyoming. All thanks to a month stint at a hostel in the village and a good friend to show me what Jackson and Wilson are all about. Now, any excuse to go there and I’m there. I had just gotten back from Japan and was on the train, delirious from the time change and jet-lag. I was listening to music and scrolling through instagram as any like minded traveler would do when taking the airport train from DIA to Union Station. As I was scrolling the Arc’teryx academy popped up on my screen. I fell hard for it and clicked. This turned out to be one of the best decisions I made all winter. Maybe I should make more decisions when I’m somewhat delirious? I decided to sign up for the pro photography clinic with Scott Markewitz and the academy which started in just two weeks. I was stoked, but jet lag fully kicked in and I had to sleep. After a nice 13 hour nap I woke up the next morning to an email from Arc’teryx, “We are excited to have you at the Arc’teryx academy…..” oh shit I didn’t just leave it in my cart, i actually bought it!
If your expecting a trip report like lonley planet for jackson then this isnt it. I didnt get the idea to do a journal untill two weeks ago so this is a compliation of all the photos i took during the photography clinic and the extra day i spent there with friends exploring teton pass. Yea when you have 4 ft of fresh snow, you’d stay too i reckon. The first night of the acedmey was the pro photo showdown at the performing arts center in the middle of the town of jackson. There was good beer vendors and live music. Each contestent is a local pro ski/ adventure photographer living in jackson and surrounding towns. They had a couple of days to take photos and put together a photo slide show with music of the past couple of ski days. To say the least, they were blessed with good snow. To me everyone killed it and i was inspired to get out there to shred and shoot. The next day i get a early start and we all meet up at the alpine hotel and have a meeting with scott and the athelets, drink coffee, and plan the day.
We decide to head up the pass and ski some nice low angle powder lines and find some features to hit. It was hard to just sit and take photos, the snow was so deep and good. We were taking photos of arcteryx pro austin ross with direction from scott. mike gardner our exum guide really step it up when austin broke his biding pin on the third lap… he went full moguls style backy off the cliff. After moving from location to location we finally ended the day on a nice short powder lap with the crew. Here’s too teton pass, fresh deep snow, and melvin beers. Your special jackson keep on keeping on.
Super bowl party with friends and deep turns for days is what you can expect if your willing to put in the effort to go get the stashes. And boy the stashes are good.
MIke gardner with exum guides going big on an undisclosed location in teton pass backcountry.
I will make the pilgrimage to Jackson in 2020.
@jake_gasaway