Dave Morin

With skis, ski stuff, and coffee in hand I headed to the “local” Jefferson County airport this morning. Or as we locals more lovingly refer to it, JeffCo. This little trip to Jackson has been scheduled for well over a month, as I had been invited by my good buddy parker and his dad to jump onto their snowcat trip on the west side of the Tetons at Grand Targhee. I had originally been planning on driving up, a thought which generally makes me cringe from the sheer number of times I’ve done that drive. But this time I decided to hitch a ride on the “mail plane.” My uncle Jim, whom has lived in Jackson for over 30 years, had told me about it a few times but I had never actually used it before.

So, I set out this morning to Stevens Aviation and met up with the pilots. They loaded their various cargo, mail, blood, bank deposits, then explained the features of the flight. Because it was an unpressurized plane, and we would be flying above 16,000 feet, we had the amusing opportunity to wear oxygen masks. The flight was a good time until we were pulling into the Snake River valley and they “lost” the runway in the fog. We had to circle back around, which was a little bit nerve wracking to me seeming as though there were jagged mountain peaks to the east and west of our current trajectory. But, they pulled it off, came through the 900 foot ceiling and pulled us into our parking spot at Jackson Hole Aviation. I picked up my uncle’s extra truck he had available to me, and headed over to his place.

Parker and his dad came in on United at about noon, and swung by and picked me up. We headed over to Jackson Hole mountain and scalped some tickets from a few people leaving early and headed for the tram. Standing in the tram line at Jackson is one of life’s simple pleasures. Knowing that in 10 minutes you will have risen 4000 vertical feet, and that you can ski about another 10 minutes and do it all over again. There aren’t many other ski areas in the world where in 3 runs you can rack up 12,000 vertical feet of skiing. So, we spent the rest of the afternoon skiing the wonderfully steep Jackson terrain and ended the day at the infamous Mangy Moose. More tommorrow…

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Ingredients for a Ridiculous Time:
- One private “mail-plane” ride from small airport near my house to Jackson’s airport.
- One unbelievably cool uncle living in Jackson with an awesome pad and an extra truck I can drive around.
- Private snowcat chartered for use in the teton national forest behind Grand Targhee
- The Mangy Moose, The Cowboy Bar.
- Good buddies that love to ski.

Result:
A weekend of ski adventures of a proportion not known to the normal skiier. Hanging out in Jackson is as close to nirvana as I get. My uncle, a pediatrician, has lived there for over 30 years. It’s almost a second home to me. The combination of the soaring beauty of the tetons, the cowboy feel of town, the amazing people, and the most amazing skiing in North America, make it one of the best places in the world to party, relax, and enjoy life. Why don’t you join me?

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I have the opportunity for one last epic adventure during spreak break this year. I figured, why not add to the travel ridiculousness that has been this semester. So, I have joined a bunch of my buddies to head south. We are first hitting Key West to deep sea fish on one of the guy’s boat and stay at his place down there. We’ll be living it up fishing for fish the size of small cars, eating ceviche and key lime pie, and having a grand ol’ time. Immediately following we are embarking on a seven day cruise with Carnival. We start in Miami and head south to Belize through the western Carribean; then to Roatan Island, Honduras; back north to the Cayman Islands; then to the wonderfully beautiful island of Cozumel in Mexico. It should altogether be a trip of epic proportions. Let me know if anyone wants a postcard from anywhere. I will of course be shooting as many pictures as possible. Me gusta la vida loca!

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Do I really need to rant on the revenue producing ridiculousness that is valentines day?

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A school is too small to hold a meeting to discuss whether it is too small…click here for more.

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