Now, I know it’s April 2nd, and some people may think that this is a belated April Fools Day joke, but rumor has it Jackson Hole Mountain Resort has threatened to shut down it’s $30 million dollar investment because of…snowballs?
Word travels fast these days and I learned that a window was broken on the new tram yesterday when it was hit by a snowball. Honestly, I can’t blame JHMR for getting all in a stink about a window which costs $10,000 to replace, but man…for $30 million…one would think that the new tram would be strong enough to withstand a hit from a snowball. On second thought though, considering the mayhem and drunken debauchery that happens outside the Village Cafe during apres ski, the snowball could have been hiding a can of PBR inside it. (More info here.)
From JHMR:
“Unfortunately, an incident occurred on April 1st during après-ski celebrating which caused damage to the Tram. This incident has required a change in Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR) operating policy. Snowballs have been tolerated in the past, but they have caused property damage as well as personal injury. We encourage our guests to enjoy themselves responsibly at JHMR, however, these types of activities will not be tolerated. If snowballs are thrown in the future the Tram will be closed.”
Close the tram, PLEASE! There will armed guards like a Blackwater convoy in Iraq around it first.Count the zero’s $30,000,000.00! That’s what matter’s most!
The Village Cafe does a service to Teton Village skiers and snowboarders by serving homemade food, coffee and beer for resonable price. We are the only ones who approach people face to face on the last day every year and ask them to stop throwing snowballs and they understand and oblige. Making a comment like the possibility of a PBR can from the VC being inside a snowball that caused damage to the Tram is insulting, irresponsible slander and in no way true. Tell me somewhere else where more people who actually ride the Tram on an everyday basis celebrate it being here. Its unfortuneate a few people who don’t take their actions seriously can spoil what an incredible powder day we had….again.
Good April Fools Day joke 🙂
And I think instead of closing the tram they should ban snow from the resort, because that’s a the root of cause of the snowballs 🙂
The village received 8 feet of snow in the last 2 weeks. For a lot of us in Jackson, these are some of the happiest times of the year. Jerry threatening to close the tram shows that he doesn’t understand the ski community that he plays such a major role in. It’s like we’re all kids being threatened to be grounded for the last great weekend of the Vill. And yeah, why can’t a $30 million tram take a hit from a snowball? The old tram took repeated smashing from a truck to break the windows.
Good point Kris. Didn’t the old tram have plexi-glass on the outside to protect the windows…or was it only on the inside?
Didn’t mean to piss you off Dom. That would be one hell of a snowball if it did have a PBR can inside it…eh? Keep it real man!
Suprise, another completely foolish, unjustified comment Steve.
First off…why are you even making this news on your site? You repeatedly say how you NEVER ski the Village. So what would the tram being shut down matter to you? Ahhh, thats right. More publicity for your sponsors. SIlly me.
Hmmmmm…. and how would you be privy to any “debauchery” going on at the VC if you are never there to bear witness? With people massing around the base in every direction, the snowballs could have easily come from someone standing by the Teton Club, or on the deck at Nick Wilson’s. Ah, but you wouldn’t want to point the finger at Nicks, since they’re attatched to the mountain with the big dollars.
Chapeau on being spoon-fed second-hand news and pointing fingers. Please continue to ski far, far away from the resort.
Silly you is right!
It never ceases to amaze me who’s panties get all bunched up over seemingly silly little news bits on this site. Some are worthy of discussion, some not. Shutting down the tram simply deserves a “Yeah, right! Like that would happen.” Sweet PR move. As for Mr. Random local, that’s a bit more anger and bitterness than most would expect. Am I missing something??? Given the fact the Steve worked as a lift operator out there, among other choice jobs, for many years, I would imagine he has a pretty good handle on the scene out there. As for NEVER skiing at TV, I’m sure Steve will clear up that strange rumor.
no body cares that you rando steve! For you to slander the village cafe and say that it is our patrons that might have thrown a snowball at the tram is a shame. We ride and enjoy the tram more than anyone else and would not and do not think that damaging our ride is cool. You should know that it was the village it’s self that planed and advertised a costume party at the base on April 1 at 4:00 pm. All the clowns that gathered were the 20 day and fair weather skiers that don’t even ride the tram. Maybe you should point your little ass picking finger at the dumb shits that the village encouraged to gather under the tram at the end of the day so they could sell them drinks. The VC was not selling the booze to these fools and it is not our job to look after the drinkers posted outside our bar. If you were there you would know that the cafe was not busy at the time the snowball was hurled. The VC customers were out skiing and riding the killer powder that we were blessed with. We all know that ‘Gaper Fools Day’ is a tradition in the village, if the village is so scared of something happening maybe they shouldn’t have welcomed the clowns to gather. Even the morning snow report phone message wished everyone a ‘happy gapers fools day’! They closed the on mountain bars early and in doing so invited everyone to the base for a costume contest. No shit the gapers are gona throw snowballs at the tram. Don’t use your silly little blog to bad mouth the VC when you don’t know shit. Have you even seen the tram or been in the village cafe? I’ve never seen you in or around the cafe or on the tram. last time you were in the village you lost your spot in TCSR, right! get your facts strait! And were all coming to fuck up your skin track once the village closes! see you in the park prick! SSD
Sunday is going to be bluebird. Prime snowball material. Lets test this new tram out for real at the top closing day. If another window gets broken, we could stop throwing or just keep on “ramming” it. Don’t worry, there won’t be 7 cops and a full box of cuffed throwers going down. They won’t close it for next year… I think Jerry Blann just asked 500 people to give the windows their best shot by doing this.
It’s just an inevitable tradition and Blann shouldn’t have cried. Is he running for sheriff? Would ski patrol be willing to play policeman for him over a lil broken window(8” spider??) when they had a dozen+ panes of it blasted at them after Xmas(due to his decisions)? Probably not, because everyone beneath Blann and above Ski School is too cool to stop the fun. I hope Blann himself is up there with a loudspeaker while getting pelted for pulling this move.
This is terrible journalism, maybe it would make for a nice TR if you actually were there.
Transfer some of this slander to that notafanofjerryblann.com website, because you don’t want to start a village war here. JHMR doesn’t need a blog.
Keep Romeo-ing your own stuff though. If the village had one of you, everyone would hate you, except Blann. Don’t take it too personally, I just don’t want the village to get Koch’d, but it seems you do.
Please, no further public comments, I tried to sum it up for everyone.
Don’t judge me or my comments either, judge how ludicrous it is to ban snowballs – and let your arm be your voice. Throw em if you want to, and don’t let Blann steal your freedom, or your tram.
Personally, I don’t think I was slandering the VC or it’s patrons. I was just stating that there is a pretty good party scene outside the VC everyday. Am I wrong? We all know that “the” snowball could have come from anywhere and anyone. I thought I touched base on how childish it is for JHMR to make such a bold statement about shutting down the tram because of thrown snowballs. They should have known that the tram would have to take such abuse. I also think I eluded to the fact that drinking to excess and throwing snowballs at the tram is juvenile BS anyway you look at it.
I’m not sure if the defenders of THEIR tram and THEIR Village Cafe (see above) spend too much time reading the news, but a quick check of Jackson Hole Radio would reveal that it was that news source that cited the VC. I’m pretty sure the police reports indicate the same.
The real question in all this for me is….what’s the big deal with Pabst Blue Ribbon beer? I find the taste to be disgusting. Do the JH locals like it because it’s cheap, do they drink it because they think it tastes good or do they drink it because it’s cool?
t
wow—quite the defensive & aggressive comments about Rando Steve from ‘Ski Guy’ & others. Please lighten up & try to find other ways to exercise your insecurity. Sounds to me like someone simply needs to get out of the VC & go powder skiing…
I gotta say i have never been a big fan of the type of crowd at the VC, alwyas gave off the too cool for school image, and they charge over $3.00 for a freggin cookie. After the remarks made above by obvious VC’ers I guess the only thing left to do is for all of us to grow a sense of humor.
WOW! We just got another 10 in. Go tear it up!
Tri- PBR is cheap! I believe it is more popular than water in the valley.
Whomever may think it- That Tram does not belong to you! It belongs to the JHMR and Blann! Look how much your pa$$ co$t$ and it will $how you your value to the mountain.
I have nothing against the VC crowd and I don’t think this post should (or could) be taken that way. Maybe “at the base area” would have been a better choice of words. That way everyone at the village could be bashing me right now as well.
Wow, what a mess just cause of one snowball. I got to throw one at the new peak to peak gondola up at Whistler to see whether it uses the same brand of windows as your tram 🙂
I’m quietly watching the jackson drama unfold from a safe distance in the montana backcountry. (from here we can see your tetons) We drink PBR to because it’s the best american macrobrew. Growing up in Ohio, any fellow skier was on the same team. Now that we’re all in the same place (close anyway) it seems that it is human nature to dwell on differences and diss eachother. WTF?
Hey, that’s MY base area, Steve. Don’t dis the base area. You don’t know crap about the base area!
Apparently to be a patron at the Village Cafe your IQ needs to be that of a 4th grader.
Random Local- How is the tram closing helping his sponsors?
Ski Guy- That comment was fucking stupid. “And were all coming to fuck up your skin track once the village closes!” That doesn’t even make sense…
grow up. it’s only blog and a cafe for christsakes.
This is ridiculous. The Knights of the VC are lame and socially inept – hence their herd mentality at the PBR trough and the extreme female deprivation they experience – each of which compounds the other. It should be noted that this isnt the VC’s fault. The bro-bra monster spiraled out of control because its a cool little bar. Bro-bras latch on to whatever’s cool and then latch on to each other, and then get drunk and throw snowballs at tram cars. Meanwhile, they make fun of 20 dayers and weekend warriors who are so because they have real jobs and have skied here for longer than the bro-bra has been alive…and can do so because they have said real jobs and will continue to ski here long after bro-bra has moved back to Topeka to be an insurance salesman….telling all the other insurance salesmen about how they rocked it in Jackson Hole from 07-09 shortly before blowing their own bro-brains out due the crushing realization that they suck at life. The end.
Jerry is sooooo spooky. Funny that so many of you gave his remarks the same “yeah right” as I did. What a bozo that guy is.
Carl,
One word, dude….BRILLIANT!
Carl, Sir, you are a genius. A man of clear observation and true insight!
vc? couldn’t hold a candle to swilling pbr-dark at the pub.
those were the days
Well…
I was there at the Gaper day celebration and the snowball fight did seem to turn a bit mean and aggressive.
On the other hand, how could they possibly design the new tram with glass(!!) windows? Probably because they look “cooler” than a plexiglass laminate. Poor design – almost on a par with the “clock tower”. And yes, snowballs can break glass.
As far as the whole silly VC/PBR thing goes — I like the VC. I don’t know how anyone can complain about “$3 cookies” after looking at the on-mountain prices! And I’m pretty sure that there wasn’t a PBR in the snowball (no reasonable VC patron would waste a beer!)
The ski corp has overreacted again (typical). Close the tram? Right. And alienate the visitors who came to ride the tram? How’s that gonna work on closing day? They should have thought this out a bit more before announcing their policy… Oh well.
Me? I’m just gonna enjoy the skiing for the last couple of days of the season!
Steve,
Not sure where the animosity comes from towards you? I love your website and all of the info that you provide us all. As for the snowball fest – well, like an earlier post said “Up here in Montana we are just reading and getting a good chuckle”. With the last weeks epic snowfall making the end of the front country season a great one why all of the mean spirited comments? The bottom line is we all had a pretty good winter and the sping lines will be good ones so can’t we all just get along? I mean hell I don’t even get down your way until it’s spring ski season due to the road closures through the park and the spring snow down your way is epic to say the least. Keep up the great site and don’t let the nay-sayers get you down. Here is to a great second ski season that I mostly spend in the great Teton Range long live JH !
I believe that this summs up the majority of the comments received on any blog.
http://images.encyclopediadramatica.com/images/c/c9/Theory.jpg
As I’ve worked in the internet industry for going on six years now, I’ve found it to be abundantly true.
Steve, really enjoy your site and appreciate all the interesting content. I think JHMR should consider removing all the windows from the tram. Strap on your eye protection of choice and get on with your day. PBR is key to staying properly hydrated throughout the day and is one of the cleanest burning fuels known yo man. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!
Thanks Olaf!