Last winter in April, 2004 I had the opportunity to ride with five of the fastest rudest girls in Banff. The six of us headed down to Jackson Hole, Wyoming for their last 3 days of the season. With a serious need to check out some new lines and a pretty good record for constant supply of powder we figured it was the place to be. We had the idea riding the chair lift in Lake Louise our local hill one sunny but not so powdery morning.

If you tend to spend your winters living for snow and searching for big dumps and new terrain, Jackson Hole between January and April is the place to do it if only for the great snow. There are so many other reasons to go there though. The overall attitude of the inhabitants is a kind sharing one where locals turn into instant tour guides. They openly offer to show anyone with a good attitude a sample of what they enjoy everyday. The local attitude is that good terrain becomes so much better when they can share it with eager newcomers who appreciate it. The town is also cute welcoming and can make anyone feel comfortable.

After some careful planning, gathering the troops and a stop at the liquor store we loaded our gear into the moho (motor home). We hung up a huge Rude Girls banner in the back window and took off. The Banff Rude Boys and Spy were kind enough to hook us up with some hot wife beaters and sexy eye wear for the road trip. We all decided that we should have a draw for the shirts and shades and that this activity would be much better with a beer. We all cracked open our first drink and got down to business. This led to us drinking almost all the beer and liquor on the drive down that we had brought for the whole trip. The moho turned into a dance party on wheels that day where Charlotte and Michelle showed us their moves.

We all took on our own tasks for our ultimate road trip. Our extraordinary organizers were Lisa and Charlotte who did all the pre-planning. Stephanie was our driver because she likes big engines. Mama Steph also made sure we weren’t without any household items that we may need and filled up a container the size of a single bed. You can always trust girls to over pack but some of it did come in handy like the blender for margarita’s. Michelle, who runs a vegetarian restaurant in Banff, was our cook brewing up delicious vegetarian cuisine for us and anyone who happened to stop by the moho. I, Lesley, was the DJ/Secretary/Documenter or maybe I just pretended to look busy the whole time. Then there was Kristen hmmm… I don’t really know what she did. She was super cool and we liked the security of the fact that she was ski patrol and was trained to save us if we got too wild. It wasn’t our mad skills that helped us form together though. We just all ended up riding and skiing together becau se we are all lady rippers that have a need for speed on the hill.

Our first stop was to do some banking with a guided tour of downtown Lethbridge, AB from a super stoked kid on a BMX shouting, ”Hey Rude Girls”. We found the bank and Lisa was just so excited she had to get out and do some Kung Fu. The trip over the border was painless and we had no trouble as all of our illegal materials were well concealed…. I mean we didn’t have any.

We arrived in Jackson Hole at about 1 a.m. starting to feel the hang over from a few road pops earlier in the day. We called our Jackson Hole connection Jeff Stein and got directions to his house. Jeff Stein is an extreme sports adventure tour guide and part business owner for Worldwide Tribes. Lisa had met Jeff at an Avalanche course in BC earlier in the season. Where he gave her an open invitation to come stay with him and check out his snow. He was a refreshing sight, wearing some faded jeans standing in front of his cabin which was covered in prayer flags. His cabin was cute and homey and equipped with all the necessities for the life of a powder junkie. I felt like staying as soon as I walked in the door. He let us six girls invade his bathroom and then sent us to bed.

The first morning we headed into town and over breakfast Jeff gives us a little overview of what their season has been like. The Jackson Hole 2003-2004 winter season started off strong in December. Early January was good with progressive storms laying blanket after blanket on the hill giving good stability. Jeff went riding 20 days straight with no break, which seemed to be the pattern for many of the locals we spoke with. February was sporadic with a high-pressure system and it stayed cold with few huge dumps but the cold weather insured stability to get the good snow they just had to venture higher up. March brought a 4-5 day dump which ended up being the last fresh snow Jackson Hole saw for the year but the hill remained open and pretty good considering the lack of late season snowfall. . Jeff informed us that this isn’t the normal trend as there has been powder right until closing day for the last 6 years that he has been riding Jackson.

The first day was filled with sunny slushy runs and touring the remaining open runs following Jeff down his favorite lines. Jeff was the most popular guy in Jackson that day with 6 girls following him around and we were the luckiest girls. The snow was heavy and slushy and with the awesome Jackson fall line we ripped some slushy speed groomers with chunks flying everywhere. The snow chunk sprayers were Lisa and Charlotte with their twin tips (skis that is). Après ski was held at the moho where we were lucky enough to enjoy the company of some of Jackson Hole’s die hards over some drinks. The drinking trend led us to check the Jackson Hole nightlife. After circuiting a few bars we found the real party around a campfire in Wilson the next town over.

The second day we split up. Michelle, Kristen, Charlotte and Lisa all went and did some back country hiking. They had the company of Jason Alexander who helps run Igneous Skis a Jackson Hole Based Ski Factory, Darrel Miller who has Storm Show Studios and Jeff who all turned into automatic tour guides. Their hike consisted of a one-hour hike along a north ridge to a viewpoint where there was 1500 feet of ride able cliff and huge well-spaced trees. The girls were amazed at the potential for awesome lines in powder even though it was mostly mashed potatoes. The sunshine and good company made up for the lack of fresh snow though. In peak season it is possible to hike along the ridge north to one canyon and south to five more canyons. People line up at 5:30 a.m. for the first tram ride to the peak to be the first ones to get to experience the neck deep lines. Stephanie and I decided to follow the park kids around hitting natural lips and kickers that you only know if you ride there everyday or someone is kind enough to show you. Their park was not in full form but still had a few fun hits and rails. We all joined up at the end of the day to do the workers wiggle. This is slalom course that just gradually gets cut throughout the season from people riding down it.

That night the party was at the bar at the bottom of the hill for the end of the season shaker. We walked into a room full of ninjas. We were a little frightened until we realized that we were just underdressed in our street clothes at a Ninja party. The room was going off with some Kung Fu like dancing and the wicked styles of DJ El Cap of the 4/ Front Street Crew. We all danced up a storm.

The third day was the final day at the hill called hot dog day where everyone gets dressed up. This is a yearly tradition but the people here just randomly dress up all the time. We saw some local chicks skiing in cowgirl gear and skirts the day before. The night before we met a fine Jackson Hole lady, Keeley, who hooked the ladies up with some attire for the next day. The guys were dressed in old school form. We all discussed how cool the Jackson Girls are. They aren’t your typical snow queens and are just as welcoming as all the awesome dudes we met. The day was filled with sun runs and beer for some of the ladies. Stephanie and I ended up staying in town with Jeff, having used up all our energy the night before showing Jackson Hole our sweet Canadian dance moves. We missed out on the festivities but it gave us a chance to check out Jackson Hole downtown and hang out with our number 1 tour guide Jeff. He showed us some of his favorite spots in town. We did some shopping and checked out Snow King Ski Hill, which you can look at from anywhere downtown. This is where they hold the annual snowmobile championships because it is so steep and visible. We had some great Thai food at Teton Thai. We immediately noticed how community oriented the town was with local artwork in the shops. There is also the fact that the town shuts down and everyone gets to enjoy the snow when it dumps more than 12 inches. That means nobody has to sit in the office or shop staring out the window watching the powder accumulate on their windowsills wishing that they were ripping up the white blanket with their friends.

The evening consisted of yet more partying including a house party where they had bacon up like mistletoe and if you happen to get caught underneath there with someone else you’re obligated to kiss them. We were all proud of Michelle who met a local under their for some smooching action . The evening was filled with nostalgia and we all briefly considered ditching our lives in Banff and staying.

The party didn’t even end that night as we brought a piece of Jackson Hole with us. Jason Anthony one of our volunteer tour guides decided to catch a ride with us to the Canadian Rockies so we then became the tour guides. Jason is one of the guys who run Igneous Skis. A Jackson Hole company that makes skis especially for the deep heavy snow and steep terrain there. They are some of the fattest skis you have ever seen and we had the opportunity to check out the Igneous factory when Jason was packing his bag for his Canada adventure. It was a complete factory with a make shift home upstairs for it’s dedicated worker/owners. To conclude we all fell in love with Jackson Hole. We got there having one kick ass contact and ended up being embraced by everyone that we met. This was a refreshing change to the attitude one often experiences coming into a new ski hill scene. It is easy to be a snow snob and stay in your bubble with only the people that you ski with every day. For us we relearned from something that we have been told since we were bald toddlers and that is sharing. We are a little more likely to share our knowledge of terrain to the not so aware tourists… that is if they can keep up and are willing to get a little crazy…okay really crazy.

The Workers Wiggle Video

Written by Lesley Mensink