Snow King

Snow King, the town hill, has fired up the snow guns for the season. The ski area is located in the town of Jackson and usually tries to open 1 run by early November. The mountain attracts a number of World Cup teams for training in November before the first North American Ski Race Season. Locals usually flock to the hill for early season turns during lunch break because 2 hour lift tickets are only $15-$20.

Need a Split Board?

I am selling my Burton SplitBoard on Ebay. I figured that after not using the board during the past two seasons it was time for an ebay auction. Hopefully I can unload it for $300+. Let the bidding war begin.

Addition Update

Have you ever used a chainsaw to cut open a hole in the wall for a door? Our contractor thinks it's the easiest way to expand the opening for the door, especially with log walls.

 

Big Jay - After

This picture shows the illegal cut that was made on Big Jay. The cut is the brown scar on the top of the mountain. I believe that due to the camera angle a portion of the scar is not visiable because the ridge in the center of the mountain blocks the view of the damage. This picture was taken near the top of the tram.

For additional informatin, you can view this slideshow of the damge that was done on Big Jay.

Big Jay

Big Jay as of March 2007. Great skiing can be found around the cliffs in the middle of the mountain. The run does require "local knowledge" because the trees are tight at the top of the run and it hides the open glades and chutes below.

Select A Candidate

Who should you vote for? Try completing this short quiz which will pick a candidate for you based upon the answers to a few hot button questions.

At the least, it makes you ponder a few interesting questions. My quiz suggested that I select a canidate whom I have never heard of -- what will yours say?

Teton Pass Snow Profile 10-21-07

I toured around the top of Teton Pass today to get a sense for the current early season snow pack. The early season pack often dictates the stability of the snowpack for the entire winter. Here are a few notes after the last week of snowfall:

1. 12-18 inches of snow exist around 8,000-8,500 feet

2. 3 primary layers exist
- 3-4 inches of rounded grains resting on the ground
- 1-2 inch rain/sun crust that developed from after a previous storm
- 8-12 inches of medium density unconsolidated fresh snow

3. A number of people were skiing in various North facing areas. The skiers were not breaking through the burried crust. This protected skis from rocks and it appearted that the skiing was better then expected.

4. The burried crust has the potential to be a significantly impact snowpack stability all winter. Generally, when you can ski in October the early snow leads to futuer avalanches.

5. The picture below was taken on a NE aspect at 8,500ft. The mid-layer crust can clearly be seen.

PWO7 - Ski Movie

The snow has been dropping from the sky for the past few days in Jackson. Last night we headed to Teton Village to the Mange Moose for a showing of PW07 - a ski movie dedicated to Telemark Skiing. The movie is produced by a group of skiers in Salt Lake who travel to film in Alaksa and BC. Overall the movie was enjoyable and it had a great power series at the end from the mid Feb storm that dropped 3 feet in Jackson and SLC.

A friendly moose

Last night we had an unexpected visitor for dinner at our house.

First Snow (Actually 2nd Snow)

We had the first snow in the valley of Jackson Hole today. It has been snowing on and off in Wilson for most of the day, but the snow is not sticking to the ground. I heard rumours that a few flakes were seen in Jackson two weeks ago when I was in Seattle. So, for me its our first snow.

Take a look at the pass, only 3-4 more feet are needed before good turns can be found!

Netflix without the shipping

Last week I had my first experience with Netflix on-demand. This service allows users to stream video to a PC, avoiding downloading a large file or shipping a CD to your house. My experience with streaming the movie was a resounding success. I would prefer to stream every movie and never have to worry about going to the post office again. The quality of the image and audio was perfect and I did not encounter any breaks in quality during a 1.5 hour movie.

The movie stores that are still open better worry, if the movie in the mail concept did not knock them out of business this sure will.

Garage on Oct 10th

Garage on Oct 10th
Originally uploaded by krughb

The roof should be up by early next week!

Immigration

Immigration (legal and illegal) is currently a hot topic in our county.

Today a federal judge in SF suspended a key provision of the new Bush policy dealing with fake social security numbers. Generally, most illegal workers find a fake social security number to use when applying for a job. Currently employers are not burdened to validate the social security number. They simply submit the information to the Feds where it's lost amongst a massive bureaucracy. The new law empowered the Feds to check social security numbers and mandate the firing of employees without valid documentation and the Feds were given powers to fine employers who were not compliant. The judge suspended the law because the Feds did not build a policy to support the logistics of notifying employers of illegal employees.

Now, the part that is often missed. What happens to the money that is paid to the Social Security system by illegal immigrants? They obviously can not claim this upon retirement. The annual amount of these payments has been estimated to be $7B per year. How is the SS program effected if $7B per year is removed from their coffers?

35 ProV1 Golf Balls

Our golf course has 14 holes where water comes into play. In the fall the water level on the Snake River move towards winter flow levels and the irrigation levels throughout Jackson Hole are reduced by a few feet. At the golf course this leads to an abundance of golf balls that are left high and dry in the ponds. During my last two 9 hole rounds I have found about 70 balls, including 35-40 ProV1's. These balls cost about $5 each so its not a bad return. I am now at the point where I don't pickup generic balls -- only the top of the line.

Snow in Jackson

The snow has started and the top 2000ft of the hills are white. It's only a matter of time until snow blakents the valley and the lifts at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort spin.

The New Kiva Loan

Kiva Loan #2 Paid Back

My 2nd Kiva loan has been paid back - congratulations to Nuru Mbaraka! I have 3 outstanding loans and I will roll the money returned by Nuru into another loan on Kiva. The only problem is an apparent shortage of loans due to Kiva being discussed by Oprah, The Today Show and a discussion in President Clinton's new book titled Giving.

Soda Bust

Suspects Arraigned In Pop Can Smuggling Ring
Authorities: Smuggling Rings Defrauded Mich. Bottle Deposit Fund

These guys figured out how to make 1/2 a mill off smuggling bottles into another state for redemption!