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Local Life | Hello Q&A

Larry Hartenstein Snow King’s director of operations lives to ski, but he’s even more passionate about helping others. // By brigid mander Despite having non-skiing parents, Larry Hartenstein grew up (in Woodbridge, New Jersey) skiing. “I was about five the first time I went skiing. It was near our family cabin in the Poconos,” Hartenstein, now 48-years-old, says. “I didn’t take a lesson, and my dad waited at the bottom of the beginner area to catch me. I came down fast and knocked him over. I was in a lesson the next day.” By the time Hartenstein was eight, he…

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Local Life | Hello As Told By

Jessyca Valdez // By Lina Collado Garcia Jessyca Valdez first arrived in Jackson in May 2017 from Tlaxcala, Mexico. She and her husband, Emmanuel, used all of their money to buy one-way tickets to the United States. “Our main goal was to have a secure roof over our heads and continue with my college studies in accounting and finances,” Valdez says. Emmanuel’s brother had moved to Jackson in 2010. “He first spoke to us about Jackson and painted a panorama of finding a good job surrounded by nature and animals.” The couple thought Jackson sounded like a place where they could…

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Local Life | All You Need

Wyoming Winter Driving Essential things and bonus gear to have in your vehicle to make winter driving safer. // By Bevin Wallace Sure, you can toss any winter hat in your car, but why not make it something cheery, washable, and recycled, like the Cotopaxi Teca Fleece Beanie? $25, cotopaxi.com  The Wyoming Department of Transportation lists tire chains as the first item motorists should have in their cars. Jumper cables are another must-have.  A staple with ski town locals, Kinco’s 1927KW gloves are made from premium-grain pigskin and canvas with high-performance insulation. Their hardware store price makes them the perfect…

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Explore | As the Hole Deepens

Last Word Jam // By Tim Sandlin   // Illustrations by Birgitta Sif August—I’m tooling down from the park where I’d visited my secret blueberry patch. Two yearling bears had beat me to the good stuff. They were both a reddish dark brown, about the color of an extra-hot cinnamon matcha. The smallest bear took one look at me and climbed an aspen. The other bear ignored me like he was a teenager in a mall.   My immediate problem was I didn’t see the mother. Here’s my daily nature lore tip: if there are bear cubs in your patch,…

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Explore | Epic Bike Rides

Six Epic Rides One of these is perfect for you. // By Brigid Mander The Teton Range and surrounding areas have a reputation for many things: wildlife, scenery, mountain climbing, and skiing, among others. Less-known but equally amazing is our biking—road, mountain, gravel—and the range of the different types of rides possible. “We have such a variety of terrain; with pavement, bike paths, dirt roads, and singletrack, there is something for everyone,” says Cary Smith, a competitive cyclist, racer, and shop manager at The Hub Bicycles, a bike shop in Jackson.  In no particular order, here are six of our…

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Explore | Rodeo

Cowboy Up! Get to know the different rodeo events, plus a way to play cowboy yourself. // By Samantha Simma Jackson Hole’s wild and Western heritage comes alive for spectators of the Jackson Hole Rodeo beneath the arena lights of the Teton County Rodeo Grounds Wednesday and Saturday evenings from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day (with additional rodeos on Fridays during July and August). In 1890, Sylvestor Wilson accompanied settlers over Teton Pass to settle what is now Jackson Hole. Six generations later, the Jackson Hole Rodeo is a Wilson family affair. Brandon Wilson, Sylvestor’s great-great-grandson, says, “It’s the Old…

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Explore | Sloshies

Sloshie Season This adult slurpee is a staple of Jackson Hole summers. // By Samantha Simma Spinning in the slushie machines throughout Jackson Hole are frozen beverages that give the 21-and-older set a brain freeze with a buzz. These slurpees are not to be taken lightly; they will get you sloshed (hence their name “sloshies”). It was Creekside Market and Deli that first conceived of them, when it introduced the Greyhound, a mixture of vodka and freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, in 2012. But today sloshies seem to have taken over the valley; almost every gas station, market, and liquor store…

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Explore | Bike Rides

Local Life When done by bicycle, these four adventures are favorites of locals.   // By Brigid Mander Every spring, as soon as the weather allows, I enthusiastically ditch my car and use my bike to get around, whether running to the grocery store, shopping for clothes, riding to a trailhead, or meeting friends for dinner. Jackson Hole is an amazing and wonderfully easy place to get around by bike—minus the mountains surrounding us, it’s relatively flat, and there is an ever-increasing amount of amenities for cyclists. Thanks to pathways and bike lanes, you can ride around Jackson and from…

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Feature | Housing

Shacks on Racks Can moving —rather than demolishing— old homes help with  Jackson Hole’s housing crisis? // By Sue Muncaster  David Newby, the owner of Great Divide Earthworks, his wife, Anne, and daughters Kayla (13) and Victoria (10) lived in Afton, Wyoming, when Newby got a phone call they were all happy about. An old workmate wanted to know if Newby, who had been commuting the almost 70 miles (one-way) between Afton and Jackson for 18 years, wanted a new house. And, if he did, could he move the 1,250-square-foot home from West Gros Ventre Butte, between Jackson and Wilson, to…

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Feature | Photo Gallery

The Land is Alive  Having grown up on the R Lazy S Ranch, photographer and archeologist Matt Stirn knows the many aspects of its personality. // Text and photography by Matt Stirn I grew up on the R Lazy S Ranch a mile north of Teton Village. Nestled against Grand Teton National Park to the north, the Snake River to the east, and the Tetons to the west, our ranch is an oasis of lush aspen groves, cottonwood stands, and sagebrush flats. I often travel abroad photographing stories for magazines and working on archaeological excavations, but my home base is…

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Feature | Tribal

Reconnection? Long-excluded Indigenous residents of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem are seeking to forge a new, improved relationship with the national parks, forests, and other federally managed properties that sweep across their ancestral lands. // By Mike Koshmrl About two decades ago, Shoshone-Bannock member and attorney Jeanette Wolfley took a trip to Yellowstone National Park with a group of 20 tribal elders to help document her people’s connection to a land of steaming waters and boiling lakes. An ethnography project—which uses interviews to study people in their own environment—brought the elders into Yellowstone, which, at 151 years old, is one of…

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Feature | Tourism

Responsible Tourism What it is, why it’s important, and how to do it in Jackson Hole. // By Molly Absolon “I never go to [Grand Teton National Park] anymore in the summer, unless it is very strategic, say after 5 p.m.,” says Liz Alva Rosa, who has lived in this area since the 1990s. “I never go to the Town Square or to any restaurants in the summer. I plan my grocery store runs in between the morning ‘buying-things-before-your-adventure’ crowd and the regular craze.” As for the traffic: “The line of cars coming into Jackson from the park in the…

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Feature | Migration

Here, there, in between: The marvel of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem’s migrations  The network of migratory wildlife that pulses in and out of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem’s core is one of the ecological phenomenon prized not just within the United States, but the entire world.  And there’s a unique opportunity to save the whole system.  // By Mike Koshmrl //photography by joe riis One decade ago, Grand Teton National Park biologists set out to learn where the mule deer that live in the park in the summer came from and what route they took to the Tetons.  There were some assumptions…

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Enjoy | Health

Ode to Joy Why, and how, you want to experience this emotion. // By Bevin Wallace // photography By bradly J. Boner This is going to be a bit meta but here goes. I really struggled to figure out how to start this article about joy. I mean, joy is something we all know exists and we all want, but it’s also kind of a vague concept. Joy is universal and mind-blowing (try listening to Beethoven’s 9th Symphony without feeling … something). It’s the subject of an untold number of poems and of a ubiquitous and lovely Christmas carol (……

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Enjoy | Design

Form & Function Landscaping with native plants is good for the ecosystem and can be beautiful. // By Jim Mahaffie When Frances Clark, an avid gardener, moved to Wilson from New England, she found Wyoming’s plants and terrain completely different. Rather than planting what caught her eye at a local nursery, like lavender or echinacea, or what grew for her in New England, like hydrangeas or flowering crabapples, she spent years hiking to see local wildflowers and learning about them. And then she planted her gardens and yard with species she knew from the local landscape. Jackson Hole, and the…

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Enjoy | Culture

The Climbers Life While “dirtbagging” looks very different today than its heyday in the 1950s and 60s, its spirit, albeit altered, is alive. // By Molly Absolon noun: dert•bag: A person who is committed to a given (usually extreme) lifestyle to the point of abandoning employment and other societal norms in order to pursue said lifestyle. Dirtbags can be distinguished from hippies by the fact that dirtbags have a specific reason for their living communally, and generally non-hygienically; dirtbags are seeking to spend all of their moments pursuing their lifestyle. The best examples of dirtbags …  are the communities of…

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Enjoy | Art

Inspired by the Tetons A new gallery features the work of dozens of local artists. // By Jim Mahaffie Thousands of visitors coming through the Moose entrance of Grand Teton National Park turn into the Dornan’s complex to grab a sandwich, rental bike, tank of gas, bottle of wine, and pizza, all with the fabulous view of the Grand. Thanks to ArtShop, which opened last May, Dornan’s visitors can now also find a creative keepsake from a local artist or maker. “I know from working at galleries in Jackson visitors say they seek out local art and out-of-the-way places like…

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Enjoy | Taste of Jackson Hole

Wyoming Wagyu A species of Japanese cattle calls Jackson Hole home.  // By Jim Mahaffie When wagyu beef—literally “Japanese cow”—appears on restaurant menus or at a local market, you might try it for a special occasion or to sample something different. Grilled, roasted, or seared, you can taste the tender texture and buttery beef flavor immediately. That’s what happened for Colby Carpenter, a former longhorn cattleman in Texas. Curious, he cooked some wagyu tomahawk steaks over charcoal and was an immediate convert. In 2019 he and his father, Scott, moved Carpenter Cattle Co. to the Jackson area to raise and…

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Enjoy | JH Pantry

The Taste of Summer Jackson is the home base for two artisan ice creameries.  // By Sam Simma   // Photography by Kathryn Ziesig In the shadow of the Tetons, two local producers make people of all ages scream for their ice cream: Cream + Sugar and Moo’s Gourmet Ice Cream. Between the two, the difference is a matter of form—seen in Cream + Sugar’s miniature ice cream sandwiches—and formula—Moo’s Gourmet Ice Cream is loyal to a recipe that uses cream, not milk.  Cream + Sugar In 2012, ice cream sandwiches appeared on the dessert menus of The Bistro and…

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