Jackson Hole Thrills
Throw yourself off a cliff, get caught in the crossfire of a shootout and see the wildlife up close at America's most adventurous mountain resort.

At the windswept peak of Rendezvous Mountain there comes a moment when you're forced to ask: stay or go?

Staying means snapping out of your ski bindings or shouldering your mountain bike (depending on the season), boarding the aerial tram, and then descending to the safety of Teton Village.

Going means plunging off a steep drop, the kind of incline that make this mountain resort a legend for thrill-seekers.

It's an easy call today. A toddler streaks past us, shrieking, "Go! Go!" We intercept our 19-month-old son, Aren, before he barrels down Rendezvous Bowl wearing a snowsuit and a smile.

The tram. Definitely the tram.

This Wyoming mountain resort used to be a well-kept secret for extreme skiers and aging Hollywood stars. But it's quietly turning itself into a year-round attraction for adventurous visitors of every age. Yes, even a toddler can find something here, provided you can stop him from sliding down a double-black-diamond run. There's skiing, hiking and all kinds of exciting wildlife, including several thousand large elk.

In fact, Jackson Hole is well on its way to becoming America's top adventure destination. Good timing, too. By many estimates the $240-billion-a-year adventure travel business is on the verge of a rebound after several disappointing years in which war, security fears and a shaky economy kept visitors home.

Fear didn't prevent us from pushing off and carving our way downhill when we visited Rendezvous Mountain on a recent winter day. The trophy we sought was a snapshot of Aren at the summit, with picturesque Jackson Hole Valley below.

"No, no," he insisted, pointing instead at the dangerous-looking precipice.

There is hope for him, we soon discovered. The ski school's Rough Riders program teaches toddlers how to cope with the ski resort's challenging terrain. Although Aren was too young for skis, he seemed content to join the Wranglers, the resort's equivalent of daycare, for a little sledding.

A much better option than strapping him to daddy's back and plunging down an icy chute.

Of course, we can't protect Aren forever. Eventually he'll find himself in Team Extreme, a skiing and snowboarding clinic that truly terrifies us. In it, teenage skiers learn the finer points of off-piste skiing, negotiating steep terrain and (we're not making this up) equipment retrieval.

"We have a reputation for very difficult terrain," admits Anna Olson, a resort spokeswoman. "But most people don't realize that there is a lot more to this mountain than black-diamond runs."

Sure.

When the snow melts, the summit becomes a launching pad for mountain-bike excursions into the Tetons, where you can experience alpine views that, at a 10,450-foot altitude, literally take your breath away. Need an extra shot of adrenaline? Try tandem paragliding from the top of the tram down to the valley floor more than 4,000 feet below. We were too chicken to do it, but Aren enthusiastically urged us to go.

Maybe next time.

Not that you have to get high to have a good time here. Just outside the town of Jackson, we found the largest established elk preserve in North America, where up to 9,000 elk spend the winter and early spring. A horse-drawn sleigh took us to within only a few feet of these magnificent creatures (on an earlier visit in mid-March, the sleigh was replaced by a horse-drawn wagon). Aren was speechless at the sight of two bulls engaged in a ritual sparring match, and he wanted to jump out of the sleigh to get even closer to the elk.

Now that would have been an adventure. Fortunately, we were able to restrain him during the one-hour tour.

The city of Jackson Hole likes its thrills, too. It hosts what is believed to be the world's longest running shoot-out (it started in 1957) six nights a week Memorial Day through Labor Day on the Jackson Town Square. The crowds line up early on the street corner to watch the good guys settle a score with the villains, just like it was done in the Old West.

We didn't have to wait until 6:15 p.m., which is when the faux gun-battle begins, to find excitement along the city of Jackson Hole's plank-board sidewalks. Ducking into the Cowboy Bar, where patrons sit on saddles and order a round, made us feel as if we'd stepped into a time machine - although we couldn't stay long, because Aren, not being of legal drinking age, was shown the swinging doors.

We're not sure what we're least looking forward to - his 21st birthday or his third, when he goes to ski school and eventually learns how to dive off cliffs and hop over the moguls.

If we keep coming back to Jackson Hole, we're bound to find out.

Christopher Elliott and Kari Haugeto are writers based in Key Largo, Fla. This article was written in March 2004. Last update March 2004.

Top photo: A skier scopes out the verticle drop at the top of Courbet's Couloir. [Photo credit: Jackson Hole Mountain Resort]

Second photo: Team Extreme searches for a buried beacon. [Photo credit: Jackson Hole Mountain Resort]

Bottom photo: Two elk watch as tourists glide across the snowy valley. [Photo credit: Christopher Elliott, Not2far]

Publication-quality high-resolution digital images are available upon request.

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