MOVING TO JACKSON HOLE

it's time to live out a dream and take a break from being a software
developer. i'm moving to Jackson Hole at the end of this year for the
next ski season and am looking for any advice. my plan is to ski
every possible day and get any kind of work in town for the late-
afternoon or night time.

my questions a
1) when is the best time of year to move to JH for a new season?
2) what's the easiest way to find an apartment? a job?
3) how much is the average rental price per person?
4) how many months does it take to get a good feel for the town, the
mtn and the tetons?
5) when's the best time to buy a season pass? how much will it cost?
6) what's a good way to get hooked up with other skiers?

any other advice that you can offer me would be appreciated.

thanks for your help,
john

In article .com,
wrote:

it's time to live out a dream and take a break from being a software
developer. i'm moving to Jackson Hole at the end of this year for the
next ski season and am looking for any advice. my plan is to ski
every possible day and get any kind of work in town for the late-
afternoon or night time.

my questions a
1) when is the best time of year to move to JH for a new season?
2) what's the easiest way to find an apartment? a job?
3) how much is the average rental price per person?
4) how many months does it take to get a good feel for the town, the
mtn and the tetons?
5) when's the best time to buy a season pass? how much will it cost?
6) what's a good way to get hooked up with other skiers?

any other advice that you can offer me would be appreciated.

thanks for your help,
john


Hi John,

There's a poster here named Jeff Davis who lives in Jackson Hole and
probably can be a great resource for you.

In this newsgroup he can come across as a real tool, (as I frequently do
and I've been known to go back and forth with him, but honestly, I
bet one on one he can be a lot of help to you. If I was ever going to
be in JH, I'd look him up - for wings and pizza and maybe a pitcher.

He posts here frequently but it's mostly to swap nonsense, but he seems
to have the JH local ski thing dialed in tight. Try him at


Good luck with your move and "living the dream"

Dave

In article .com,
wrote:

my questions a
1) when is the best time of year to move to JH for a new season?

Things wind down in September from the summer season.

2) what's the easiest way to find an apartment? a job?

Jackson Hole News & Guide.

3) how much is the average rental price per person?

$500 +/mo or get really lucky. You don't have to live like a hamster.
Most people do their first ski season.

4) how many months does it take to get a good feel for the town, the
mtn and the tetons?

The Town Meeting is Tuesday nights at the Rancher Bar. The Rancher's lease
is up, and their looking for a new location, maybe the old Pink Garter Plaza.
Thursday is Diso Night at the Stagecoach Bar in Wilson. If you show up the
end of September when house hunting is premium, you'll be just in time for
the "60 Days 'til Opening Day" Party at the Mangy Moose in the Ville.

How much can you drink before you get numb?

To get a feel for the Tetons, bring a tranceiver, shovel, and a probe. If
you're inexperienced with a tranceiver, get a BCA Tracker. A strung out
junkie heroin addict can find and track a buried tranceiver signal with one
of those.

Take a December Level I Avalanche Awareness class and find good Backcountry
partners. You'll find out about the classes available online from the
American Avalanche Institute and be sure to attend the Avalanche Awareness
Night at the Snow King Ball Room in late November. Rod has the skinny on
the early season snowpack. It's a fund raiser for Teton County Search and
Rescue. You'll see a lot of fish eyed newcomers there you've been meeting
at the Rancher, the Moose, and the Stagecoach. Newcomb showed us we had
a deep instability problem before the lifts opened for 2006.

Keep your **** together, and by the middle of January, you can pick up
back country partners in the lift lines by switching your tranceiver over
to receiver.

The goods last from the end of December to the first of March. If you're
lucky, you'll get your balls tickled a lot by 8% or less density blower
that's too light for fat skis to float in...

(Fat Skis- Austrian. Head or Atomic. JH is brutal on edges and bases.)

5) when's the best time to buy a season pass? how much will it cost?

August. $1600A

6) what's a good way to get hooked up with other skiers?

Bring lots of money and buy lots of drinks. Da Kine helps. You can get
lost in the snow here...

any other advice that you can offer me would be appreciated.

Everybody goes out of bounds here. Do it right. Don't be an Avy Dog
test dummy. People die in the Tetons all the time. Dropkick Murphys'
_Your_Spirit_Is_Alive_, should be the JHAF Anthem for fallen airmen.
--
According to John Perry Barlow, "Jeff Davis is a truly gifted trouble-maker."

I lived in Chamonix and Whistler, not Jackson, but here's my advice.

Look in the paper for roommates wanted instead of finding your own
apartment. That way you can hopefully hook up with some dudes to get
started skiing with. Then mebbe they can help hook you up with a job.
If I was going back to Whistler or Cham that's what I would do for
sure.

Be advised that competition is very stiff for jobs that don't get in
the way of skiing. I worked summers when I did my two winters skiing,
and saved up enough to not work during either winter. I personally
would recommend that if you can swing it. It's not like you will make
a lot of money working there anyway.

The biggest advantage to not working is that you will always be
available to ski. It would suck to have the chance to do a long
backcountry day, but you can't because you have to go make $10/hr at
your bull**** resort job that afternoon. If you're just doing this for
one year, and there's any way you can make it work.... skip the whole
job thing.

Also beware that one season can quickly become 2,3,4.......... if I
was legal to work in Canada, I'd probably still be in Whistler.

Best of luck, dude!

Chris