Winter Recreation
Yellowstone Tours, Backcountry & Hot Spring trips.
Guided snowmobile tours in and around Jackson Hole.
1-3 night Yellowstone Packages & Full Day Tours by Yellowstone Snowmobile Tours, Inc.
Two hotels: Town Square location & slopeside in Teton Village. Great lodging at great rates!
Explore Snake River secrets, see eagles, elk, swans, & more. Elegant dining in our warm tepee.JACKSON HOLE SKI CLUB
Here's a tip for locals and visitors alike: a Ski Club membership will return over 225. Jackson and regional businesses have discounted lift tickets, passes, ski tunings, snowmobile tours, meals, drinks, shopping bargains, and more to those who join the Jackson Hole Ski Club. The purchaser will also be helping finance local-youth skiing and racing programs. For more information, please call the Ski Club at 733-6433. Memberships may be purchased at local ski shops.
NATIONAL ELK REFUGE
Ride horse-drawn sleighs through the National Elk Refuge, winter home to as many as 10,000 elk. Purchase tickets at the National Museum of Wildlife Art, located a few minutes north of Jackson on Highway 89 (and it's on the START bus route). From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. a shuttle carries patrons from the museum across the highway to the sleighs. Dress warmly for the one-hour sleigh ride among the elk. Inside the museum, historic works of wildlife artists on display. For more information call Bar-T-Five at 733-5386.
ICE SKATING
The Teton County Parks and Recreation Department maintains three outdoor rinks open free of charge seven days a week, temperatures permitting. The elementary school rink at 155 East Gill is small but adequate for children. Two hockey rinks, one at the base of Snow King Ski Area and one in Wilson, are great for adults and families, and available for recreation when hockey or broomball gamesand practicesaren't scheduled; they're lit from 6 to 10 p.m. Skating lessons are available. Please call 733-5056 for more information.
The Jackson Hole Mountain Resort's new ice skating rink, Crystal Springs Pond, offers daily public skating and skate rental. Call 739-2753 for more information.
The indoor rink at the Snow King Center is open to the public for one-and-a-half-hour sessions that are scheduled around hockey practice and figure skating. Call 734-3000 for the daily schedule and prices.
MOOSE HOCKEY
If the excitement on the slopes isn't enough for you, take in a hockey game. The Jackson Hole Moose Hockey team competes in the Senior A division of the U.S.A. Hockey Association. The competition level is full-check hockey with no holds barred. Senior A teams are made up of players 20-40 years old who travel from such cities as Seattle, Boston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Dallas. The Moose play a 28-game home schedule on Friday and Saturday nights throughout the winter at the Snow King Center. For more information call 734-3178.
SNOWSHOEING
At the Jackson Hole Resort a naturalist-led snowshoe hike is complimentary with your alpine or Nordic lift ticket, and snowshoes are included. Call 739-2753.
Grand Teton National Park provides free ranger-led snowshoe hikes (snowshoes included) several times a week, from late December to March (weather and conditions permitting). The rangers touch briefly on the lore of snowshoeing and the winter adaptation of plants and animals in the park. Groups cover the one-and-a-half miles along the river bottom in about two hours. Dress warmly, using the layer system, and wear warm footwear. For those who would prefer to wander around indoors instead of outdoors, videos of coyotes, grizzlies, and other park wildlife are shown in the visitors' center.
The snowshoe hikes leave from the Moose Visitors' Center. No experience is necessary. Groups are limited to 20 adults and children over eight. Reservations are required. For more information, please call 739-3399.
RECREATION CENTER
Jackson's Recreation Center, located two blocks north of the town square on 155 East Gill, has a gymnasium with full-size basketball and volleyball courts, an aquatic center, locker rooms, and a public meeting room. The aquatic center consists of an eight-lane, competitive workout pool; a therapeutic pool; a leisure-water pool; a hot tub; a water slide; a teaching pool; and sauna and steam rooms. It's open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, from noon to 9 p.m. on Saturday, and noon to 7 p.m. on Sunday. The water slide closes one hour before the center closes. For more information and daily fees, call 739-9025.
DANCE LESSONS
If you want to learn a little two-step or cowboy waltz, stop by the Cowboy Bar on Thursday evenings, between 7:30-9 p.m. The Cowboy and the Dancers' Workshop Country Western Dance Program sponsor free instruction to anyone showing up before the band hits the stage.
TORCHLIGHT PARADES
Beautiful to watch, the torch bearers at the Jackson Hole Ski Resort will take to the slopes on Christmas day at 6 p.m. and on New Year's Eve at 6:15 p.m. A children's torchlight parade has been added this year, and children and parents are invited to sign up for this exciting event. Don't miss it!
Not only can employees and guests watch the mesmerizing show at Grand Targhee, they can get in on the act too. There is a required rehearsal before, but it's followed by a parade party after the bearing of the torches. Targhee's festivities take place on Christmas and New Year's Eve. For more information, please stop by the ski school or call 1-800-TARGHEE, ext 1352.
Snow King Ski Area will hold its torchlight parade and ceremony at 6:15 p.m. on New Year's Eve. The parade will be capped off by a fireworks display put on by the Jackson Hole Jaycees.
MOOSE CHASE
Another fund raiser for the ski club, this 26-kilometer cross-country ski race from Teton Village to Teton Pines takes place January 29 and has citizens and racing categories.
WINTER EXTRAVAGANZA
Actress Connie Stevens will host the Celebrity Ski Extravaganza. This event is a benefit for the Community Entry Services, a foundation to help people with developmental disabilities and traumatic brain injuries. It features ski races, a celebrity hockey game, and other events. Expected this winter are former heavyweight champion Ken Norton, U.S. Women's Soccer star Brandy Chastain, and NHL great Ron Dugay. For more information call 734-2878
COWBOY SKI CHALLENGE
This is one of Jackson's most unique and exciting events. Watch some of the West's best cowboys ride, rope, and ski February 19-20. This colorful event at the Jackson Hole Ski Resort is part of the National Ski Joring Association circuit and draws horse riders and skiers from all over the Rocky Mountains. For more information call 739-2770.
CUTTER RACES
A cutter pulled by a team of thundering thoroughbreds and driven by a whip-thrashing cowboy is truly a sight to behold. Put two of them head-to-head on a quarter-mile, snowy (or muddy) track, and you've got a spectacle. Add the Shriners auctioning off Calcutta wagers in between, and you've got the Cutter Races!
"The cutters run so a child may walk" is the theme, as the proceeds go to the Shriners' Crippled Children's Fund. The event is held every winter in Feb at the Melody Ranch south of Jackson.
POLE-PEDDLE-PADDLE
An annual rite of spring, the Pole, Pedal, Paddle (PPP) competition is a Jackson Hole original, often imitated but never surpassed. The multiple-event endurance contest pits men and women, by themselves and in teams, against the mountain, the flats, the road, and the river with alpine skis, cross-country skis, bicycles, and in boats.
Perhaps the biggest spectator event of the year, entrants in the costume fun class and those on outrageous river-running contraptions grab as much attention as the ultra-hard, world-class athletes who come back year after year to defend their titles or challenge the champs. The annual event takes place April 1, and is a fund-raiser for the Jackson Hole Ski Club's local youth skiing and racing programs. For more information call 307-733-6433.
Other pages you might find helpful:
MtnCommunity.Org
Find your next adventure by reading personal accounts from other climbers and mountaineers.
Yellowstone Winter Vacation Packages
Experience the grandeur of Yellowstone National Park this winter!
network of Travel Guides