The cold wind hit my face as I quickly descended the snowy mountain. I mean, not that fast, after all, a group of little skiers, children no more than four years old, were going down the same track as me, at the same pace, but with much more ease – I didn’t see any of them fall. Well, let’s just say I had to be lifted off the ground a few times by Shannon, the instructor who accompanied me for two days.
The children I saw skiing in Jackson Hole, a village of 10,000 inhabitants in Wyoming, seemed to have been born adapted for this. In general, this is not the case for Brazilian children or grown-ups, who grow up only knowing fake snow from plastic Christmas trees. But that, of course, doesn’t mean that we can’t have fun with skis on our feet. For me, the two days skiing at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort were unforgettable – one of the most fun travel experiences I’ve ever had. And I’m an admitted sedentary person, the type who never did well with sports.
Going down the track (Photo: Tiago Caramuru)
There is something magical about being able to go down the slope for the first time: the omnipresent white, the cold, the cold wind on your face and the feeling of sliding down the mountain. I liked it so much that I didn’t miss a single opportunity to repeat the dose. And so I skied two whole days. On a slope for beginners, of course, but with the same pleasure that I saw on the faces of many advanced skiers.
“Today is their first day of skiing,” I proudly told Shannon, every time we shared the gondola with more skiers. Most of them went to other tracks. We – me and Tiago Caramuru, from 3em3, always stayed at the first stop. We’ve done this route dozens of times. The compliments came every time someone else climbed with us. “You guys are doing great,” said one skier. “The important thing is to have fun. Don’t forget that”, taught the other.
Yes, I went to the ground (Photo: Tiago Caramuru)
Shannon agreed. “You should only worry about having fun,” she told me several times, whenever I had some bizarre fall and was nervous about it. I didn’t get hurt once and I soon learned to laugh at those moments. They soon became rarer, at the same time that my technique with skis on my feet improved. “You like speed, don’t you?” she asked. I nodded, only to hear back, “I get it. It’s when you’re coming down the track, with the wind blowing stronger and looking at the mountain, that your smile gets bigger.”
In addition to hiring an instructor, necessary for those who have never skied, you need to rent the equipment. To do this, on the first day we went to Jackson Hole Sports, where we found out the size of the skis, rented appropriate clothing and protective equipment, such as helmets and ski goggles. All ready and with a somewhat robotic gait, due to the ski boots, we took the lift pass – the gondola, necessary to take you to the top of the slope after the descent – and started the class.
In just a few minutes, Shannon taught us how to walk on skis, slide and stop. We went down the small ski school slope a few times, climbing back up on the conveyor belt. Learning to turn was also on the program, including cones that needed to be properly dribbled. After a few hours, the instructor thought we were ready to go down the track for real. And there we went, feeling the cold wind pushing us down the mountain.
Speaking of the cold, I took the warmest clothes I had in my closet from Brazil, including the only gloves and hat I have. There weren’t many, but together with the waterproof pants and jacket I picked up at the ski resort, it was easy to handle the cold. It was strong: I saw the thermometers read -9°C. “The order is to dress like an onion”, summarized a guide, during one of the tours we took on the outskirts of Jackson. Makes sense. The more layers, the better. If you get hot, just remove one of them.
Read too: How to dress for snow and cold
Like all physical exercise, skiing is tiring. I went to bed early every day and the next morning I felt muscles I didn’t know existed. The calves, activated to slow down the skis, came out of the mountain strengthened. Good thing I burned the calories I found in the city’s restaurants – and in the cups of hot chocolate, between skis.
(Photo: Tiago Caramuru)
Skiing at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in the USA
Speaking of which, the tourist structure in the region is great. In recent decades, the city has become one of the biggest winter destinations in the United States and Jackson Hole Mountain Resort has been voted the best ski resort in the country five times in a row by Forbes magazine. As a result, hotels, whether in downtown Jackson or in Teton Village, at the foot of the mountain and just 20 minutes from downtown, are always full in winter. The city has also seen the emergence of a lot of interesting restaurants.
My stay was at the brand new Hotel Jackson, which is in the center of the village. They offer daily transfers to the ski resort, which makes getting around easier. So, whenever I had time, I took advantage of the location to wander the streets of Jackson, looking for cool places. Those who choose to stay at the foot of the mountain have the Four Seasons available, which is located within the complex and facing the ski slopes.
The proximity to Yellowstone National Park, the first on the planet, and Grand Teton Park, keeps the city busy the rest of the year. Those who go in winter tend to divide their time between skiing, snowmobiling to Yellowstone and getting to know the beauty and wildlife of the region. The night almost always ends in cowboy-style bars – Jackson breathes the Wild West.
In addition to the ski slopes and attractions in the surrounding area, the ease of access is another positive point. Jackson Hole has an airport, from which flights depart to several North American cities. The connection with Brazil is easy and explains why green and yellow tourists are already a relevant group. I went with American Airlines, which has a flight from São Paulo to Dallas. From there, it takes just over two hours to reach Jackson Hole. Find out what the flight is like in this post here – the plane that travels between São Paulo and Dallas even has internet.
And take a little geography, after all it can help you better understand this special corner of the planet: Wyoming is one of the largest states in the country, but it has only 563 thousand inhabitants, making it the least populous in the United States. – even Alaska has more people. Cheyenne, the capital and largest city in Wyoming, has just 60,000 residents. The consequence of this can be seen in the landscape that invades the plane window: endless nature.
We woke up early on the penultimate day of the trip. We would go by van to one of the entrances to Yellowstone National Park, which is about 1h30 from Jackson. There, we would take snowmobiles – snowmobiles, in a simplified explanation – and enter the park that served as home to Zé Colmeia and became famous throughout the world for its natural beauty.
Everything was fine, until the excess snow got in the way of plans. The park was closed for security reasons that day, something that is rare. “Before this winter, the last time this happened was six years ago”, explained Jonh, the guide who accompanied us. Tremendous bad luck.
Waiting for the road to reopen
We waited for the roads to reopen to return to the hotel, frustrated, but certain that this part of the world deserves a second visit. As we waited, we watched the beginning, middle, and end of a snowman’s life. Who said that only Brazilians accustomed to plastic snow would get excited in a scenario like this?
I left five days after arriving. I brought home the desire to ski more often, to feel the incredible feeling of going down the mountain again.
Attention: It is not a good idea to travel to the United States without international health insurance, as hospital costs there are very high. Read here how to find cost-effective insurance.
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