Jackson Hole Mountain Resort

Jackson Hole Mountain Resort
PO Box 290
Teton Village, WY 83025
phone: (307) 733-2292 fax: (307) 733-2660
email: info@jacksonhole.com
Website: www.jacksonhole.com

Fun Facts on Jackson Hole
Jackson Hole: More than just a great vacation spot!

• The Jackson Hole Ski Area has the longest continuous vertical rise of any ski area in the U.S.....4,139 feet from the valley floor to the top of Rendezvous Mountain, with a 63-passenger aerial tram that transports skiers from bottom to top in 12 minutes.
• Yellowstone was the world's first national park, created in 1872....18 years before Wyoming became a state.
• Grand Teton National Park was created in 1929 and greatly expanded in 1950 due to the determined efforts of John D. Rockefeller, who purchased and then donated a great deal of the land that is under protection today.
• Jackson Hole was originally named Jackson's Hole for Davey Jackson, a mountain man who trapped in this area during the late 1800's. "Hole" was a term used in that day to describe a high mountain valley.
• The National Elk Refuge, located just outside the town of Jackson, is the largest established elk preserve in North America. Up to 9,000 elk winter on the refuge and visitors can enjoy close-up views on daily sleigh rides from December through April.
• 97% of the 3,826,407 acres in Teton County are federally owned or state managed, including the Grand Teton National Park, the Bridger-Teton National Forest, and the National Elk Refuge. Only 3% of the land in the Jackson Hole area is privately owned.
• The Bridger-Teton National Forest is the largest national forest in the lower 48 states, encompassing 1,694,574 acres.
• America's firsts: First all-woman city council, elected to office in Jackson in 1920; First woman Governor elected; First government in world history to allow women to vote (in 1869, 51 years before the U.S. Constitutional amendment). Wyoming's state slogan is "The Equality State".
• Among all 50 U.S. states Wyoming ranks: 9th in size, 50th in population (only 5 people per square mile!).
• The world's longest running Shoot-Out, which began in 1955, is held six nights a week from May-September on the Jackson Town Square.
• Wyoming's first ski area was the Snow King Ski Area, which opened in Jackson in 1939. Snow King celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 1989.
• The U.S. Voyager II spacecraft, launched in 1977 to explore unknown reaches of the solar system, contains an Ansel Adams photograph of Jackson Hole as part of its artifacts cargo.
• On an average day at the Jackson Hole Ski Resort there are only 1,750 skiers skiing on the 2,500 acres of terrain at the ski area, offering one of the lowest skier densities (one skier per one-and-one-half acres!) of any ski resort in the country.
• The world's only public auction of elk antlers takes place on the Jackson Town Square on the third Saturday in May each year. The antlers are shed by the elk that winter on the refuge and are collected by local Boy Scouts. The majority of the auction proceeds go back to the refuge for the next year's elk feeding program and Asians buy the antlers for exported aphrodisiac potions.
• The New York Philharmonic held the first summer residency in its 147-year history in Jackson Hole during the first two weeks of July, 1989. America's oldest orchestra performed four concerts as a benefit for Jackson Hole's 28-year-old Grand Teton Music Festival.
• Jackson Hole's sister city is Lienz, Austria, dedicated as such in 1965.
• The first person to ski down the 13,770-foot Grand Teton was local resident Bill Briggs in 1971. He is currently the ski school director at the Snow King Ski Area.
• The headwaters of the Snake River are located in Teton County.
• John Wayne's first speaking part was in "The Big Trail", filmed in Jackson Hole in 1932. It also is reputed to be the first time he rode a horse!
• Over 15 feature films have been made on location in Jackson Hole including: "Shane", "Spencer's Mountain", "Any Which Way You Can", and "Rocky IV".
• In June 1989, President George Bush chose to deliver his first major speech on the importance of the environment and clean air in an open meadow in front of the Tetons in Grand Teton National Park.
• In September 1989, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze held an historic Ministerial Meeting on the shores of Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park. Baker chose Jackson Hole to showcase the spectacular scenery and preserved heritage of America's west.
• Jackson Hole has one of the lowest base elevations of any ski resort area in the Rocky Mountains, at just 6,311 feet. Most other ski resorts in Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico have base elevations between 6,900 and 9,500 feet.
• Over 60 species of mammals, over 100 species of birds, and a half-a-dozen game fish can be found in the Jackson Hole/Yellowstone area. Most notable are big game such as elk, moose, bison, deer, antelope, mountain lion, grizzly and black bears, coyote; rare birds such as the bald eagle, trumpeter swan, blue heron, osprey, and native game fish such as the Snake River cutthroat trout and mackinaw lake trout.

Jackson Hole Area Geography

Jackson Hole is also just 45 miles from the south entrance of Yellowstone National Park, the world's first national park, home to an abundance of wintering wildlife including buffalo and wolves.

Downtown Jackson has the largest concentration of hotels, restaurants, shops and entertainment in the valley. It is also the county seat for Teton County. The town square in Jackson captures the feel of the old west with western shops, places like the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, and its wooden sidewalks. The photo albums of prior visitors to Jackson are sure to include a shot under the elk antler arches on each corner of the square.

Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR) is located in Teton Village, just twelve miles from the town of Jackson. JHMR is actually part of the Bridger-Teton National Forest just south of Grand Teton National Park. Although JHMR is often referred to as 'the ski area' there are two other world class ski areas in northwest Wyoming: Snow King Resort in Jackson and Grand Targhee Ski & Summer Resort in Alta, Wyoming just over Teton Pass.