Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, Wyoming
Resort to open Friday after historic 100 inches of snowfall Nov 21, 2017
http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/sports/features/resort-to-open-friday-after-historic-snowfall/article_32bc2551-3b13-5896-bc13-4ce077018296.html
After historic early season snowfall, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort is pushing up its opening day.
On Friday, skiers and snowboarders will be able to access the Teton, Apres Vous and Teewinot lifts a day earlier than scheduled. The Bridger and Sweetwater gondolas, and Casper and Marmot lifts, are scheduled to open the following day.
Resort spokeswoman Anna Cole said the early push came to fruition because of the work of the resort’s operations staff and cooperation from Mother Nature.
“The tools were all in place to open up,” she said. “It’s the conditions that allowed it to happen.”
Weather station data available via the Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center reported 53 inches of snow in Rendezvous Bowl, 45 inches at the Raymer plot and 36 inches at midmountain.
Over 100 inches of snow have fallen in the upper elevations, with a storm front moving in Monday night expected to drop up to 11 inches at the higher elevations.
Resort business development director Bill Lewkowitz said the amount of snow on the upper mountain is incredible.
“I did comparisons looking at other resorts, and no one has snow like us,” he said. “For the most part in the U.S., we’ve been very, very lucky.”
Cole said that in her tenure at the resort, which spans almost a decade, this is the second-largest amount of terrain that is planned to be skiable on opening weekend.
The early opening announcement also came with news of the resort being ranked the No. 1 ski resort in North America by Forbes Magazine for the seventh year in a row.
In addition to the skiing during opening weekend, other resort offerings are also available. The Aerial Tram will be spinning for scenic rides from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday and Saturday; Cafe 6,311 and the General Store will be open Friday; and Casper Restaurant and Off-Piste will open Saturday. Hoback Sports, Teton Village Sports and Jackson Hole Sports plan to have holiday gear specials and rentals.
There is no date set for the tram to open for skiing, but Cole said to expect more terrain to open by next week. And while there may be record-breaking early season snow, early season conditions do exist, she said.
CHEYENNE, Wyoming – With wind gusts topping 60 miles per hour Monday, semitractor-trailer combinations were tottering and tipping on highways near Cheyenne.
Wind gusts top 60 mph, 9 trucks topple on I-25
http://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/wind-gusts-top-mph-trucks-topple-on-i/article_1bc2dcf6-ce8c-11e7-9dda-5baa8e983b17.html
A wind advisory was out most of the day for light, high-profile vehicles, such as trucks with empty cargo compartments.
But despite those warnings,
nine semi-tractor-trailers had blown over on Interstate 25 between Cheyenne and the Colorado border between 9:26 a.m. and 5:15 p.m., according to Lt. David Wagener of the Wyoming Highway Patrol. The interstate was closed for about an hour around 3:30 p.m. to clean up crashes in both lanes, according to emails from the Wyoming Department of Transportation.
Two vehicles also blew over on U.S. Highway 85 between Cheyenne and Colorado, and another tipped farther north at the rest stop at milepost 47 in Meriden, Wagener said.
Camera shots from the Wyoming Department of Transportation on Monday afternoon showed semi trucks parked alongside the highway at many points on Interstate 25.
At around noon, the police scanner came alive with reports of blown-over semi trucks, one of which caught on fire.
Wagener said that in his experience, the number of semi trucks that blew over wasn’t abnormal for an especially windy day.
“I’ve seen that number before,” he said.
But on windy days like Monday, the number of crashes “depends on the wind speeds and folks that are operating those high-profile vehicles to heed warnings,” Wagener said.
According to the WYDOT website, closures to light, high-profile vehicles are issued when wind gusts top 60 miles per hour and where adequate signage is available.
The warnings are targeted at vehicles such as recreational vehicles, moving vans, campers, small trailers and lightly loaded commercial vehicles.
Not heeding the advisory can earn drivers a maximum $750 fine and/or 30 days in prison.
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