Day Eight

On Friday morning, we headed to Teton Village to take the aerial tram to the top of Rendezvous Mountain.  The village area is about 9 miles outside of the town of Jackson and home to the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. The resort is known around the world as one of the premier ski destinations. The aerial tram takes you up 4,139 vertical feet to the top of Rendezvous Mountain at close to 11,000 feet. At the summit you get 360 degree views of the Jackson Hole valley and surrounding mountain ranges. 

On the ride up the tram, students were amazed with the steep terrain of some of the slopes. The most famous of them, Corbet's Couloir, is an incredibly steep and narrow chute through two cliff walls. The thought of actually skiing down Corbet's brought gasps from the group. When we reached the top, we were impressed with the amount of snow still clinging to the mountain side. At the very peak, the unrelenting wind had swept most of the snow off and we lingered to take in the sights. I asked the students to jump on the count of three to see who could reach the highest altitude on the trip.

Some of the students felt the affect of the extreme altitude and returned to the base of the mountain to shop and dine in the village area. I took a courageous group of students with me on a hike along the ridge line at 10,000 plus feet to a rocky outcropping. We trudged through snow for close to a mile. In some places, our feet plunged 3 to 4 feet down making it difficult to get back out. Eventually, we made it to the rocky ridge and a couple of us scrambled up the mountain side a few more feet. Resting on the rocks, the landscape drops steeply below you on all sides. It's peaceful on the top, as all the worries and concerns of the world below seem so far away. 

After returning to Jackson, we spent the remainder of the afternoon working on our images in the Center for the Arts photo studio. The students' final images were due in less than 24 hours and they were beginning to feel the pressure. I ordered pizzas for everyone at 6:00 PM and we continued working until late in the evening.