Hill Climbs

We went to the hill climbs in Jackson Hole a few weeks ago. I've only been to one hill climb event before and I watched it from the bottom of the hill. This time, we took the ski lift to the top of the mountain and got to see the action up close. You might have to click on these pictures and blow them up so you can see the detail. It amazed me how the riders "danced" with their snowmobiles. They would jump from side to side of the machine in mid-air so that they could lean the right way to get over a hill, etc. The upper body strength that must require!!!

Watching a rider come up and looking down on the town of Jackson.

Brady and Alicia went to the top with us. They are getting married on June 12th! Hooray! Such cute lovebirds!

There were two ways to get down the mountain. You could either trek back up the hill and take the ski lift down (we had walked down a little way to get a better view) or you could slide down the hill on your rear end. We opted for the latter...and I had no idea what I was getting into. I wish someone would have been at the bottom of the hill to take a picture because I'm sure it was hilarious. You slide down the hill on your bum and your feet are out in front of you. Got it so far? Well, since your feet are out in front, they act as a "scraper" (picture a snowplow) and throw the snow all over your face (brrrr!!). So you're going down the hill at 50 mph (because it's been groomed for the skiers and your snow pants are slick) and you can't see a thing because your feet are throwing snow in your face (and the harder you dig your feet in to stop, the more snow it throws) and your face is burning because the snow is so cold. Sweet. Loved it. There goes my eyeliner...

As we were going up the ski lift, I couldn't figure out why there were TONS of guys hanging out on the hill. I figured it out pretty quickly. They are there to grab the snowmobile if a rider gets stuck and starts to slide backward. You can see a little bit of that in this video. We watched one poor snowmobile roll all the way down the hill (they have a net at the bottom of the hill to catch run-away sleds). I think the rider must have cried when he got to the bottom and saw his banged-up sled.