There will be more people on the lookout at the top of Teton Pass this winter starting Saturday Dec. 21.
In past seasons, these volunteers known as “pass ambassadors” helped watch for signs of risk: people without packs or dogs off leash in the parking lot, where some are hit each year. They ask those headed up the increasingly popular backcountry runs on Mt. Glory and other runs in the Teton and Snake River ranges if they’ve seen the avalanche report.
Now, with new funding sources, some will be on shift Friday, Saturday and Sunday and sporadically through the rest of the week. The shuttle started in January 2024 with just Saturdays.
“[We] will make a major effort to be there on powder days,” said Gary Kofinas, chair of the Teton Backcountry Alliance, which formed in 2017. Big snow days used to be tough slots to fill. Now, some volunteers will be paid for the first time.
That concept is not new. Two decades ago skier-triggered avalanches hitting the highway caused alarm in the U.S. Forest Service. It started paying Jay Pistono to keep doing what he’d been doing since the ‘80s, according to a SKI Magazine profile.
The Jackson Hole News&Guide dubbed Pistono the “unofficial mayor of Teton Pass.”
After applying for money for the first time from the Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism board, the Teton Backcountry Alliance is also expanding its free shuttle service.
The backcountry alliance received around $90,000 for those two programs. It had previously received only partial funding from the tourism board through the Friends of the Bridger-Teton National Forest.
Some money from the organization that distributes tourist’s lodging tax dollars will go to the $30 an hour incentive for some ambassadors, who will be interacting with more powder hounds. The backcountry alliance, a nonprofit, is also raising private money.
Citing trailhead counters, the backcountry alliance reported a big powder day sent 1,133 bootpackers up Mt. Glory last year.
Skiers and boarders have started seeking out pass ambassadors for beta, Kofinas said, like wind conditions on the summits, skiing conditions on popular pitches.
And while they’re not enforcement, and not rescue experts, ambassadors may be first on the scene in an emergency.
The shuttle and the volunteer presence aims at bringing the ethos of safety and sustainability to the entrance of some of the country’s most sought-after — and sometimes dangerous — terrain.
After all, a skier triggered avalanche could close the road thousands use every day, cause personal injury, or both.
And as some like to say, Kofinas said, “it’s ours to lose.”
