World Championship Hill Climb
With hundreds of inches of snow annual, Jackson Hole has long been a winter mecca for skiers. Only recently, though, has the valley also become renowned among snowmobilers for its access to thousands of acres of adventure.
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
As the snow begins to melt and the valley warms, Jackson buzzes with one of its largest events: the World Championship Snowmobile Hill Climb.
Held annually the last weekend of March (the 31st through April 3rd in 2005), the Hill Climb challenges over 100 of the bravest and brightest stars on the professional snowmobile circuit to race up the 1,571-vertical foot slope of Snow King. While thousands of spectators applaud the five percent who actually summit, riders who don’t make it put on a much better show: their souped-up machines (for no mere stock snowmobile can handle the 45- to 60-degree pitch at the top) often tumble head-over-tail, spewing parts and being chased by official “snowmachine wranglers” hundreds of feet down the mountain.
The Jackson Hole Snow Devils, a 400-member-strong snowmobiling club and recognized nonprofit since 1969, founded the Hill Climb thirty years ago as a contest against Pinedale’s snowmobile club. According to Snow Devils president Blake Clark over 10,000 people watched the Hill Climb in 2003. “It's one of the top snowmobile events in the United States,” Clark says. “And it's just getting bigger and bigger every year.”
Maybe that’s because Hill Climb spectating is pretty plush: People have been known to bring Lay-Z-Boys to the bottom of the hill, where there is an unlimited supply of beer, burgers and brats. There’s also a bird’s eye view available: Snow King’s Summit chairlift whisks watchers up to the finish line.
Tickets are $15 for all four days. The Snow Devils donate profits from the long weekend to college scholarship programs and St. John’s Medical Center.
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
