The Mountain Men of JH
After arriving in Jackson Hole I started to hear rumors of a group of individuals living off the land...a posse using bow-arrow, small arms and hatchet to live, build and shred. This is something that needed to be documented (and had yet to be done), so I organized a small crew to accompany me into the Teton Mountain Range. We were armed with two days food supplies, water, cameras and most importantly, our snowboards.
The mega-search started pre-dawn on day one, wading through waist deep snow, from one peak to the next, always keeping our eyes peeled for these elusive 'mountain men'. Day two brought more intense snowfall but we kept on...hiking, climbing, surviving. Before we knew it, we were deep-deep in The Teton when five figures appeared on the horizon, snowboards in tow. Our first instinct was to take cover, but we raised our boards in the air to signal friendly intentions...
The Mountain Men sent over a verbal message to move forward and join their crew. Upon arrival in their zone we were blown away with their friendliness, their terrain features carved out of wood assembled for shred and their dedication to surviving in The Teton, all in the name of snowboarding.
They shared their survival techniques, explained the weapons and tools, and why they spend the entire winter in uncharted territory. I had thoughts they might not want their pictures taken, but Jeff, Matt, Troy, Ranyon and Brendan were A-OK with it...they want their story told...they are riders, just like you and me.
The Mountain Men were found, the legend is real...Blotto
All photos by Blotto 2011
