Learning to Fly
INTRODUCTION
The Spotlight Series is an opportunity for me to take a deeper look into the history of the skiing and its unique culture. It’s a chance to uncover the stories that created the legends and heroes we know and love today.
We wouldn’t be where we are without the help of one particular group of skiers. They weren’t your average gang who rode for fun and lived for another career. No, there were lots of those. This was a very special group who saw nothing more important in their pursuit of powder than perhaps their passion for it. A group whose singular focus was to ski the best lines with the most untracked snow, and have fun doing so.
Dismissed by outsiders as a band of renegades who rejected rules and boundaries, they kept to themselves, worked in secret, and sought first tracks, even out of bounds, whenever the opportunity arose. They risked their coveted passes, their livelihoods, and at times, their freedom to doggedly chase their heart’s desire. Now that their historical significance is firmly planted it’s easy for me to assign them as the obvious first choice to kick off this monthly series.
So for a moment let’s get creative, let’s get excited, and let’s dig deep into this legendary skiing phenomenon. Let’s jump in with this renegade group of bandits, study their personalities, explore their obsessions, and see just how they managed to survive alongside a ski patrol that was at many times their dreaded adversary. This month I shine a spotlight on the group better known as… The Jackson Hole Air Force.
Who were these folks, what did they do, and perhaps, more importantly, why did they do it? I plan to answer these questions and more in this month’s segment. For experienced skiers and savvy snow historians, many of the names and references in this story will sound familiar. My hope is you will find some exciting details and new twists in the story you may not have heard before. For readers newer to the sport and its roots, this story is made for you. It highlights some of skiing’s greatest legends ripping around a world-class mountain and then ties it all together with dates, times, and locations in one amazing story.
Jackson Hole standing as the last frontier alongside the Teton Mountain Range, Wyoming. pc flights.flyfrontier
New Frontiers
This tale begins with a look to the horizon and the possibilities that awaited on a new frontier. That’s what Colton Wilson dreamt of when he left his sales job in Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Wilson wanted a better life for himself and his young family. A simpler one. And that meant in the mountains.
So in 1966 he bought a piece of land in Teton Village, Wyoming, picked up his belongings, and moved his family across the country. He and his wife financed the building of a new hostel near the base of the resort. They wanted their dwelling to resemble a home in the Alps and be affordable to the average family. Hostel X opened at a cost of just $10/bunk/day with four bunks to a room. It would become home to their youngest son Benny (only five years old at the time) and a place to stage future operations with his air force compadres.
Hostel in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Budget accommodations for savvy ski bum. pc screenshot Men’s Journal
A Mountain Resort, Bavarian Style
On another frontier, Paul McCollister saw nothing short of a grand vision when he imagined Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR) rising to an elevation of 10,450 feet and capturing 4,139 feet of vertical gain. Working on a gentleman’s ranch as a youth in the summers and then skiing for a year in the Alps, McCollister longed for a Bavarian-style ski resort. There were even whispers of him replicating the Swiss town of Verbier, an appropriate choice given Jackson Hole’s extreme characteristics.
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR), Wyoming with its iconic tram rising over 4,000 vertical feet. pc jacksonhole.net
In 1963 McCollister partnered with local developer Alex Morley and two others to found the Jackson Hole Ski Corporation (Ski Corp.) and then in 1965 opened for business. McCollister, however, was not done building his masterpiece. There was still a missing piece to his puzzle. That final piece came in 1966 from none other than legendary two-time Olympic ski racing champion Josef Stiegler.
Josef “Pepi” Stiegler was an Austrian ski prodigy who won his first junior championships at just 15 years old. He went on to win numerous other championships before medaling in both the 1960 and 1964 Olympics where he won the gold in the slalom beating out U.S. hero Billy Kidd.
Josef ‘Pepi’ Stiegler two-time Olympic medalist and Austrian ski racing champion. Head of JHMR ski school from 1966 - 2002. pc just for my boys.
Pepi’s charming personality may have been the perfect choice to attract attention to this remote ski town. But it was his expertise that led the new JHMR’s ski school. Pepi didn’t just have the face of a celebrity. He had the skills of a champion. He coached thousands of junior racers until 2002 when he retired and was known for refining racing techniques to the highest levels of performance.
Olympic Caliber Instruction
Fortunately, young Benny Jackson – the future co-founder and Captain of the Jackson Hole Air Force (JHAF) was also a recipient of Pepi’s Olympic-caliber instruction. On his 9th birthday, Benny received a jumping lesson he would never forget.
This was no ordinary lesson. Pepi was part of a unique jumping style called gelande, short for “Gelande-sprung” which meant ‘terrain jump’ in German. Pepi along with ski legends Stein Erickson and Junior Bonous helped to make this style of jumping popular in the U.S. in the 1960s. Competitions formed in the early 1970s around places like Steamboat Springs, Vail, Crested Butte, and of course, Jackson Hole featuring this style of jumping.
Benny Wilson, co-founder and Captain of Jackson Hole Air Force up to his old tricks again. No other skier came close to his unique blend of character and style. pc themountaincosmos
It seemed Benny took Pepi’s lesson to heart. Starting in his early freestyle competitions Benny explained in another interview, “We (the Village Mafia) were always going past the landings and going too big for the judges. And then we’d get scored low because they thought we were out of control.”
Soon Benny and his gang were sending big airs and charging so hard around the mountain that they became known as the Village Mafia. (Locals refer to the resort as the Village.) Known for their bold ambitions and raucous style, the Village Mafia proceeded to lean into one serious mountain.
Benny Meets Hollywood
Benny wasn’t alone on these mountain adventures. The late Howard “Howie” Henderson, sometimes called “Hollywood”, was also present. This JHAF co-founder was born in Michigan and like Benny, seemed destined to be a ski bum. At the age of 22, smitten by the sport and reaching the limitations of his hometown, Howie left for Jackson Hole in hopes of a better life. The following year (~1980) he was introduced to Benny and you could say the rest is history. They hit it off instantly sharing their love for the mountain and looked to have a bright future together fueling each other’s insatiable desire to ski.
Co-founder of the Jackson Hole Air Force, the late Howard “Howie” Henderson in an interview for Swift. Silent. Deep. pc unofficialnetworks
Soon Benny, Howie, and other like-minded, elite skiers had connected. Names like Tom Bartlett, Dave Muccino, Dave and Ron Miller, Jon and Rick Hunt, Ty VanDer Pool, Adam McCool, and of course, the unsung leader of the bunch Doug Coombs had shared newfound communion around their dreams to ski untracked powder. To the JHAF anything was possible on a good pow day.
The Air Force Takes Flight
The details of the story get fuzzy around these times, but somewhere circa’ 1984 or 1985 Howie, Benny, and the rest of the crew began using the name Jackson Hole Air Force. Air force was common in ski vernacular and referred to the ability to successfully clear air while skiing a great line. Jackson Hole was just a natural extension they used since their freestyle competition days. But now, it was official. The JHAF represented their core passion for the mountain and unique approach to skiing it.
Around this same time, Howie had also begun filming air force members skiing hard and sending it. Howie owned Teton Video and was selling tourists homemade videos of themselves while on vacation. Howie started using JHAF members in the intro segments to keep the movies entertaining. If there wasn’t already enough motivation in this group, Hollywood’s films now sent them into orbit giving them all the more reason to air it out.
Finding the deep stashes at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, Wymoing. pc travelplan
With JHAF’s mission to ski the untracked lines whenever and wherever possible. Oftentimes, they operated outside the ropes, in places where their missions could truly take flight.
The ‘Red Coats’
Unfortunately, there was one problem with this approach. Because the mission operated outside the resort’s limits it inevitably led to a confrontation with Jackson Hole’s ski patrol, affectionately called the ‘Red coats.’ Ski patrol was instructed to prioritize mountain safety and that required they enforce resort boundaries. This meant monitoring closed signs and ropes for poachers.
In the movie, Swift. Silent. Deep. (SSD) Jackson Hole ski patroller Glen Plaques talked about how most patrollers didn’t really care too much about the poaching that was going on. But a few others did take the instructions personally and used it as a reason to bust any renegades. Plaques later shared his own view saying, “In a weird way I had respect for early air forcers… Those guys in the early days. They knew what they were doing. They took it to the next level… god bless them.”
Jackson Hole Ski Patrol in their Red Coats preparing for a day’s work. pc screenshot WlinkInc
In the 1980s the relationship between the JHAF and the Red-coats took a turn for the worse as the sport’s increasing popularity brought more and more people to the resort. This meant the JHAF found it harder and harder to ski untracked lines in-bounds. Determined, if not addicted, to finding the weightless feeling of charging down a pillow of soft snow, members naturally found themselves pushing out-of-bounds more often. The Red coats were aware of this and responded with their own actions upping patrols in high-poaching areas. Until this point, the relationship was more of a cat-and-mouse game without too much interest from the ski patrol. But that was about to change.
February 1986
Legend has it that in February of 1986 a massive, once-in-a-lifetime storm rolled through Jackson Hole leaving more than 14 feet of snow over weeks’ time. Each day Benny and his core crew of air forcers would show up at the tram, dressed and ready to go only to be turned away as conditions never seemed to let up.
Neither did The Captain. He never gave up. Instead, he led his spirited gang over to Howie’s Bear Claw Café where they proceeded to ponder tomorrow’s chances of opening while fueling their enthusiasm. In Pepi’s honor and with plenty of time on their hands, they even created drinking games like ‘gelande quaffing.’
2012 Gelande Quaffing Championships at the Village Cafe, Jackson Hole, Wyoming. pc themountainpulse
According to SSD, ‘gelande-quaffing’ was created by Howie, Benny, and the other JHAF members at the Bear Claw during that fateful storm. It involves a freshly poured mug of beer being slid down the bar where it intentionally falls off the edge. However, before landing on the ground the participant must grab it mid-air and in one fluid motion bring it back up to their mouth chugging the remaining beer! ‘Gelande-quaffing’ was born!
Drinking games weren’t the only things happening that month. It was also an important time when Benny sketched out a design for the group which was later made into a patch. His idea was a takeoff from the U.S. Marine Corps Reconnaissance Battalion and became the creed of the group. It read, “Swift. Silent. Deep. 1st Tracks OB.”
Jackson Hole Air Force Member Patch. pc jacksonholerealestate
The words represented their state of mind. Ski the best untracked lines even if that meant out of bounds. JHAF took it seriously, at least enough to make it their way of life and still have fun doing so. Your acceptance into the group was without fanfare or publicity too. It was an invite-only group that found its new recruits by watching them rip the mountain daily, send the best lines, or on occasion, keep up with the other members.
Tragedy Strikes Again
Tragically, not everyone made it out of that February storm alive. Tom Raymer, a veteran Jackson Hole ski patroller and lifelong skier, was unsuspectedly caught in an avalanche from above and swept away to his death. Raymer’s fatality shocked the mountain community and tragically, it was not the first death of that season. Fellow patroller Paul Driscoll had also died earlier that December in another in-bounds avalanche.
As a close friend of Tom’s and a longtime friend of ski patrol Margo Krisjansons recalled in another interview, “Paul’s death really took Tommy down… And when Tommy died it was the absolute worst. It had us all traumatized.” How could it not? The only question left was how were they going to recover and move forward.
Mounting Pressure to Police
In the aftermath, Ski Corp applied tremendous pressure on ski patrol to strictly enforce all boundaries. They didn’t want to risk other guests following JHAF tracks out of bounds and getting injured.
Again, it appears the directives divided the ski patrollers with some of the patrollers taking a more personal approach to rule breakers than others. In their eyes at least, they were upholding the safety standards and saw those who would recklessly disregard the rules like the JHAF as liabilities for the resort. It was their duty to bust these guys. Punish them so severely it would deter others from doing the same. This was a new approach starting a new trend that would have lasting consequences on the relationship.
The Dark Side
Unfortunately for the JHAF some of the best backcountry areas lie just north and adjacent to the resort. Granite Canyon, or as locals call it ‘The Dark Side’ is a primitive area with extreme steeps, cliffs, chutes, and down-right gnarly exposures. On a good day, it makes for a heart-racing, if not life-changing, experience.
The JHAF saw it as the promised land where dreams of opportunity lie. A place where endless lines of powder wait patiently as members struggle to both hide the cover of their location and get away with pristine untouched tracks.
Granite Canyon. also known as ‘The Dark Side’ for its cold, shadowy northern exposures. Jackson Hole, WY. pc snowbrains
For ski patrol Granite Canyon was absolutely off-limits. A no man’s land rife with nothing but danger. A simple mistake at an inopportune time could mean falling to your death and because of this ski patrol took enforcing the boundary seriously. At times they had up to 40 patrollers policing the rope just to catch these poachers. They also started to use guerilla tactics. In the movie, Swift. Silent. Deep, there’s a story of a ski patroller who on his day off worked in an undercover sting operation to catch poachers. He hid out and then busted skiers coming back over from Granite Canyon.
This particular incident infuriated the JHAF who saw it as blatantly offensive and aggressive. Ski patrol was no longer enforcing boundaries, they were hunting down and punishing these skiers. This was a new game now. And the new players also included an interested Teton County Sheriff's Department willing to arrest and prosecute those who trespassed on U.S. Forest Service Land.
Coombs vs. The Red-Coats
The late Doug Coombs was born in Bedford, Massachusetts was a naturally athletic child. He grew up skiing in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine before enrolling in Montana State and chasing his dream of skiing. After graduation in 1984, Coombs moved to Jackson Hole where he worked as a geologist in the summers and as a ski technician for Teton Village Sports in the winters.
Legendary Doug Coombs showing how it’s done in Corbet’s Couloir, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, Wyoming. pc fall-line
Coombs quickly developed a reputation as one of the best skiers on the mountain. He became a common name when referring to uber-steeps or first descents. Coombs’ popularity skyrocketed after his wins at both the 1991 and 1993 World Extreme Ski Championships in Valdez, Alaska. (Jon Hunt, another member of the JHAF won in 1992 with a mind-blowing revolutionary new style never seen before and a worthy story in itself.) Back at home in Jackson Hole Coombs also started his famous steep skiing camps alongside Pepi Stiegler and was eventually named a resort ambassador.
‘Hollywood’ Henderson described Coombs's skiing style perfectly in the book titled Tracking the Wild Coombs: The Life of Legendary Skier Doug Coombs (Caruzzo, 2016) when he said, “The fluidity, the grace, the style, the effortless route finding, the incredible angles, the easy athleticism. the man is simply so damn good that seeing him ski changes your whole life.”
As for the Jackson Hole ski patrol, Coombs caused a huge problem. The story told in Tracking the Wild Coombs: The Life of Legendary Skier Doug Coombs, describes Coombs as a notorious “repeat offender” for skiing out-of-bounds, on almost a daily basis. However, because of his ties to the resort and being a key component in the resort’s brand strategy, Ski Corp always looked the other way. Other members were not so lucky either having their passes taken or even arrested.
This is an important point to note. Ski Corp operating JHMR worked under a special use permit by the U.S. Forest Service. Skiing out of bounds at the resort in Bridger-Teton National Forest would violate this agreement and jeopardize JHMR’s right to operate. Not to mention it is illegal to trespass on this Forest Service land and an arrestable offense.
Guerilla War
With no resolution in sight, the feud between JHAF and ski patrol not only continued into the 1990’s it got worse. Adapting strategies to stay undercover Benny himself hiked the mountain one summer and built the Air Force its own shack. They used it to stash supplies and gear for their missions. They started to dress in white clothing to camouflage their movements and were even known to hide different color jackets in the trees. So if they were spotted poaching in a green jacket going into the trees they emerged later in yellow unscathed, incognito, and at times untouchable.
Choking on it in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. pc matadornnetwork
The Air Force was also known to have cracked ski patrol’s radio frequencies too. They listened in on the plans for the day before poaching their runs when the coast was clear. Patrollers were equally clever. They caught wind of their code being cracked and so started to use fake signals and mock reports to catch their prey. Patrollers even started hiding out in the trees near high-traffic spots for JHAF operations.
Dr. No
In the 1970s and early ‘80s, some of JHMR’s in-bounds terrain was restricted and needed special permission from ski patrol. A notoriously difficult patroller by the name of Peter MacKay, nicknamed Dr. No for his consistent refusal to open these areas, was part of an increasingly disgruntled part of ski patrol. He held a strong and personal distaste for one particular member of the Air Force… Doug Coombs.
After watching Coombs go scot-free on a number of occasions (including twice already that season) thanks to his popularity and ties to the resort, Mackay was eager for an opportunity to bust him in a way where he could not get another pass from Ski Corp.
A Matter of Controversy
Perhaps no other incident was as divisive or important to this mountain community as Doug Coombs being caught out-of-bounds and banished from the resort on January 22, 1997. That was the end result. The details of the story, however, look a bit fuzzier.
On that fateful day, Doug Coombs was celebrating his 4th wedding anniversary skiing with his wife Emily and friend and extreme skier, Dean Conway. Excited by the likelihood of fresh snow on a storm day and already working on a record snowpack for the year, the three skiers entered Cirque on the upper mountain. Emily cut down the heart of the bowl while the other two continued to the far skier’s left on a run named, Pair-a-Chutes. This is where the details get interesting.
JHMR trail map showing the Cirque area where Doug Coombs was caught skiing out of bounds. pc jacksonhole.com
Pair-a-Chutes is a rocky, steep area delineated by closed signs along the ridgeline. In this abnormally deep year, however much of the usual rock face was filled in with snow.
Coombs rode what he thought was in-bounds following all rules and obeying all signs. Dr. No who was waiting on the traverse below said otherwise. Reportedly shouting four-letter expletives and promising to punish Coombs for his infraction, the situation escalated quickly. Head patroller Corky Ward was called in to mediate. In Tracking the Wild Coombs: The Life of Legendary Skier Doug Coombs, author Rob Cazucco wrote Ward himself inspected the area and “found tracks within 18 inches of the closed signs.”
With Coombs still claiming innocence, the confrontation escalated further now involving JHMR general manager Jim Gill. He too went up on the mountain to inspect Coombs’ tracks. However, with 16 inches of fresh snowfall since the incident occurred Gill was unable to make a determination.
To make matters worse, the following day ski patrol moved the closed signs in question… inward. Coombs claimed this was an admission of guilt. Jim Gill first denied it, then later admitted the move, creating a perception that not only inflamed the situation but also undermined ski patrol’s credibility. Shortly after the incident, Coombs changed his opinion. From the David Rothman’s commentary on original article Couloir Oct. 1997, Coombs reported,
“I have a lot of respect for the patrol. Those guys have a hard job to do, and they do it well. I honestly thought I was in a gray area, but I realize that I made a serious mistake and I am sorry about all the problems it caused for Jim Gill (general manager) and guys on patrol. I really had no desire to make things hard for them, and you can bet I won’t make that mistake again if they let me come back.”
Then in a final attempt to salvage his career Coombs promised to offer free classes at JHMR and even pay a hefty fine if they let him back. But in the end, too much damage had been done. Coombs was banished once and for all from the resort and community he had grown to love so dearly. Coombs moved to La Grave, France, and continued his Heli-guide service in Alaska until 2001 when he sold it.
Renegade Retribution
Ski Corp’s decision to ban Coombs split the Jackson community and left the JHAF enraged as they saw Coombs as the unquestioned leader. By this time, the second-generation Air Force members were well-versed in the mission and pushing it to new limits. The start of Teton Gravity Research film company in 1995 and their first film Continuum (1996) which featured Coombs and his incredible style of skiing only fueled the other members. JHAF member Rick Hunt shared in SSD, “Once that happened, all bets were off. We did whatever the hell we wanted. We didn’t give a rat’s ass. We poached more than ever before and just to put it in front of their faces.”
Sending it BIG at JHMR. pc theskijournal
But at this point, it didn’t really matter what the JHAF or anyone else did. Ski Corp’s decision was final and the controversy had been officially elevated onto the world stage. A resolution was needed.. and soon.
A Miraculous Opening and Welcome Back
Fortunately, something did change during the 1999/2000 season. For the first time in its history, JHMR opened its boundaries to backcountry skiing. Not only that, but JHMR also welcomed back Coombs and reinstated him as an official resort ambassador. The battle was finally over. There would be no more chasing poachers out of bounds. (It’s tragic to think about all the sorrow and damage done when considering what might have happened if this pivotal decision had been made sooner.)
Backcountry gate access at JHMR. pc snowbrains
The Mission Lives On
After opening its gates in 1999, the JHAF’s outlaw character lost its appeal. One stroke with a pen dissolved nearly all legal entanglements and now they no longer had to hide what they were doing, at least with regard to the law. Patrollers didn’t chase, nor did they worry about others following JHAF tracks outside the ropes. They were no longer responsible.
Without a worthy adversary, the mission started to lose luster and by the mid-2000s it’s been suggested membership numbers had significantly declined, But who really knows for sure? Regardless of numbers, their mission lives on. Not only in its members but also in each of us who live to ski primo lines of untracked pow.
Legendary Corbet’s Couloir (right) and its gnarlier sister S&S Couloir (left), JHMR. pc firsttracks
Parting Thoughts
In the end, it’s just a story and a great one at that. Outside of the illegality of what they did, I think it’s important to highlight some of their contributions.
Two of the greatest benefits, and talked about in SSD were how JHAF worked out ideas around snow science and avalanche safety. Without the modern resources widely available today they had to rely on what they knew worked. Information and techniques about the snowpack and risks of danger were ideas they had to develop themselves. Big mountain rider and elite snowboarder Jeremy Jones says, “Experience is something you get right after you need it.”
And that’s exactly what the JHAF got as true pioneers of the backcountryexploring areas like Granite Canyon and others around Jackson Hole. Traveling safely in the backcountry required quite a bit of knowledge and skill and what the JHAF learned. They then took their acquired wisdom to Alaska and helped to develop the Chugach Range with several Heli-guide services and Coombs leading the way. As one of the greatest skiing phenomena in history, they shared a wealth of expertise around skiing, snow packs, and snow safety. And for that, we should all be thankful.
Coming Next Month
I hope you enjoyed reading this month’s edition of the Spotlight Series. Please join me next month as I have something very special planned looking at revolutionary changes in ski technology and how it changes the way we ski the mountain!
Merry Christmas,
- Ryan
The Free Soul Skier… Live Inspired. Ski Better. Enjoy the Ride.