Victor and Driggs Idaho are surrounded on three sides by some truly amazing mountains.  The Tetons and the Big Holes offer great recreational opportunities.  Hunting, Fishing, Horseback Riding, Mountain Biking, Hiking, Backpacking, Camping and Trail Running literally surround the valley.

In just minutes from anywhere in the valley you can find yourself in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, great trails leave from every major canyon all the way around the valley.  North Leigh, South Leigh, Teton, Darby, Fox Creek, Moose Creek, Pole, Horseshoe, and many more all offer excellent trail heads.  All these access points make Teton Valley a great place to recreate, and while I love to hike, fish, ski, bike, lately I have been doing a fair amount of trail running.  Whether you are in for an all day endurance effort in the Tetons or a quick after work run, Teton Valley has a trail for you.

A couple of weeks ago I did an 18 mile run from Darby Canyon to Teton Canyon, using the Teton Crest Trail to link up the two drainages.  It was a great run and amazing to get that far back in the Tetons.  This afternoon I did a quick after work run on the Aspen trail just East of Driggs, it’s nice to escape the computer and cell phone for at least an hour a day.

My brother planted the seed, sending me an email and asking about at desert trip.  Then the next question backpacking or moutain biking?  We decided on mountain biking and the destination, Gooseberry Mesa, located just South of Zion National Park in Southern Utah.  I have heard about “The Goose” for years from various friends and mountain bike enthusiasts and even tried to make down there a year ago but we were forced to stay off the mesa due to weather and chose to ride at lower elevations closer to St. George.

It’s a long haul from Driggs to Gooseberry Mesa….over 10 hours according to Google Maps, and that’s just about right, but with a forecast for 80 degrees and full sun it was just too tempting.

We camped and rode up on the mesa for the weekend and the weather, camping and trails met all expectations.  The riding was spectacular with lots of fun little challenges and long winding single track.  We rode all the trails on Gooseberry and several of the choice trails two times.  Needless to say “The Goose” rocks!

It only took 45 minutes North of Gooseberry before we encountered snow and now a week later I have seen snow falling everyday since.  Makes me miss the desert even more….maybe another trip down is due again this Spring.

Last month I joined Sage Realty Group in Driggs.  My previous office was located in Rexburg and I was their only agent in Teton Valley.  It has been great to be working in an office right in Driggs.  I have been “The Lone Wolf” up here but now I feel I am part of a great team.

Sage Realty Group has maintained a strong presence in our market during the recession by providing both buyer and sellers with knowledgeable, friendly, and fair services.  I look forward to upholding the high standards they have set.

I have included the link to one of the best things Sage puts out every month and easy to understand and use market report.

http://www.sagerg.com/market_report_display.php

You can also search all the properties currently for sale here.

http://www.sagerg.com/mls.php?mls_sort=officesearch

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact the Sage Realty Group office at:

info@sagerg.com

cjensen@sagerg.com

www.sagerg.com

Teton Pass is pretty much the same everyday during the winter, its snow covered and/or icy, a majority of the drivers are not prepared and are not good at driving in the conditions.

Here is what I have learned so far in driving over “the pass”.

-All wheel drive or four wheel drive will make your commute a piece of cake.  Sure you can make it over the pass with a two wheel drive vehicle especially with newer models featuring traction control, but when things get really nasty, cars off the road, large drifts, snowplow plows you in while you are out skiing, you will be glad you have the extra traction.

-Snow tires!  If you are only going to do one thing to prepare for winter driving on Teton Pass then buy a pair of snow tires.  A good set of dedicated snow tires will do amazing things to the traction and handling of your vehicle.  Every aspect of how your vehicle handles will be improved, acceleration, braking, and cornering.  With a set of snow tires I feel comfortable driving the speed limit no matter the road conditions.  If it were up to me everyone driving Teton pass would be required to have snow tires on their vehicle.

-Emergency kit.  At the very least carry some extra water, clothing, and a shovel in your vehicle.  If the weather forecast and driving conditions warrant throw in a sleeping bag, flashlight, extra food etc.  All of the above have come in handy for me at some point.  One night coming home late an avalanche blocked the road just minutes before I got there and I ended up having to sleep in a parking lot, but I had my sleeping bag in the back otherwise that would have been a long night.

-Turbo.  Ok this one is just personal preference.  I am on my third Subaru that I have used to drive over (95 Legacy, 2000 Outback, 2005 Outback XT)  The latest Subaru is a used 2005 XT Limited Turbo Outback it is by far the best car I have owned for driving over Teton Pass.  As all Outbacks it features all wheel drive, but the standout feature for me is the turbo charged engine.  My other Subaru’s were “adequate” for getting up the hill but the XT is amazing, it is so much better than my previous cars that it doesn’t even feel like it is made by the same company.   Other nice options for winter driving that the XT has are heated wiper blades, no more flicking your wipers against your windshield while driving and rear locking differentials.  I have some experience with rear lockers on my truck and think that now truck or SUV should be without them but was surprised to see them on a Subaru, but man are they great. No matter how deep or slippery it gets your rear wheels just keep on turning.

Thats my two cents about winter commuting on the pass.  See you up there.

It was a great time to be teaching telemark, the sport was growing leaps and bounds with stronger bindings, plastic boots and shaped skis a lot of really strong alpine skiers were looking for the challenge and grace of the telemark turn.  I don’t really want to boast too much but I got pretty damn good at telemarking, to the point that I could ski just about anything on my tele gear that I could on my alpine gear.

In 2001 my wife and I moved to Teton Valley, ID and I gave up alpine skiing completely, pretty much gave up resorts too.  I met new friends in the Tetons some who were on Tele’s and a few who were on A.T. (Alpine Touring) also known at Randonee gear.  I had a sticker that said “Randonee…French for can’t Tele”  that pretty much summed up what I thought about A.T. gear at the time.  I thought it was for people who wanted to backcountry ski but who never learned how to telemark…losers..hahaha.

An amazing thing happened over the years.  In summary A.T. got cool, but seriously A.T. equipment got lighter, more efficient.  You have features on modern A.T. gear that simply isn’t available for telemark skiers, how about releasability, step in bindings, frictionless touring, ski breaks?  Sure there has been some great advances in the free pivot tele bindings and there is the ‘holy grail’ NTN tele biding that nobody uses.  But the more I skied with people on A.T. equipment the more I realized how much better A.T. gear is for efficient backcountry travel both for skinning and skiing.

Well the winter of 2010/2011 is the year for me and A.T.  I finally upgraded my equipment with a new pair of Black Diamond boots, skis, skins, and a pair of Dynafit bindings.  I got out for my first turns on the new gear this morning, two quick runs on Teton Pass before work.  How did it feel?  Kind of like cheating, do recall that I said I fell in love with the telemark turn.  The A.T. gear felt almost too easy, with my heel locked securely on the downhill I was a hero and the frictionless low weight Dynafit binding makes the uphill pass like butter.  With the upgrade in equipment I have lost a couple pounds of weight and gained much more control and efficiency.

With a couple of quick runs a lot remains to be seen.  I may have gained a lot of efficiency and control but definitely gave up some style and grace of the Telemark turn.  More turns will have to be made.

Stay tuned.

In the meantime here is an absolutely hilarious video about the great backcountry debate…Tele or AT?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4729727588189988961#

For those of you who know me or have kept up with the blog over the years you know that guiding is only one of three or four jobs I have at any one time.  My family also owns the car wash in Victor www.victorcarwash.com,  and since I am the only family member that resides in Teton Valley, well you guessed it, I run the place.  The summer of 2010 was our second full summer of ownership and from a maintenance standpoint the car wash did excellent.  We had almost no down time all summer.  My Dad took charge of the only downtime I can remember when a few critical high pressure hoses needed to be replaced.  Geno had the place up and running again in short order.  Thanks to all our customers, if you all keep coming by we promise to keep the car wash clean, safe, reliable, and effective.

Real Estate was slow for me this summer.  It’s a catch 22 as I don’t really have a lot of time to devote to it and the time I have spent doing it has not been paying the bills.  It’s hard because the real estate work I have done the last few years has been really enjoyable but I just haven’t been putting enough deals together to do it full time.  So I continue to help friends and family if they have real estate needs and I get the occasional referral.  I will keep at it and when the market starts to return I hope to be able to do real estate full time.

So what to do for the winter?  Thank goodness for my old employer and friend Michael Lynch at www.intheholegolf.com.  I first worked for Michael the winter of 2004-2005 helping him run his then small e-commerce site.  Last year I helped out in customer service a whopping 12 hours a week, but this winter I will be there full time.  Michael had a full time position open up just as my guide season came to a close and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.  In The Hole! Golf has grown leaps and bounds since I first worked there, pretty amazing what Michael has been able to accomplish.  So if you need help with any golf supplies check it out www.intheholegolf.com.

Our son Grady continues to grow up fast and amazes us everyday.  He has a great sense of humor.  We had some good times this summer.  I think if he was writing this he would want me to mention riding in Pat’s dump truck, going on bike rides on his new “Strider” bike and going over to our neighbor’s house…he loves Ken and Lois!  Too much fun stuff to mention but I will be sure to post some videos and pictures.

I promise to update the blog a little more now, besides I have more stuff to share, I just got some new skis and have a little discussion to start about the difference between Alpine Touring gear and Telemark gear….stay tuned.

Anyway it seems the insects don’t care if Mother Nature still thinks it’s winter they have to do what they have to do.  The Salmon Flies have started their great annual emergence on the Henry’s Fork and when I was invited to join some friends for a float down the Lower Mesa Falls section I grabbed all my warm clothes, some Salmon Fly patterns and hit the road.

Here’s a video or two and some pictures….

Ok those of us who live in Teton Valley know that winter can drag on but seriously 2010 is a doozy for dragging it out.  So far it has snowed at least a little each day the past week, it hasn’t really stuck around except for up in the mountains where the skiing and snowmobiling continue to be excellent.

We decided a few weeks ago to try and make a quick family camping/biking trip to Southern Utah while the weather was so poor here.  The weather was nicer in S. Utah but not by much…54 and windy, with occasional showers, but that still beats 36 with snow.

My visions of riding my bike through desert sand and slick rock came true though even if I was wearing knee warmers and a wind breaker and we all had a great time camping.  Props to my in-laws from SLC toughing it out with us.

Here are a few pictures from the trip and here is to warmer weather!

Grand Targhee lets anyone ride their “magic carpet” for free, which works out perfect for a two year old, after 3 runs he was toast.

Good times….

Here is a short video I shot with my phone while heading out this morning.