Vertical drop: America's most dangerous slopes

Jackson is among a very few big mountain resorts that are privately held. (Snowbird, which belongs to Dick Bass, is another.) The owning Kemmerer family has roots stretching back more than a century in Wyoming — to coal mining and to a namesake town in the state's southwest corner. They bought Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in 1992, paying a reported $18 million.

Danger isn't just accepted here, it's embraced. In 1999 Jackson opened up its treacherous, unpatrolled back country to anyone who wants to risk it. Once you exit the resort gates the threat of avalanche becomes real, and there's no guarantee of rescue. You won't find open back country like this at Vail. Steep & Deep campers spend one of their four days touring the peaks beyond the boundary ropes with guides who teach them avalanche safety tactics and demonstrate proper use of shovels, probes and beacons.

Even the in-bounds terrain is formidable. "The on-piste [groomed] terrain here is by far the most challenging terrain I've been on, including off-piste in other places," camper Stephen Gaffney, 34, a New York developer, says approvingly. "I've never seen so many chutes."

Since the Kemmerers bought Jackson Hole, the resort has averaged $27,000 in annual net income. The family has made $55 million in improvements, and has raised some cash by selling off slivers of land near the resort's base. In 2006, for example, they sold a 3.2-acre parcel in Teton Village for $10 million.

Tight cash flow became a big issue in June 2005 when Jackson announced that its storied tram — which had whisked skiers from base to summit in just 12 minutes, 52 at a time — would be retired in September 2006 at the end of its 40-year service life. Loss of the tram has hurt the resort's appeal, even with diehards like James Walter, 46, a Michigan physician who has attended seven Steep & Deeps. "I probably won't come back until they figure this out," he says.

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The Kemmerers warned in 2005 that a replacement tram was not a sure thing, owing to a $25 million price tag and to their being private owners with finite coffers. They sought government assistance, on the premise that the tram was vital to the region's economy. But that tactic failed. In August they unveiled a plan to finance a new tram privately. The bigger (100-passenger) and faster tram won't get rolling until the winter of 2008-09. Until then Corbet's seekers will have to ride a temporary chairlift open to shearing winds and scathing, blowing snow.

Since the early 1990s the surrounding Teton Valley has gone from spartan to Aspenish, with million-dollar condos and celebrity ranches sprouting. A five-bedroom home on 1 acre with ski-run access listed recently for $12.5 million. A Four Seasons hotel opened in 2003. Still, Jackson enjoys a more frontierlike feel than its western ski resort cousins. A wide swath of federal land plus big ranches owned by wealthy landholders keep the valley free from the congestion that plagues Vail, Aspen and Park City, Utah. Even if sprawl does come, skiers can take heart: A Four Seasons hot toddy won't ever make a two-story drop feel shorter.

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