Photo by Chris Figenshau
Man in the Middle
Wyoming's Teton Pass ambassador is responsible for keeping order at one of the nation's most beloved—and endangered—backcountry skiing destinations
Jay Pistono knows that it could disappear in a day. There’s just a single roadside pullout at the crest of Wyoming Highway 22 providing a place to park and access some of the best backcountry skiing in the world. But chaos erupts every powder day on this road across the Tetons, and if there’s yet another heated altercation between skiers and plow drivers, or a collision caused by a darting dog, or one more skier-triggered slide across the pavement, the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) might shut it all down. All the agency has to do is stop plowing the turnout and it’s game over on Teton Pass.
Every year, by Pistono’s count, 130,000 skiers fan out from the top of the pass into a dreamy array of glades, bowls, and hair-raising chutes, some just steps from the road and all blanketed by wave after wave of bountiful Wyoming snowfall. The Teton Pass secret has been out for years, and in his official
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