When it’s -20 degrees Fahrenheit and blowing, many mountain town folks find themselves watching ski porn, fondling gear and sitting in coffee shops.

But, according to TreeHugger, we, as mountain lovers and conservationists should not be spending our money (and brain power and ability to function and sleep…) on coffee. 

Of course, the Is Coffee Good or Bad For Us debate goes on, but this author argues that coffee is bad for the environment, period. As the second most traded commodity in the world after petroleum, he writes, coffee requires destroying natural areas, as well as intensive energy to plant, harvest, and transport it.

“I did the math once and found that I save about $50 a month when I am not drinking coffee,” he writes. “And since it is not a bean that I could grow in my own backyard, I am also saving the resources needed to deliver my fix thousands of miles from a farm in South America to my adrenal glands.”

The author argues that we may want to give up our morning brew completely, a feat I attempted after reading a National Geographic article on caffeine, but which led to such grumpiness that my friends begged me to resume my addiction.

And this morning, I opted out of a freezing dawn patrol on Teton Pass and instead brewed a cup of joe with cinnamon and steamed milk and read the Treehugger article. 
And both were really good.

Happy New Year! What an exciting year it has been. We are on the cusp of change, and energy is increasing. It is an exhilarating time to be alive. I feel with uncertainty comes the ability to reflect. With the current changes, I can’t help but reflect on my chosen lifestyle. With inner peace, we can foster a grounded relationship with ourselves, the planet, and our neighbors. I wish you all peace and happiness in the New Year!

December has been quite a month! We started the month cold and dry. By mid-month, we were still in need of snow and the valley was brown. But, on December 21, it all changed. Over five feet of snow has fallen in the last eight days. We have more snow than we really know what to do with and avalanche danger has made skiing and backcountry travel a challenge.

It seems once snow blankets the valley, I see more eagles. They are amazing birds and will be found throughout the valley since their winter diet is carrion. I feel they are the appropriate symbol of America. They are large and beautiful, strong and graceful. Native people view the Bald Eagle as powerful in all seasons and during daylight. They are the illumination of spirit, healing and creation. You can’t help but look at these birds with awe and respect. One great place to look for them is on the National Elk Refuge outside of town.

Of course, December is the winter equinox. We have entered our season of light with the sun’s radiance making its way back to the northern hemisphere.

The solstice reminds us that every quality contains and gives way to its opposites. There can be no light without darkness, no darkness without light. Justice is not a question of one side defeating the other, but of finding the dynamic balance between them that generates the energies that sustain the world….

I wish you the best in 2009! Be joyous, laugh lots, and remember nature is always there to bring you peace and rejuvenate you.
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As we hiked toward the top of Snow King around 4 p.m. this afternoon, the wind started picking up. At the summit, I couldn’t see my partner as we put on our skis. Night skiing was perfectly gorgeous once we were out of the wind, but I expect the mountains were - and are - getting hammered as the wind continues to rage.

As a PSA from the warmth of my room, I thought I’d post this afternoon’s Bridger-Teton National Forest Western Wyoming Avalanche Bulletin just in case there are some local readers out there who don’t get it.

Happy New Year, everyone. Be safe out there!

Issued on Thursday January 1 at 5:59 p.m.

SITUATION

AN AVALANCHE WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED BY THE BRIDGER-TETON NATIONAL FOREST FOR THE MOUNTAINOUS AREAS OF WESTERN WYOMING INCLUDING JACKSON HOLE AND STAR VALLEY

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT provided by the Teton County Sheriff’s Department.

During these times of significant avalanche danger, the Sheriff’s Office and Search and rescue would like to remind you that backcountry rescues may be significantly delayed or not possible.

What does this mean to you?

1. A simple broken leg on Teton Pass could mean hours of delay until Search and Rescue can access you with reasonable safety.

2. If you are caught in an avalanche in the backcountry of Teton County, a recovery may not occur until conditions warrant.

The higher elevations of Western Wyoming received about one foot of new snow today. This snowfall was accompanied by 30 to 40 mile per hour winds from the west-southwest that gusted to 66 miles per hour. Temperatures at 9,000 feet started in the teens and rose towards the 20’s as the day ended.

New soft surface slabs up to 18 inches in depth began to form today on wind packed snow and melt-freeze crusts. Deep slab instabilities persist. A dangerous hard slab (HS-AB-5-0-6’) was explosively triggered in the Far Drift Slide Path at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort this morning during avalanche hazard reduction efforts. This large destructive slide failed on a buried rain crust from a southeasterly facing starting zone at an elevation of 10,000 feet and ran full track.

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If you’re in Jackson tonight, you may find yourself skiing in a torchlight parade, dancing all night at the Pink Garter, The Q, The Wort, The Mangy Moose or any number of other bars, restaurants and holes in the wall. Or, if you’re like me, you’ll (at least threaten to) skip the revelry in exchange for star-gazing, night sledding or plain old dinner and bed.

Regardless of one’s choice of night time festivities, some seize this last day of the year as a chance to make promises to better themselves in the future. Others reflect. No doubt many in Teton County and across the country will be thinking about the recent snow scariness that took a friend’s life. 

As they think about the last year, many people start compiling Best Of and Worst Of lists. Jackson would definitely be at the top of both the Best Trams in the World and Towns with the Highest Number of Hip Blogs Per Capita lists.

In honor of this cultural habit of reflecting, and in lieu of spending these last few hours planning my New Year’s dancing costume, I’ve compiled my personal Best of Best of Lists for 2008, from various sites around the Web, not in any order.  

1. Time’s Top 10 of Everything, 2008.

2. Best Books of the Year, recommended by writers.

3. New York Times Buzzwords of 2008.

4. People We’ll Miss in 2009 by Politico.

5. National Geographic’s Top Ten Photo Galleries.

6. Salon’s Best Indie Movies

7. Top 10 Pretty Obvious Video Favorites by NewTeeVee.

8. Worst Album Covers by Time Out Chicago.

9. Gizmodo’s Top Weird Gadgets.

10. Top 10 Cats of 2008

I have been living in Innsbruck, Austria with my friend Cody Roth now for a couple weeks and attempting to do what could only be considered highly optimistic: film bouldering in Austria in December. Needless to say you have to be patient to get this accomplished, but the good news is that if the conditions are bad for bouldering, they are probably good for skiing.
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Still out of town for the holidays, I’ve only heard of Wilson resident Dave Nodine’s in-bounds avalanche death through JHUnderground, TetonAT, Jackson Hole News&Guide and friends. According to reports, he died of suffocation in an avalanche on Saturday in the Toilet Bowl area of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.

I don’t know Dave or his family, but I’m sending prayers from mine to his.

While I fantasize all summer about powder and brag about the Tetons to all my Baltimorian relatives, I never forget the horrible tragedies that come with this sport and season.

Lou Dawson shares some in-bounds avalanche safety tips on his blog which could be helpful. And, the comments on other blogs are worth reading to learn more about Dave’s accident, join the dialogue, or at least learn something about traveling in avalanche terrain.

Be safe out there and take a moment to send some energy to Dave’s family.

Our friend Ian Anderson of Backbone Media sent us dispatches on the desert progress of his badass wife Sari. As part of the four-person Team Nike, Sari has spent the a week in the Abu Dhabi Emirate sea kayaking, camel hiking, cross orienteering, mountain biking, running and skating.

Team Nike came in fifth on Dec. 17 in the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge with a time of 40 hours, 6 minutes and 20 seconds.

At one point, the top five teams were following Nike member Chris Forne across the desert. According to the race site, Forne is “the man with the huge pack and parsimonious feeding habits, acting as pathfinder.”

“We spent the whole night with a group of around 5 teams following Chris FORNE, NIKE’s ace navigator,” said French competitor Marcel Hagener. “It was amazing how he just kept going, selflessly blazing a trail across the dunes until, at one point, some of the teams were pleading with him to go slower, so they could keep up… The man’s an animal!”

Here is Ian’s final dispatch. His other Team Nike reports about other legs, including one in which the team suffered a broken boat and a lost paddle can be found on SariAnderson.com.

Congratulations to all the athletes who competed in this brutal race under the boiling sun!

From Ian:

It appears that Team Nike pushed hard throughout the final stage of the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge, running up and over the rocky, technical Jebel Hafeet Mountains and traversing the rope sections with ease. They finished the stage with the second fastest time, just a minute behind the overall race winners, Team Desert Islands. However, in the end, Nike was unable to bridge the 26-minute gap to finish on the podium. The stage was just too short and there was no navigation to slow the teams down, so everyone was going flat out.

I know the team will be a disappointed with their fifth place finish but they have to be proud of the fact that they clawed their way all the way back from tenth place just two days earlier. The team will also split a nice check for $11,500, just in time for Christmas.

[In Colorado] We’ve had a couple of feet of snow in the past few days…they’re in for a bit of a shock after spending a week in the desert. I’m sure Sari will be excited to shift gears and start the Rando Racing season.

Congratulations to Team Desert Islands and our boy from Colorado, Jay Henry. They had a flawless race against the world’s best. Full race results here.

And thanks to everyone for reading and for your continued support! Special thanks to Mike Bitton at CheckPointZero.com for all his terrific photography. Check out all his race galleries here.