Eagle’s Rest Grand Opening

The Eagle’s Rest chair opened today to a smiling crowd of children, locals, instructors and guests.  The clear blue-sky solstice day was the perfect occasion to welcome this new, yet historic chairlift.

The group who gathered for the opening heard remarks from JHMR President Mary Kate Buckley, owners Jay and Connie Kemmerer, and a blessing from the ever wise and thoughtful Pastor Ben Pascal.  Then Janie Hopkins, a long time Jackson Hole visitor, who learned to ski from the old Eagle’s Rest chair, read an essay she wrote when she was in high school.  Now a senior at Georgetown, her message was heartfelt and a bit nostalgic about her years learning and growing at JHMR. 

Eagle’s Rest double chair was the only chairlift to run for the first 50 years of the resort’s history.  It was taken down in the spring of 2016 with the addition of the Sweetwater Gondola.  The new Eagle’s Rest chair brings back to life the tradition of the old lift, and rounds out the learning experience in Jackson Hole. 

Janie addressed the crowd:

“Eagle’s Rest has never served up pow turns like Sublette, has never moved as fast as Casper, has never been a scene like the tram.  But it’s special to me in the way that it was weathered the storm of Jackson’s blow-up popularity, driven me through my childhood and progression as a skier and remained completely unfazed by the resort’s ever forward motion…”