It didn’t take long after a huge chunk of Teton Pass washed down the mountain for Jackson Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Rick Howe to start getting a dismaying number of frantic phone calls asking a disturbing question.
That question centered around people’s vacation plans in and around Jackson Hole.
“Is Jackson Hole open?” the callers wanted to know.
Those calls have touched off a bit of a full-court press statewide, with Jackson and the Wyoming Office of Tourism sending out their own messaging — via smoke signals or whatever else will work — that Jackson Hole is not only open for business, but eager for it.
“The national media sometimes will only state half the story,” Howe told Cowboy State Daily. “So there were some stories yesterday from national outlets that essentially said a major thoroughfare going into Jackson Hole, Wyoming, has been closed off due to a landslide, and their message was this could be catastrophic for the Jackson Hole community.”
That leaves out an important point — that there are at least three other major ways to get to Jackson, Howe said.
“People like to embellish the dramatic,” Howe said. “But all the assets are still available and open. This is just one tributary that has been shut down. The realities are it’s probably more of an impact from a local effect than a visitor effect.”
That local impact, meanwhile, is something Jackson’s businesses have already closed ranks to help cover.
Various hotels, ranging from the Kudar Motel to Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, are looking at how they can offer temporary housing for essential workers who live in Idaho.
Many businesses that can allow some employees to work remotely, so that they don’t need to commute, are already offering that.
Other businesses are considering ways to stagger shifts to try alleviate the commuter crunch. The START bus service, meanwhile, has already reworked its schedule to try and better accommodate commuters.
Jackson has hit the ground running when it comes to taking care of its workforce so that it’s open for the summer season.
Crucial Worker Hub Is Not A Usual Tourist Route
The stunning landslide that wiped out part of Wyoming Highway 22 between Jackson and eastern Idaho does create huge headaches for many Jackson workers who live in Idaho due to a lack of affordable housing in Jackson.
An estimated 20% of Jackson’s workforce lives in Idaho because of that, and Teton Pass has long been their way into Jackson for work. They do have an alternate route to get to Jackson, though it is the very definition of the long way home. It winds through Swan Valley, Irwin and Palisades on the Idaho side, and then Alpine, Hoback and South Park on the Wyoming side.
For workers, that’s an excruciating extra hour or more tacked onto the beginning and end of their work day, according to Google maps. It can take a lot longer because 4,000 other cars, many of them tourists, are also taking this scenic route into Jackson.
An estimated 5,000 or so people are now also coming from Idaho on this two-lane highway. That almost doubles the number of cars on a highway that was never designed for that.
That’s a huge pain for Jackson’s workers but for tourists, the equation is a bit different. Teton Pass is not vital for getting into either Yellowstone or Grand Teton national parks.
In fact, most visitors never go over Teton Pass at all, Howe said.
“A lot of people have never been to Jackson Hole, so they don’t know that you don’t have to go over the pass to get to national parks,” he said. “And people don’t realize that there’s multiple ways in and out of the area.”
For those tourists who have accommodations in Victor, Driggs or Alta, though, they are looking at longer driving times to get to Jackson.
But they can still reasonably get there from Idaho.
“It’s just a 60-mile difference,” Howe said. “And there are plenty of things to do over there in Idaho. So for us, it’s just letting people know stuff is still available. It might take just a little bit longer.”
Not Eager To Repeat 2022 Hit To Tourism
Photos of the washout on Teton Pass bring to mind another catastrophic washout not so long ago. Historic flooding of Gardner River in June 2022 wiped out the north entrance road to Yellowstone National Park, forcing the evacuation of 10,000 visitors.
The park was also shut down in the midst of the very busy summer season that year until October, a devastating hit to many of the businesses in the area.
Jeanette Mikos, owner of Yellowstone Basin Inn in Gardiner, for example, said she lost in the neighborhood of $500,000 worth of reservations in 2022. Yellowstone Wonders, one of the many tour companies in the area, lost almost all of his customers as well.
State statistics show Wyoming’s overall tourism visits dropped 8.5% year over year in 2022, which Wyoming Office of Tourism Director Diane Shober told Cowboy State Daily in 2023 was largely due to Yellowstone National Park’s closure.
That impact wasn’t just centered around Yellowstone, though. Communities along the way to Yellowstone, like Casper and Cody, had fewer visitors as well.
Direct travel spending, not adjusted for inflation, was $166 million more in 2022 year over year, but adjusted for inflation, the overall spending was down 9%. Just how much top was shaved off Wyoming’s tourism spend in 2022 isn’t known.
But with 8.5% fewer visitors, it was no doubt in the millions of dollars.
Work is going quickly at the S curve that failed on Teton Pass over the weekend. (WYDOT Teton County) 
The reroute through Swan Valley on the Idaho side and then Snake River Canyon between Alpine and Hoback north into Jackson, Wyoming. (Google) 
Teton Pass landslide at hairpin curve on the highway. (Google) 
Teton Pass showing both incidents, the failure and a mudslide. (Google)
Saying It Loud And Long
A repeat of that, as national and international travelers view footage of a Teton Pass washout that looks eerily similar to the Yellowstone National Park’s north entrance road washout, is definitely not what anyone in Wyoming wants to see.
“Tourism is big business in Wyoming,” Office of Wyoming Tourism Senior Communications Manager Piper Singer told Cowboy State Daily. “As the second-largest industry, it’s crucial to continue to advocate for the health of our economy, the small businesses and many other trade-supported jobs that have felt the impact of the devastating mudslide.”
Singer said Wyoming Office of Tourism is partnering with Teton County to put out messages that ensure visitors know Jackson is accessible despite the mudslide, and that it is more than ready to welcome summer tourists to town.
“Our efforts include working with local and national media outlets on tourism experiences in Jackson, a site map to showcase the accessible roads to-and-from Jackson, as well as ongoing social media efforts,” she said.
The whole tourist season is depending on travelers getting that message, and Wyoming Office of Tourism wasn’t the only one sending that message out on Tuesday.
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort took the unusual step of saying it’s business as usual at the resort.
“While the landslide on June 8 on Highway 22 closed Teton Pass between Jackson and Victor, Idaho, JHMR and Jackson are still accessible via the Jackson Hole Airport as well as Highway 191 for visitors traveling from the North, South and East, including Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks,” a media release from JHMR says.
“JHMR officials spent the past three days assessing how the road closure will affect employees, their families, and guests, and determined this incident will not delay the resort’s opening day.”
Everything that’s normally available at the resort is still available, JHMR added, including a few new attractions, like the Deer Jump trail at the Jackson Hole Bike Park, which is offering some new big jumps, berms and other creative features.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
