According to Treehugger this morning, solar powered Pod cars may be the transportation fad of the future. I wouldn’t mind riding one of those to work in the morning instead of my gas guzzling Jeep. Add a bike rack on the back and a ski rack on the top and these little pods might just be the best solar powered idea I’ve seen in a while.

From Treehugger- Sweden has already built a pod car pilot on an old football field on the outskirts of the university town of Uppsala, while in West Virginia a small pod-like transport system has been shuttling students back and forth for many years. Now on both sides of the U.S. in Ithaca, New York, and Santa Cruz, California, advocates are working hard to convince city officials that pod cars are the way to go.

Heathrow is building what it is calling a pod car system to shuttle travelers around the airport. But what seems to be needed is for one or more cities - probably ones that hasn’t yet made the investment in light rail - to embrace a pod-car structure and show us all how lovely it might be traveling above the city streets in our very own sound-proofed pods.

Hey! It’s me again, Maynard. You know the dog that won the Puppy Powerball. Check this out. Just when I thought life couldn’t get any better the dude that I hang with quits his job. We have been on two Middle fork of the Salmon rafting trips and now we are tooling around in his ‘71 VW Camper with this cute babe.

We just spent the past few days in the City of Rocks and now we are headed to the Stanley Basin for some Mountain Biking. Who knows where we headed after that? My vote is to head to the bacon factory, but then again my vote carries as much weight as a vote for a democrat does in Idaho. They are talking like they are going fishing at some river named after one of Henry’s eating utensils. It really doesn’t matter where we go, I will still prance around (except when I am taking my three to four required daily naps) with that expression of idiot glee written all over me. Why you ask?

I was lucky enough to be adopted by a unemployed outdoor enthusiast who lives in a mountain town and for a dog like me it that is about as perfect at is gets. Wooo Hoooo! Now if I could only reach the clutch pedal and get it in first gear we would be on our way.

More later,
Maynard.

Maynard hopes his human Tim starts writing blog posts soon. Typing with paws is tough business.

Yesterday it snowed. Facebook updates abounded with “status” updates about getting out rock skis, catching snow on your tongue and watching flakes as big as butterflies.

So, it’s perfect that crews at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort continue to kick ass on tram construction. Last week, crane operator Hans Burkhart lifted platforms into the sky that Swiss crews from Garaventa affixed to the recently tensioned track ropes. This week, crews stood on those platforms to splice the new haul rope. Resort crews said they took out about 200 feet of rope and spliced it back together — all while suspended on the “Stairway to Heaven.”

It’s coming. … Get psyched.

Here is the official Teton Village release from Jackson Hole Mountain Resort communications manager and Cloudveil ambassador Lisa Watson:

One step closer to completion of the NEW Aerial Tram at Jackson Hole!

(Teton Village, WY. October 7, 2008) – Crews have been on top of a temporary bridge nicknamed the “Stairway to Heaven,” suspended 60 feet above the ground on the Aerial Tram track cables, working to complete a 220 foot splice of the haul rope yesterday and today. Norm Duke, one of the top rope splicers in the United States, who also happens to be a Jackson Hole local, is splicing the haul rope with the help of a crew of up to 15 workers.

Spectators have come out to watch the workers on the bridge and take photos of this construction milestone. “Energy is high out here,” said Tim Mason, VP of Operations at the resort, “People are beginning to realize that there really is going to be a new Aerial Tram ready for this winter.”

The splice is expected to be completed by the end of today [Wednesday]. The Tram cars have been delivered to Teton Village and should be hung on the track cables by the end of the month. All construction updates, photos and video can be found at Tram-Formation.com, along with your chance to win a spot on the FIRST TRAM this December!

Jackson Hole Mountain Resort will begin operations on November 29, 2008 and the new Aerial Tram is due to launch on December 20th, stay tuned for progress at www.tram-formation.com, or listen to weekly construction updates and chances to win FREE lift tickets for the 2008/09 winter season with Fish on KMTN radio each Friday morning at 8:40am.

The new Aerial Tram at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort will be twice the size of the original, carrying 100 passengers. The sleek, new cabins, and visually inspiring base terminal only add to the faster and more efficient “cable to the sky”. As well as the journey, it is the destination that captures the spirit of the Jackson Hole Tram. Soaring 4,139 vertical feet in 9 minutes to the summit of Rendezvous Mountain is unrivaled in the ski industry, cresting the Tetons with an endless choice of ski routes below, not to mention incredible 360 views.

We continue to share our excitement through words, images and video capturing the enormity of this project on www.tramformation.com. For a preview of the full “Cable to the Sky” documentary please click here.

Although this pic does not do it justice, it is dumping here in Wyoming. Check out the view from the Jackson Hole Mountain Cams.

This is for sure our first legit snowfall … has it snowed where you live yet?? Let us know!
We may have to start a pre-season ski town snowfall contest. Whataya say Aspen, Vail, Whistler, Burlington, Alta, etc etc etc…. WANNA RACE?

Cloudveil ambassador Nick DeVore writes in from Colorado about his newest exploit: elk hunting. The free-healed prodigy has taken up a sport that requires as much if not more finesse, patience and love for traipsing around the woods. Enjoy his words and gorgeous photographs.

I have found yet another passion, another way of life, a key aspect to my way of a sustainable lifestyle in the mountains and a way to train for skiing; elk hunting with a bow. My great friend and tele ski partner, Will Cardamone has been hunting for years and has finally helped me see the light.

Although I didn’t shoot an elk this season, I hunted twenty days in the last month, bushwacking about the vertical of everest from sea level. I got amongst elk herds and close to big bull elk many times, experiencing their day to day lifestyle, their rut, and their migration routs, it has been amazing and I have learned so much and become much stronger.

The best part of bow hunting was that is brought me to so many amazing places and allowed me to aimlessly explore my backyard. I scouted many ski lines and am so fired up to ski around the elk mountains this winter! Following are some shots from my bow season, although I didn’t shoot an elk I shot many photographs and had a blast.

Ahhh ski movies. … Ahhh powder. … Ahhh rubbernecking crash scenes that make you actually curse out loud.

Here’s the newest trailer from PowderWhore, coming to a ski town near you. Featuring Black Diamond tele monsters Kate and Will Cardamone, SKIING magazine’s own Female Telemark Freeskiing World Champion, Megan Michelson, as well as Cloudveil ambassador and Male Telemark Freeskiing World Champion, Nick Devore.

Check out the following or click the link to Watch Nick rip up the Jackson backcountry in the RPK Jacket.

One minute we’re scrambling up sun-drenched peaks, the next we’re watching snow-dusted hills emerge from the fog. It’s fall here in Jackson Hole; the colors are going off, as folks like to say.

This weekend, photographer Greg Thomas shot Cloudveil’s Jeff Wogoman fishing amid the firey explosion. Take a look at Greg’s pics, then go outside and see for yourself!