It’s A ‘Battlefield’: Inside Jackson's Annual Massive Ski Swap

JACKSON — Walter Duquette has a problem. He keeps breaking his skis.

So on Saturday, he rose before the sun with a group of friends and assembled in the darkness outside the Heritage Arena to get first dibs on the 4,300 pieces of ski and snowboard gear up for sale at the annual Jackson Hole Ski and Snowboard Club's massive ski swap.

“Walter is a very intense skier,” said Julian Web, one of Duquette’s friends seated in camping chairs and envisioning the potential bargains to be had inside. 

"Last year, I bought a pair of skis here and I went out the first day skiing, and I cracked the base along the whole wooden thing cracked,” said Duquette, who attends the University of Wyoming and drove from Laramie to get in on the good deals. 

Duquette has broken three pairs of skis so far, though he's quick to add a silver lining: "I've never broken a bone, only the skis, so I don't know what I'm doing, but something's wrong."

Duquette and Web were joined by Brian Baker, who boasts the biggest ski quiver of the group — eight pairs in all. Depending on what he finds inside, that number could jump to 10 or more. 

“You're like, ‘Oh yeah, I'm just going to get this,’” he said. "And then you see something and you're like, ‘Well I gotta get that.’” 

Web walked out of the swap last year with three pairs of skis for less than $200. 

He described the mindset of strategizing for the swap.

“You gotta be fast, you gotta be fast,” he said as if outlining how to attack a Black Friday sale. "Stuff’s going. Stuff’s going. Definitely the first 10 minutes you’re in there, you’re determined: 'I gotta get this thing.'

“There's just like the chaos in the moment,” added Baker. 

Behind The Scenes

As the line outside grew in the darkness, inside the arena, swap organizer Jesse Knori coached a sizable team of volunteers how to handle the door-busting action. 

One pro tip: Don’t let the bargain-crazed horde stash skis in a way that prevents other buyers from snapping them up.

"It's kind of just a scavenger hunt that everyone's invited to,” she said.

Knori particularly enjoys watching people discover unexpected treasures, like old wooden snowshoes or vintage skis that someone found in a basement.

"It's cool to see the light that goes off when they find the exact thing that they've been looking for," she said.

The event also embodies the club’s commitment to sustainability. After the swap closes at 4 p.m., any unsold items move on to Pinedale's ski swap.

"Nothing ends up in the landfill," Knori said. "It just keeps circulating from ski swap to ski swap, which is really fun and keeps giving skiers in our state really good opportunities to find their own deals."

Brendan Levine, a member of the club's board, sees the swap as more than a fundraiser. 

"It is kind of a soft launch to the winter," he said. "I woke up before my alarm went off. So it's that same type of feeling. You're just stoked. You don’t have to try, you just do.”

Among the vendors this year was Marshall Opel, impossible to miss in his raccoon hat, selling Nordic gear from a Midwest distributor. 

He'd picked up four of the distinctive hats at a gas station in Green River, Utah.

The raccoon, Opel explained, serves as the spirit animal for the bike trips he hosts in the desert.

The raccoon is a “city dwelling creature that doesn't necessarily call attention to themselves, but also does things their own way," he said with a grin.

Opel is part of the ski swap circuit. Whatever he doesn’t sell in Jackson, he’ll haul up to Bozeman, Montana, for the upcoming ski swap there. 

Last year, Opel said he got to the Jackson swap late and, “I heard about the craze that is the early morning.”

“My spirit right now is anticipatory, a little sleepy — and eager to move some product and get some Nordic skis on people’s feet,” he added. 

The Payoff

In addition to marking the start of the ski season, the swap is responsible for making winter sports more accessible to more people. 

Laura Paul, the club's communications director, rattled off impressive statistics about the organization's reach. 

The club serves more than 530 student athletes from kindergarten through postgraduate across four programs, employing close to 100 coaches during the winter season.

This year, the club will start 3,000 racers in competitions, apply 400,000 ski wax jobs, and charge 3,860 radios for practices and competitions.

Paul emphasized how 20% of racers are on scholarships.

“Events like this help keep our tuition affordable,” said Paul. 

‘Stoked’

As the seconds ticked down toward 7 a.m., the swap volunteers took up positions around the arena. 

Then suddenly, there they were — the pumped up masses with bargains on the brain. 

They burst into the arena like little kids turned loose for an Easter egg hunt, heads on swivels carrying dreams of deep discounts in their hearts. 

"About 80 people came in the first two minutes," Paul said, describing the morning rush. In the first 10 minutes, 227 people streamed through the doors.

One of the first swappers through the checkout line was Baker, who contemplated his haul: two more pairs of skis to add to his impressive collection.

"I don't have a thin ski for groomers at Snow King," he explained, nodding to a new pair of Kastle skis adorned with stickers. 

He also bought a wide pair of backcountry powder skis with lightweight bindings, spending $200 total. 

Basking in the glow of the bargains he found, Baker asked a swap-goer with no skis in their hands if they planned to “go through the battlefield” and find deals of their own. 

As Knori put it, surveying the controlled chaos of hundreds of people searching through thousands of pieces of equipment: "Everyone's just so stoked to have the opportunity to snag items."

David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.