Starting March 21, Barton Springs Pool will close every Monday and Wednesday due to staffing shortages. Pam LeBlanc photo

The staffing shortage has hit the city’s most iconic swimming hole, Barton Springs Pool.

Starting March 21, the chilly, spring-fed pool in downtown Austin will close Mondays and Wednesdays, in addition to its regular closure from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday for cleaning.

The staffing shortage dates to March 2020, when the Austin Parks Department cancelled lifeguard training due to the pandemic. Training resumed a year later, but the department still hasn’t caught up with the deficit.
Not just any lifeguard can work at Barton Springs Pool. Because of its unique features, like a natural bottom, special Open Water Guard certification and training are required. Besides guarding visitors at the popular pool, guards there also assist with training throughout the season.

Related: Ten reasons swimming in a lake, pond or river beats a swimming pool

About 100 trained lifeguards are on payroll and ready to work, but only 23 are certified as open water guards.

The city of Austin needs lifeguards to staff its swimming pools, including Barton Springs. Pam LeBlanc photo

The Aquatic Division will keep Barton Springs Pool closed on Mondays and Wednesdays until more guards can be hired, trained, and certified.

The Barton Springs closures will not affect the daily 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. swim times, which will remain “swim at your own risk” without lifeguards.
According to a press release from the City of Austin, Aquatic Division officials will try to keep the pool fully operational from March 12 to 20, but with staffing levels so low, temporary capacity limitations may be imposed if there are any fluctuations in staff availability.

For other swimming options on days Barton Springs is closed, go to AustinTexas.gov/Pools.

Apply to be a lifeguard at lifeguardaustin.com

Kristi Baughman takes a break from snowboarding Thursday at Kelly Canyon ski resort in Idaho. Pam LeBlanc photo

The big resorts get all the press, but sometimes it’s fun to explore the locals’ mountain for a day.

After a few days of skiing Grand Targhee, just across the Idaho border in Wyoming, I landed at Kelly Canyon Resort, a 640-acre playground in Ririe, Idaho, about a half hour’s drive from Idaho Falls.

Unless you’re from Wydaho, as they call this region of eastern Idaho and western Wyoming, you’ve probably never heard of it. And unless you’re already in the area, there’s probably no reason to make a special trip out from Texas.

But Kelly’s oozes vintage charm. It’s no frills and basic, with a small rental shop, a ski school, a restaurant, and a place to eat your own food, complete with a sign that says,” No coolers, no crockpots, no camping.” You’ll park in a dirt lot, and you won’t find fancy amenities. The place opened in 1957.

Related: Ten things to love about winter in Wydaho

Come to Kelly Canyon for the old-school charm and cheap tickets

Fair enough. What you do get is a nice, old-school vibe and the feeling that you’ve landed in that old holiday classic movie, “White Christmas.” You also get about 1,000 feet of vertical drop between the summit and the base.

Just this year, the resort installed its first triple chair lift. That makes the trip to the top of the hill faster than if you ride one of the three old-fashioned (and slow) double lifts, which also whir skiers and boarders up the mountain. (Ride with someone you like; half the fun is those lift conversations.)  There’s a conveyer belt to whisk kids to the top of the bunny slopes, too.

Another bonus? No crowds. The longest line this year was six minutes, and that was between Christmas and New Year’s, according to operations manager Dean Lords.

Kelly Canyon ski resort installed a new snow making machine this week. Here, a skier catches some flakes on his tongue. Pam LeBlanc photo

Yesterday’s temperatures hovered just shy of 40, and the resort hasn’t seen significant snowfall since December, Lords says. He says it’s the driest season in five years. Still, grooming is good enough that the resort has been able to keep most of its intermediate terrain open and in decent shape, despite a base of only about 2 feet of snow. This week a new snow making machine was installed, and already it was spitting out slightly gritty artificial “snow.”

We peeled off the layers of clothing and dove right in. Skiing through mushy snow is its own kind of fun, although you have to watch for patches of “grabby” snow. It’s like driving fast and then yanking on the parking brake. Don’t pay attention and you might find yourself on the ground, like I did once.

Runs are rolling and gentle, and wind through groves of pines. We took laps, trying to sniff out the best snow. We didn’t find any freshies, but we had a blast.

Aaron Theisen dropped his pants and skied in shorts Thursday at Kelly Canyon ski resort in Idaho. Pam LeBlanc photo

Here’s another thing. Skiing is expensive. A lift ticket at nearby Jackson Hole ski resort costs about $200 a day for an adult, without discounts. Here at Kelly Canyon, a full-day ticket for an adult is $59, or $69 on Friday and Saturday. That includes night skiing, if you want it. Monday through Saturday, the resort fires up the lights on the hill and you can ski until 8:30 p.m.

If you go to Kelly Canyon

The resort is tucked in the Big Hole Mountains, and besides providing a great training ground for local skiers and boarders, it serves mountain bikers during the summer. Heise Hot Springs just down the road makes the perfect place for a post-ski soak.

Another tip? Get lunch at the small restaurant at the base – and don’t miss the “Goat Bites,” tiny fried doughnut bits served with huckleberry butter.

Kelly Canyon Ski Resort is located at 5488 E. Kelly Canyon Road in Ririe, Idaho.

A skier takes a run at Grand Targhee on March 2, 2022. Pam LeBlanc photo

To reach Grand Targhee Resort in western Wyoming, you have to drive through Driggs, Idaho, which is why they call this area Wydaho.

I flew into Idaho Falls, Idaho, on Monday, where I met up with a small group of journalists to do some exploring. It’s unseasonably warm, but we’re wearing ourselves out with fun.

If you’re into skiing, snow shoeing, hiking, fat biking, beer drinking, horseback riding, hot tubbing, standup paddle boarding, or just curling up in front of a fireplace and relaxing with a book, put this on your list. It’s just over the mountains from its much more famous neighbor, Jackson Hole, but flies well under the radar.

After three days, here are some highlights:

1. Skiing the Headwall at Grand Targhee Ski Resort. This 2,602-acre, mostly intermediate resort on the western slope of the Tetons gets an average of 500 inches of snow every year. What it doesn’t get are crowds. My favorite run? A black diamond line called the Headwall, which served up manageable moguls and a nice pitch. And while some of the other slopes turned soft and slushy when temps rose above freezing this week, it held up fairly well.
   

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2. Staying in a cabin at Teton Valley Resort. This little RV resort rents tipis and lovely little cabins, too. No, they’re not tucked in the woods, and yes, they’re lined up side by side like baby ducks, but they’re new, well maintained and pretty luxurious. I’m sitting in front of my fireplace now, sipping tea and looking out the window at snow drifts, with mountains in the distance
   

   Cap off a day of skiing at Grand Targhee with barbecue at the Knotty Pine in Victor, Idaho. Pam LeBlanc photo

3. Barbecue at the Knotty Pine in Victor, Idaho. We spent four hours – four hours! – yesterday at this famous supper club, which has been operating since the 1960s. It gets its name from the big timbers with gnarled humps that you’ll see overhead when you walk in the front door. After a day of skiing, you should order the Pignic – a pile of pork ribs, pulled pork and brisket so high it feeds four to six people. It comes with mac and cheese, cole slaw and beans, too. (As a Texan, I cornered the pulled pork and ribs – the brisket doesn’t compare to the tender-as-mashed-potatoes version we get in Austin.) Wash it down with a Knotty Toddy, a warming blend of whisey, honey, lemon and hot water.
4. The non-pretentious vibe. No posers walking around in Bogner jackets and real fur jackets, no fancy shopping malls, no show offs. I did spot an old Scout in the parking lot with a half-eaten cup of chili in the back seat and a cloud of marijuana smoke around it. I’ll take it.
   

   Grand Teton towers in the distance, as seen from Grand Targhee Ski Resort. Pam LeBlanc photo

5. The view of Grand Teton, at 13,775 feet the highest peak in the Tetons. It pokes up like Mother Nature’s water tower, only way, way prettier. When the clouds part and it appears, you have to stop and admire it.
6. The Trap. You can’t go to Grand Targhee without stopping by The Trap bar at the base for a giant plate of nachos (get the ones on corn chips, not on waffle fries – that’s just wrong!) and a cold beer. Those nachos feed at least four people and will set you back a paltry $15. That’s ridiculously cheap by ski resort standards.
   

   David Young takes a run through the aspens at Grand Targhee. Pam LeBlanc photo

7. Grand Targhee isn’t known for its tree runs, but we found some patches of aspens that made an excellent playground. The pitch is forgiving, but it’s bumped up enough to keep things interesting. Something about zipping through those slender tree trunks, barren of snow, makes me feel like I’m inside a black and white photograph.
8. Nothing compares to soaking in a hot tub after a day on the slopes, especially if you fall hard and crack your tailbone like I did yesterday. Hot water fixes everything, though, and my little posse of ski buddies soaked off the hurt in the outdoor tub at Teton Valley Resort. Bliss.
9. The locals! They call skiers over 80 here Targheezers, and they ski with pride. A ski buddy met one Gheezer yesterday who said he hit these slopes four days a week. I want to be like him when I grow upThe peace and quiet. A warm fireplace, a good book, and a full belly make the perfect finish to a day spent wearing out your quads. What a treat.