Wisdom from the West: Talkin' Shop with Professional Skier Amy Jane David's Family

I was born in Jackson Hole. It feels funny to have your ski gear out when it's all dirt. This trip for me is one, a dream trip riding horses and skiing, the two things I find the most joy in. It's also following the footsteps of my family heritage. On my dad's side of the family, my great-great-grandparents homesteaded here in the Wyoming range. They built this ranch up from the ground. That's where my grandpa Melvin was born, along with six other sisters. When was the last pack trip you went on, grandpa? We didn't ski. Right, you didn't ski, but it was adventure. You still went. You very often weren't on the trail. Hardly ever on the trail. Hardly ever on the trail, that's right. Yeah, it's in your blood. On my mom's side of the family, my grandpa was the first doctor to be in Pinedale, and he took care of the community for over 50 years. One of the best seamstress in the country. 54 stitches right there. Can you tell? Not really, right? That's the kind of person that took, whether it was a rancher, somebody that was trapping, somebody that was teaching, somebody that was doing medicine. You just had to fix it and go on. It's a pretty remote place out here. There's not a lot of resources, and so you have to be self-sufficient. My family, my grandfather came here about 104 or 105 years ago. His wife's family ran freight wagons from Rock Springs up this way to get people their supplies. My grandfather, he built his own skis. So there's just a real vast amount of that activity that I think has made us who we are as people and made Amy who she is as an individual. When I think about the way they needed horses and skis to survive winter, and now we get to go on this trip because we simply can, that's pretty special to see how far everything has come and a little nostalgic. And Amy's carrying that on. She's carrying that on and sharing those same things. So I think it's pretty cool.