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PrintThe Hot Air Express
Gain a new perspective by drifting over the Tetons in a balloon.
A rare treat: soaring high above Jackson Hole in the basket of a hot-air balloon in the cool morning air of a summer day.
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It was still dark; the day a thought not fully formed. Headlights swept along the road, as colors—tinges of pink, foreshadowings of yellow—slowly crept into the sky. The air was still. A perfect day for a hot-air balloon ride.
The Wyoming Balloon Company offers a means by which individuals can achieve a unique view of Jackson Hole, the Tetons, and the surrounding area. The trips start early, with a pickup by the company at about 6:00 a.m. Crew members shuttle passengers to the launch site, a field in a clearing off the Moose-Wilson Road.
Roaring propane warmed the early morning chill, as heat began to fill the balloons and radiate over the open field. Joe Gordin, of New York, peered into a balloon; it was all color, for what seemed to be the length of a football field. He marveled as the balloons took shape under the flames shooting from the propane tank.
“The balloons themselves were magnificent—the colors,” he later said.
The six-hundred-pound balloons blossomed as the vibrant cloth left the ground and hovered in the air. In what the enterprise describes as “the ultimate float trip in Jackson Hole,” the Wyoming Balloon Company took passengers up to an elevation of 9,200 feet above sea level on this September day. Sometimes they soar higher, depending on the weather.
People are fascinated by the idea of experiencing the oldest form of human flight, said Margaret Breffeihl, a pilot and crew manager who took her first ride in a balloon when she was eight years old. “They realize it isn’t something they are going to do every day. It’s romantic and charming.”
Staff members took photos with patrons’ cameras as the clients posed in the half-ton baskets, with big smiles and a few nervous laughs. They’d come from various points of the world, first drawn to the Tetons and Yellowstone National Park for natural beauty, but now looking for beauty and an adrenaline rush.
In a hot-air balloon, they get both. “Jackson Hole is a place of adventure, and this is an adventure sport of its own,” Margaret said.
Yet, hot-air ballooning also offers people a new perspective of the landscape, and allows those who aren’t athletes to take in views they couldn’t get on their own. The takeoff was gentle and smooth, so much so that there was a moment of baffled faces looking over the side as clients realized how high up they were, so suddenly. And most expressed surprise about how safe they felt in the balloon.
“It’s a big piece of fabric, so you don’t expect it to be as stable as it is,” Margaret said.
