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Alex Uffelman heads down the Sleeping Indian run at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort on Friday, preparing the slope with a winch snowcat groomer. NEWS&GUIDE PHOTO / PRICE CHAMBERS

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Kurt Willard might have the most scenic office view in Jackson.

Sitting on Jackson Hole Mountain Resort’s Grand run March 3, above Sublette chairlift, Willard looks through a 4-foot-high window. Below him is the valley floor, low clouds turning shades of orange and pink as the sun sets.

Once night falls, Teton Village sparkles white below him. Snow King Resort’s lights are illuminated more than a dozen miles in the distance.

For eight hours each night, this is Willard’s view as he drives a snowcat up and down runs at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.

“At night,” Willard says, “this becomes our territory.”

Jackson Hole Mountain Resort belongs to skiers and snowboarders by day. At night, however, these ski runs belong to some of the most overlooked and underappreciated workers in the valley: groomers. The resort has a fleet of more than 12 snowcats that run for 16 hours each night on more than 40 runs. For the people who operate them, it can be a lonely job. At other times, it’s a dangerous one.

“I’ve taken ride-alongs who say, ‘I didn’t realize it was this involved,” Willard said.

Shane Ward stands outside the resort’s operations building, where his team of groomers is preparing for another shift. The thin snowpack this season has him concerned on this late afternoon.

“There’s only a month left [in the season],” he said. “It’s going to be a fight.”

Ward is the resort’s winter trail grooming manager and its longest-tenured employee, with more than 30 years of experience.

The night’s grooming starts with him. He skies the mountain during the day and decides what areas need the most attention from his crew at night. He fills out a work sheet for groomers on the first shift, who arrive at 4:30 p.m.

One of those groomers is Willard, the shift leader. On this night, he climbs into a snowcat around 5 p.m. preparing for eight hours of work. Inside his snowcat, comfort is a top priority.

Willard’s sleek captain’s chair comes complete with lumbar support. He also has a satellite radio system to entertain him and a temperature control system to keep him warm on frigid nights. These are pretty plush cabins, even for a $350,000 machine that the resort leases.

“The creature comforts are nice,” he said.

His route begins up Gros Ventre to South Pass Traverse and eventually to Grand, above Sublette chairlift. His first priority is to use a “dozer” on the front of the snowcat to push snow back up the hill.

“Pushing snow back uphill is as important as the corduroy,” he said. “Our goal is to keep the snow uphill. Between the snowcats, gravity and skiers, it’s amazing how much snow can fall. You can’t believe how much snow skiers push around.”

There is no steering wheel in a snowcat. Willard controls the machine with two levers in his left hand (called hydrostatic steering), and he operates the dozer on the front of the snowcat and the corduroy groomer on the back with a joystick in his right hand.

There is no speedometer in the machines, but they crawl at about five mph up the hill, rumbling and shaking along the way. If the snowpack is hard, the snowcats move smoothly. If the snow is soft or covered in fresh powder, they struggle to climb.

Willard moves carefully up South Pass Traverse, pulling some snow onto the traverse from the uphill aspects.

“People who have skied a long time don’t really grasp what it takes to get all of this flat,” he said.

Thomas Clover is in his first season as a snowcat driver at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. He is one of two rookies, an illustration of just how little turnover the resort has with its groomers.

Clover had previous experience operating heavy equipment before being hired, something the resort covets in its newbies.

“We like to hire people with hydraulic experience,” Ward said. “You can tell if someone will work out in the first couple nights.”

Training to be a driver is a quick process. New groomers typically spend a night or two riding along with another driver. Then, they spend a few more nights driving themselves while an experienced groomer monitors from the passenger seat.

“They’re pretty easy to get used to,” Clover said. “I was working by myself after a week, and after about three weeks, I really had the hang of it.”

Ward would not disclose  what his drivers get paid, saying only that it “wasn’t enough.” Drivers work in two shifts. The first is 4:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Then, a second group  arrives and grooms for eight more hours, until 8:30 a.m. If there is an appeal to the graveyard shift, it’s that workers can ski fresh tracks in the morning after getting off work. All drivers get a free lift pass as part of their job.

“That’s a tough shift,” Ward said. “I’ve done it. You have to go to bed around 3 p.m. But if you like to ski, you can get off work and go ski first thing in the morning.”

Once the resort closes its lifts at 4 p.m., the mountain quickly becomes devoid of skiers and snowboarders. That makes the view from the cab of Willard’s snowcat unique.

Watching night fall across the valley from underneath Laramie Bowl in the winter is a special experience. Willard gazes out of the giant windows in his cab at sunset. The final rays make low clouds hanging over the valley floor turn shades of pink, purple and orange.

“On nights like tonight,” Willard says, “the sunsets are amazing. When there is a full moon, you’ll turn the lights out, and it’s just amazing. But there are also nights where you can’t see in front of the machine it’s snowing so hard.”

The job is mostly solitary. Drivers sometimes work runs in pairs still have to sit in a cab alone for an eight-hour shift. Drivers frequently communicate via CB radios. Most bring a bagged lunch, usually a sandwich, and take a brief break to eat if time permits.

“Being by yourself isn’t a big deal,” Willard said. “You’re concentrating on what you’re doing, so time flies by pretty quick.”