Editor’s Note: The removal of the passive repeater has been delayed. Work will not be conducted between April 24-28. Buckrail will update this article when information about the new timeline is released. The content below was originally published on April 14.
JACKSON, Wyo. — The giant green “billboard” near the top of Mount Glory is set to be removed later this month, according to Jay Pence, Caribou-Targhee National Forest district ranger for the Teton Basin.
The structure, formally known as a passive repeater for microwave communication signals, was built by American Tower Corporation to help connect people’s landlines on the east and west sides of Teton Pass. The passive repeater works similarly to a mirror but bounces microwave signals. Telephone lines were impractical for Teton Pass and high-frequency radio waves have limited capacity and stop when they run into dirt.
Microwave communications later gave way to satellites in the 1970s and then fiber optic cable. Today, Pence says the structure is now seen as “abandoned infrastructure on the National Forest.”
And the National Forest is making good on its “leave no trace” motto. The repeater will be removed at the end of this month, beginning April 24, weather dependent, by the local company Alpine Infrastructure.
The project is slated to take five days but could be extended due to weather or the variable nature of the project.
The Glory boot pack will be closed most of the day on April 24, while tools and materials are flown up using a helicopter through KIT Helicopter Operations, based in Idaho.
The structure will be dismantled and the concrete pillars will be ground down to grade level. While this work is being done, the Glory boot pack will be rerouted to the east. On Friday, April 28, the boot pack will close again so the helicopter can come back in and remove all the materials.
Buckrail will provide more updates on the boot pack closure as the project timeline nears.
