JACKSON (AP) -- The Bridger-Teton National Forest will allow Jackson Hole Mountain Resort to guide more than twice as many skiers in the back-country this winter.

The resort had been permitted to guide 300 back-country skiers each winter, although the Forest Service routinely allowed the company to exceed that limit.

Under the new permit, approved by District Ranger Nancy Hall, the resort would be guaranteed 721 skier days with an option for an additional 179 if the resort proves skier demand warrants it, the agency said Tuesday.

The resort could guide up to 900 skiers total. The limit of 721 was based on an average of the two highest-use years during the past five years.

Hall stressed that the resort fulfills a significant role by providing safe and professional guided back-country skiing opportunities on the Bridger-Teton.

Jackson Hole Mountain Resort President Jerry Blann said Tuesday that he was disappointed the Forest Service did not grant the 900 skier days outright.

"To say that we're ecstatic about the decision, we're not," Blann said. "I think we'll live with it for a year or two and see how it goes."

Back-country skiers were less than enthusiastic about the decision as well.

Several long-time back-country users called the decision disappointing because the Forest Service redrew the resort's permit on Teton Pass and rejected requests to reduce commercial use on the pass. The decision may be appealed within 45 days of a Sept. 24 notification.

Wilson resident Keith Benefiel, who has been skiing Teton Pass for 30 years, said the pass has "always been the people's ski area, and they're trying to turn it into a corporate ski area. That's not right."

The Forest Service defended the decision, arguing that the Teton Pass portion of the permit accounts for only 50 skier days, which is not an increase over the resort's previous permit. The approved increase, an additional 421 days, would be guided in back-country terrain next to the resort from Rock Springs Canyon to Jensen Canyon.

But Benefiel said that is precisely the point. The resort already has exclusive access to 2,146 acres next to the ski area. The public cannot access that terrain because it is blocked by private land or the ski resort's special-use permit for in-bounds terrain.

Robbie Fuller, who started skiing Teton Pass in 1965, called the permit "a foot-in-the-door-type permit" that could lead to expanded commercial operations in the future.

Long-time Wilson skier Tim Young said he was disappointed the Forest Service did not take the opportunity to reduce commercial use on Teton Pass, which hosted an estimated 17,640 skier days during the winter of 2002-03.

Hall approved redrawing the resort's guiding permit boundaries to allow clients to ski from the top of Teton Pass down Triple Direct, KB Ridge or Black Canyon to the Old Pass Road or Trail Creek Trailhead. Clients then would be picked up by a shuttle bus and taken back to the top of the pass. In exchange the resort gives up access to the popular Edelweiss Bowl on the southwest side of the pass.

The Forest Service called concerns about potential impacts to Teton Pass misinformed. The Bridger-Teton received 58 comments on the proposed permit changes, the bulk of which opposed commercial guiding on Teton Pass.