I always thought that Jack meant the number of times they got together each year, rather than the number of times that they actually had sex and that the "can't make it on a couple of high altitude f*cks" line meant that seeing Ennis a couple of times a year wasn't enough. I don't think for a minute that he meant that they only had sex a couple of times a year - like others have said, I reckon that the passion at the reunion kiss never faded and that when they were together they were pretty much all over each other all the time.
Agreed. I see a couple of elements here...
--In his anger, Jack is exaggerating if you want to look at his statement literally. People do this all the time ("I've told you a million times..." for example).
--Jack is really speaking more metaphorically...not literally saying "we have sex only two times per year, and while that may be enough sex for you it is not enough sex for me.". The message is "we can only be together a couple of times per year and that's not enough for me."
--Jack uses the F bomb and refers to the sexual act as punctuation to his anger. Would it have sounded as genuinely angry and frustrated if he'd said "I only get to hold you in seven-to-ten day episodes perhaps two or three times per year if I'm lucky, and that's not enough for me?" That's probably closer to the truth. But Ennis and Jack were still relatively stereotypical men of their day, and you were not going to hear either of them say "okay, now tell me, how does that make you feel?" after sharing an emotion.
Jack's language is delivering a message loud and clear, even if it isn't the one literally spoken in his words.
