jamesdeluxe
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2020
GIven my uncanny luck with destination trips planned weeks or months in advance (even in the East), I guess that it was time for a market adjustment.
After hearing all about the biggest early season in Jackson Hole’s history, 171 inches YTD, it was a bit deflating to get off the plane and walk through a light, but steady rain. And it wasn’t one of those “it’s raining here, but snowing at the mountain” situations. The temps were too warm for that. So I turned on my windshield wipers and left the airport.
And arrived at Snow King at 1:30 for some warmup turns. Gotta love how you can park right next to the lift.
Thankfully, the rain turned the powder from Friday into soft spring butter, so I did high-speed laps until 4 pm. Not a very photogenic day and certainly not what you travel 2,000 miles to ski, but better than I had expected while driving in from the airport.
Today at Jackson Hole was similarly warm, but no rain. Although more than 600 (!) University of California students were reportedly in town for a snowboard trip, it was pretty desolate. Here’s the gondola at 2 pm:
I met with an acquaintance from my Epicski days, Bob Peters, who has lived in Jackson for most of four decades. We skied and chatted for 2.5 hours; he knows every inch of that mountain and here's a fascinating interview that I conducted with him on lift rides via a micro-cassette recorder.
Unfortunately, the rain had done a number on the huge mounds of snow from Friday. Going off-piste was doable, but not advisable for mere mortals like me so we did a bunch of long groomer laps off the gondola and were surprised at how soft most of them were. Once again, not what I had envisioned a week earlier, when they were ringing up powder day after powder day, but a great time, especially while getting a graduate-level education on Jackson Hole. Late in the day, I found some nice snow in the trees on the Moran Faces. I would’ve taken more photos, but the flat light wasn’t helping.
Bob on Gros Ventre (Big Belly):
Heading To The Moran Woods:
Sleeping Indian:
Amphitheater:
I wasn’t aware that from the beginning of the season until Dec 22, they’ve been running an incredible deal: $79 per day gets you a lift ticket, a slopeside condo, and lunch at Nick Wilson’s. I think that it’s based on quad occupancy, but still.
JH uses five different trail ratings: single green, single blue square, double blue square, single black diamond, and double black diamond. It might seem like overkill at most mountains, but Jackson probably has enough variety of terrain that it makes sense to differentiate their trail ratings this way.
After hearing all about the biggest early season in Jackson Hole’s history, 171 inches YTD, it was a bit deflating to get off the plane and walk through a light, but steady rain. And it wasn’t one of those “it’s raining here, but snowing at the mountain” situations. The temps were too warm for that. So I turned on my windshield wipers and left the airport.
And arrived at Snow King at 1:30 for some warmup turns. Gotta love how you can park right next to the lift.
Thankfully, the rain turned the powder from Friday into soft spring butter, so I did high-speed laps until 4 pm. Not a very photogenic day and certainly not what you travel 2,000 miles to ski, but better than I had expected while driving in from the airport.
Today at Jackson Hole was similarly warm, but no rain. Although more than 600 (!) University of California students were reportedly in town for a snowboard trip, it was pretty desolate. Here’s the gondola at 2 pm:
I met with an acquaintance from my Epicski days, Bob Peters, who has lived in Jackson for most of four decades. We skied and chatted for 2.5 hours; he knows every inch of that mountain and here's a fascinating interview that I conducted with him on lift rides via a micro-cassette recorder.
Unfortunately, the rain had done a number on the huge mounds of snow from Friday. Going off-piste was doable, but not advisable for mere mortals like me so we did a bunch of long groomer laps off the gondola and were surprised at how soft most of them were. Once again, not what I had envisioned a week earlier, when they were ringing up powder day after powder day, but a great time, especially while getting a graduate-level education on Jackson Hole. Late in the day, I found some nice snow in the trees on the Moran Faces. I would’ve taken more photos, but the flat light wasn’t helping.
Bob on Gros Ventre (Big Belly):
Heading To The Moran Woods:
Sleeping Indian:
Amphitheater:
I wasn’t aware that from the beginning of the season until Dec 22, they’ve been running an incredible deal: $79 per day gets you a lift ticket, a slopeside condo, and lunch at Nick Wilson’s. I think that it’s based on quad occupancy, but still.
JH uses five different trail ratings: single green, single blue square, double blue square, single black diamond, and double black diamond. It might seem like overkill at most mountains, but Jackson probably has enough variety of terrain that it makes sense to differentiate their trail ratings this way.
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