I'll keep watching and thanks for the constant updates. I booked lodging between the 23rd and the 26th that I can cancel. My son and I plan to come out for Christmas. Short of going to WA or Tahoe you guys seem to have the most snow out west right now.
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Northern Rockies/Alberta Jackson Hole 2017/2018 Season Reports
- Thread starter Bob Peters
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- 2017 opening day rain at jacskon hole apres vous bridger gondola bridger teton avalanche center dreaded pineapple express jackson hole mountain resort jackson hole ski conditions jackson hole ski resort opening day report from jackson hole ski the tetons ski wyoming sweetwater gondola teewinot chair
Thread Starter
TS
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- Oct 28, 2016
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Well, things changed today!
Instead of sunshine, we had increasing clouds, flat light, winds, and a bit of blowing snow. This made for visibility "challenges" of course, but also led to some improvement in the skiing. I don't think there's supposed to be much accumulation from this little storm (it has already stopped snowing both here in the valley and up on Teton Pass), but the mere fact that Mother Nature remembers how to produce snow is encouraging.
Today was a banner day though - I learned a new snow-related phrase:
GUN POWDER
Maybe everybody else in the world has heard this term, but I never had. It refers to snow - coming out of a snow gun - that is actually fun to ski as it's falling. The instructor friend I was skiing with says he first heard it from Benny Wilson (co-founder of the Jackson Hole Air Force). Maybe the rest of the world has used it for years, but it was brand new to me and it was really appropriate for the snow coming out of the guns on Amphitheater and Lower Gros Ventre. Instead of the usual gloppy/slop or grabby/grippy/slippy stuff that the guns put down, this was smooth and soft and really fun to ski. Gun POWDER!
Aside from that, it was a tale of two ski areas today. We went up the tram around mid-morning and skied Rendezvous Bowl in flat light, lots of wind, and REALLY frozen leftover junky snow from yesterday. The kind of stuff that shakes your fillings as the "snow" slaps your skis around. The kind of stuff where you have to laugh because it's far too crappy to cry about. Then, 1 minute later, we did skier's-right Cheyenne Bowl through the trees. Steep, smooth, chalky, edgy, rounded bumps. Just fantastic.
Then, at my insistence and my friend's happy acquiescence, we went over to the Cirque with the intent of hiking the Headwall. Well, it turned out that the ski patrol had closed the boot-track (I assume because of high winds, clouds, and really grungy snow at the destination). That meant we had no choice but to ski the Cirque, which was ALSO re-frozen crud ruts from yesterday afternoon. Just outrageously bad skiing that no one in their right mind would choose to ski voluntarily.
But after that, we got to go ski the Gun Powder down through Amphitheater and Lower Gros Ventre, so in the final analysis it was all good.
Best turns of the day? Tie between Cheyenne Bowl and the Amphitheater/Lower Gros Ventre artificial powder.
Worst turns? I can't honestly say whether Rendezvous Bowl was worse than Cirque. I think I'd rather forget both.
Instead of sunshine, we had increasing clouds, flat light, winds, and a bit of blowing snow. This made for visibility "challenges" of course, but also led to some improvement in the skiing. I don't think there's supposed to be much accumulation from this little storm (it has already stopped snowing both here in the valley and up on Teton Pass), but the mere fact that Mother Nature remembers how to produce snow is encouraging.
Today was a banner day though - I learned a new snow-related phrase:
GUN POWDER
Maybe everybody else in the world has heard this term, but I never had. It refers to snow - coming out of a snow gun - that is actually fun to ski as it's falling. The instructor friend I was skiing with says he first heard it from Benny Wilson (co-founder of the Jackson Hole Air Force). Maybe the rest of the world has used it for years, but it was brand new to me and it was really appropriate for the snow coming out of the guns on Amphitheater and Lower Gros Ventre. Instead of the usual gloppy/slop or grabby/grippy/slippy stuff that the guns put down, this was smooth and soft and really fun to ski. Gun POWDER!
Aside from that, it was a tale of two ski areas today. We went up the tram around mid-morning and skied Rendezvous Bowl in flat light, lots of wind, and REALLY frozen leftover junky snow from yesterday. The kind of stuff that shakes your fillings as the "snow" slaps your skis around. The kind of stuff where you have to laugh because it's far too crappy to cry about. Then, 1 minute later, we did skier's-right Cheyenne Bowl through the trees. Steep, smooth, chalky, edgy, rounded bumps. Just fantastic.
Then, at my insistence and my friend's happy acquiescence, we went over to the Cirque with the intent of hiking the Headwall. Well, it turned out that the ski patrol had closed the boot-track (I assume because of high winds, clouds, and really grungy snow at the destination). That meant we had no choice but to ski the Cirque, which was ALSO re-frozen crud ruts from yesterday afternoon. Just outrageously bad skiing that no one in their right mind would choose to ski voluntarily.
But after that, we got to go ski the Gun Powder down through Amphitheater and Lower Gros Ventre, so in the final analysis it was all good.
Best turns of the day? Tie between Cheyenne Bowl and the Amphitheater/Lower Gros Ventre artificial powder.
Worst turns? I can't honestly say whether Rendezvous Bowl was worse than Cirque. I think I'd rather forget both.
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Today was a really FUN day. It was a nice surprise to see how much just 2" freshened things up. And the day started in the teens and never got out of the 20s, so the snow stayed pretty edgeable all day. Our best morning run was under the Thunder chair, in the trees to skier's left, then down the Thunder run. Tower 3 Chute opened today, and one in my posse skied it, but I'd like to see more coverage before I venture in there. We spent some time back on Bivouac and Wally's, but the bumps on Bivouac are getting pretty deep and angular. "Good for you". But scarcely "good". Then we enjoyed Bob's "Gun Powder " on GV coming down to lunch. The cold temps kept it a pretty close facsimile to the real stuff, with 2-3" of very edgeable snow anywhere close to a gun. The real treat, though, at the end of the day was Paintbrush continuing to far skier's right of Amphitheater. The snow guns had been blasting all day and the wind had transported a fair amount of their product over there. Playing in the low angle incipient bumps with blown in Gun Powder in many places was an absolute blast. Definitely going to spend some quality time over there tomorrow, the last day of this trip.
^ good to hear. My season starts Sat (tomorrow is travel day).
Thread Starter
TS
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- 81
cosmoliu, you beat me to it. They did open Tower 3 today and it got a fair bit of traffic. I'm like you, however, and have no intention of going there until we have a couple more storms.
It was darned good skiing in a lot of places, though. There are some very nice turns to be had in the skier-left trees on Tensleep Bowl, but then you have to pay the price of admission and ski the Cirque, which needs more snow or warmer temps (or some combination thereof).
My best turns? Elephant Tree to the duck-in route to Paintbrush then out and down the skier-right side of Rag Run. Kind of a connect-the-dots route, but pretty fun.
Worst turns? Upper Gors Ventre. Not good.
Don't want to get anybody's hopes up, but:
Special Weather Statement
Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Riverton WY
316 PM MST Thu Dec 14 2017
WYZ012-013-151000-
Teton and Gros Ventre Mountains-Jackson Hole-
Including the city of Jackson
316 PM MST Thu Dec 14 2017
...Snow and colder temperatures for Teton county Friday night and
Saturday...
Snow will spread east into Teton County Friday evening becoming
widespread by late evening. Snowfall is expected to continue
through Saturday with snow accumulations of 6 to 12 inches in the
mountains and 3 to 6 inches in the valleys.
It was darned good skiing in a lot of places, though. There are some very nice turns to be had in the skier-left trees on Tensleep Bowl, but then you have to pay the price of admission and ski the Cirque, which needs more snow or warmer temps (or some combination thereof).
My best turns? Elephant Tree to the duck-in route to Paintbrush then out and down the skier-right side of Rag Run. Kind of a connect-the-dots route, but pretty fun.
Worst turns? Upper Gors Ventre. Not good.
Don't want to get anybody's hopes up, but:
Special Weather Statement
Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Riverton WY
316 PM MST Thu Dec 14 2017
WYZ012-013-151000-
Teton and Gros Ventre Mountains-Jackson Hole-
Including the city of Jackson
316 PM MST Thu Dec 14 2017
...Snow and colder temperatures for Teton county Friday night and
Saturday...
Snow will spread east into Teton County Friday evening becoming
widespread by late evening. Snowfall is expected to continue
through Saturday with snow accumulations of 6 to 12 inches in the
mountains and 3 to 6 inches in the valleys.
And, according to my trusty iPhone, starting up again Monday for three days. One lucky straggler from my group skis through Wednesday.
Lol. The iPhone weather!
Where do they get that rubbish from?
Where do they get that rubbish from?
Thread Starter
TS
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- 81
I never was able to meet up with cosmoliu toady - we always seemed to be on opposite ends of the mountain. Sorry.
We wandered around quite a bit today and found pretty good skiing in most places. There is supposedly a shot of snow coming tonight through Sunday morning, but the Bridger-Teton Avalanche Forecast Center's NOAA forecast for the top of Rendezvous Mountain doesn't seem to be overly excited about it:
:http://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=riw&product=SAG&issuedby=riw
Anyway, we had fun turns in some of the usual places. the most surprising (not necessarily the best) "pretty good" turns were on the little shoulder of the Cirque just as you're coming off the traverse that leads to the Cirque proper. Dropping off that and angling back underneath the Downhill Chute yielded surprisingly good skiing on firm, smooth(ish) snow. Far-right side of Amphitheater has been reliably good and Cheyenne Bowl/Woods is staying really nice.
Rendezvous Bowl is not so great and main Cirque kind of sucks. One friend that I was skiing with said Cirque reminded him of a time in the Alps when he inadvertently skied into an avalanche debris field that had apparently been warm the afternoon before and then frozen solid. That reminded ME of a time (June of 2002) when my wife and I did some summer skiing above Lake Blanche in Big Cottonwood Canyon. She took a photo of me skiing a debris field that looks heinous but actually wasn't. I sent my friend the photo and he just laughed...
Today's run on the Cirque was actually MUCH worse than this photo.
Today's best turns? Elephant Tree/Paintbrush/Toilet Bowl (look ahead a lot)
Worst turns? Not even close. Central Chute was very, very crappy.
We wandered around quite a bit today and found pretty good skiing in most places. There is supposedly a shot of snow coming tonight through Sunday morning, but the Bridger-Teton Avalanche Forecast Center's NOAA forecast for the top of Rendezvous Mountain doesn't seem to be overly excited about it:
:http://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=riw&product=SAG&issuedby=riw
Anyway, we had fun turns in some of the usual places. the most surprising (not necessarily the best) "pretty good" turns were on the little shoulder of the Cirque just as you're coming off the traverse that leads to the Cirque proper. Dropping off that and angling back underneath the Downhill Chute yielded surprisingly good skiing on firm, smooth(ish) snow. Far-right side of Amphitheater has been reliably good and Cheyenne Bowl/Woods is staying really nice.
Rendezvous Bowl is not so great and main Cirque kind of sucks. One friend that I was skiing with said Cirque reminded him of a time in the Alps when he inadvertently skied into an avalanche debris field that had apparently been warm the afternoon before and then frozen solid. That reminded ME of a time (June of 2002) when my wife and I did some summer skiing above Lake Blanche in Big Cottonwood Canyon. She took a photo of me skiing a debris field that looks heinous but actually wasn't. I sent my friend the photo and he just laughed...
Today's run on the Cirque was actually MUCH worse than this photo.
Today's best turns? Elephant Tree/Paintbrush/Toilet Bowl (look ahead a lot)
Worst turns? Not even close. Central Chute was very, very crappy.
Yeah, sorry we couldn't connect. Next time for sure. We did take your recommended runs off Teton. We did OK, but I'm going to assume that in the couple of hours between when you made your recommendation and when we acted on it, things firmed up some. I agree that Elephant Tree has stayed nice. As nice as can be expected. I've really become quite fond of skier's far right of Amphitheater. The bumps, rocks and little trees make it seem like my personal adult-sized pinball table.
I'm glad the snow is finally coming. Sad I'm leaving. But, it's been a great week. And I've been reminding myself repeatedly that I didn't spend the week at Vail.
I'm glad the snow is finally coming. Sad I'm leaving. But, it's been a great week. And I've been reminding myself repeatedly that I didn't spend the week at Vail.
Thread Starter
TS
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Ha! Pinball Table. I like that. I may use that going forward as there are parts of our mountain that need sub-names because the main run names don't really describe some specific portions of a given run. If that name takes hold, you can forever be the author!
Not sure if the name still is attached to it, but Andrew McLean used "Pinball Alley" to name one of the routes down Mt. Superior (directly across Little Cottonwood Canyon from Snowbird/Alta). I only ever skied it once, but the name fit - for different reasons.
Thread Starter
TS
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Fizzle.
That's what seems to have happened to our storm.
While I was on the hill, we had a very thick mid-mountain cloud that made visibility exceedingly poor but didn't contribute much in snowfall. We got a little more snow this afternoon, but I doubt if the storm total will even make 5 inches. That seems to be the pattern across the Rockies since the end of November.
I had an abbreviated day today because I took a friend to the airport. Therefore, my assessment of the skiing is pretty suspect. Nevertheless:
Best turns? Lost Goggle.
Worst turns? Rendezvous Bowl again. The tiny bit of new snow didn't do anything but slightly disguise where the tops of the rock-hard frozen bumps are.
That's what seems to have happened to our storm.
While I was on the hill, we had a very thick mid-mountain cloud that made visibility exceedingly poor but didn't contribute much in snowfall. We got a little more snow this afternoon, but I doubt if the storm total will even make 5 inches. That seems to be the pattern across the Rockies since the end of November.
I had an abbreviated day today because I took a friend to the airport. Therefore, my assessment of the skiing is pretty suspect. Nevertheless:
Best turns? Lost Goggle.
Worst turns? Rendezvous Bowl again. The tiny bit of new snow didn't do anything but slightly disguise where the tops of the rock-hard frozen bumps are.
Thread Starter
TS
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And by the way, even "Pinball Table" is starting to deteriorate a bit. The bumps are getting bigger as everyone is figuring out that the area has (had?) some of the best skiing on the hill. Such is life.
We did name a new spot today. Upper Upper Paintbrush. Aka UUP!
More about that later.
We did name a new spot today. Upper Upper Paintbrush. Aka UUP!
More about that later.
Heading your way in two weeks - want to spend a day up in TNP. Never been. Looks like you can't get to Jenny Lake without a winter hike in? Any advice on what to do or see in the Park when it's winter and you have a 6 year old in tow? Bottom line: I want to see the Grand (weather permitting). What's the best viewpoint?
That's true. Jenny lake is only accessible during the winter on foot. Either by x-country ski or snowshoes. The inside park road is closed at the taggart lake trail head. You can sign up for a free ranger led snowshoe hike which does a short loop around the taggart lake area. Done it a couple times; it's quite nice: https://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/ranger-programs.htm
Otherwise, the highway is open, and you can get the classic ansel Adams viewpoint during a drive to colter bay and Jackson lake.
Otherwise, the highway is open, and you can get the classic ansel Adams viewpoint during a drive to colter bay and Jackson lake.
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Thread Starter
TS
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Great info from blah about options in the Park. Also, does your 6-yr-old cross county ski? There is gorgeous x-c skiing at the Taggart Lake Trailhead that blah mentioned. You would want to pick your day in the Park based on weather forecasts if you want to actually see the Grand. Also, I would recommend going up early if the sun is out - our weather can often cloud up as the day progresses.
Today's thought:
Worst to Best in one day???
We skied around quite a bit of the mountain today and, believe it or not, yesterday's worst was basically today's best. Rendezvous Bowl only got an inch or two of new snow, but something happened between yesterday and today to make it pretty darned good skiing. The new snow was just enough to soften and smooth the frozen snow and we found a great route hugging the skier's-left treeline. It was good enough that we kept going back for more.
There's some snow in the forecast for this week but it doesn't sound like anything earth-shaking at this point. Our first sub-zero nighttime temps are predicted for this coming Friday, so button up if you're coming for Christmas!
Today's best turns? As alluded to above, Rendezvous Bowl.
Today's worst turns? The upper rollover on Moran. Pretty slick.
^ Kept looking up at the bowl lapping sublette and thinking "that looks pretty good" - but that "worst turns" history kept me away.
Thought skiers far right in Laramie under Flip Point and to right of rock and out the traverse from Thunder under expert chutes was pretty good. Crags early was nice. Agree w/ that section on Moran.
Thought skiers far right in Laramie under Flip Point and to right of rock and out the traverse from Thunder under expert chutes was pretty good. Crags early was nice. Agree w/ that section on Moran.
We’re due in Jackson at New Year. We’ll hopefully miss some of the Christmas crowd.
I’m sure there’s enough fun stuff to do around the area for a family. Maybe some suggestions from some locals to help some visitors out if the ski hill is not at it’s best?
There’s obviously the Elk Rufuge. The above suggested ranger lead walk sounds great. Trip to Yellowstone to see Old Faithful. Any other must do activities?
I’ll be happy even if there is just a few groomers to lap. How are they holding up in the dry? Snowmaking doing it’s thing?
We’ll be sure to pack extra woolies!
I’m sure there’s enough fun stuff to do around the area for a family. Maybe some suggestions from some locals to help some visitors out if the ski hill is not at it’s best?
There’s obviously the Elk Rufuge. The above suggested ranger lead walk sounds great. Trip to Yellowstone to see Old Faithful. Any other must do activities?
I’ll be happy even if there is just a few groomers to lap. How are they holding up in the dry? Snowmaking doing it’s thing?
We’ll be sure to pack extra woolies!
Last week there were NO ELK in the Refuge. I'd never seen that before. I didn't inquire, but I would assume that they have not come down yet because there is not enough snow on the ground to force them to do so.
Tower Three Chute opened last week. Also, there were tracks in the Alta Chutes. I didn't venture into those or Expert Chutes (don't actually know if they are open) because of thin coverage. One of my friends did Tower Three Chute the day it opened. He said it was OK, but didn't go back for seconds. Paint Brush is open and has decent coverage, but I'm not sure that would be considered "expert". Corbet's will require quite a lot more snow before it opens, I would think.