Jackson Hole 1/17-18

TRam

Member
Love this Resort!
With snow in the long range forecast I booked a Airbnb in the Aspens near Teton village back on 1/9. Left Part city Wed after lunch in what could be described as a perfect Utah powder storm with reports of upwards of 10" at the Canyons and PCMR. After the 4 hour drive to Jackson in marginal road conditions (I make this in 3.5 in summer) we where treated with about 2" in Jackson, bummer. Thur am it started snowing and filled in quite nicely by after lunch.
Jackson is reporting 202" year to date on Thursday and I'm just not sure where it was or if it got there....they are reporting a base of 39' base and 69 top. I believe that but I think 39"' is upto 10k ft. With 69 in a protected area at the tram top.
The snowpack under the 3" Thursday was very hard and ice, borderline bullet proof in spots. Wednesday I was told was no fun up there. The resort of course needs a lot of snow due to its aspect and terrain, but man I got dinged on anything not north facing and one the hoebacks (my fault for skiing rocky ridges)
Few observations:
The Mountian gets bumped up more then I remember, maybe due to the marketing dept. pimping the place out.
Teton lift is the bomb for fast lift served terrain (I don't like taking my skies off for trams and gondis), this lift burns your legs up!
Snow was rather good in rendezvous bowl with not much wind and also the hoebacks seemed to hold deeper snow from this storm. Upwards of 14' on Friday am
Sartoga bowl is fun! headache to get out off but not skied as much so better pow preservation and faces a bit east north east. I liked it and hadn't been over to that side before.

Skied Tower 3, paintbrush and one of the easier Alta chutes, all north facing and great, not super long but very fun. I avoided most south facing but noticed by Friday folks where getting into them.
Mtn was foggy especially at top so vis was a challenge. Did not get onto headwall due to this poor vis and that was regrettable as Ive enjoyed that in the past.
Didn't get out any gates as any danger was considerable and there was no need with fresh snow falling.

General thoughts: not as big a fan of the upper Mtn as many are. Upper Mtn is broken by massive cliffed closed areas, can be wind swept and while the fall line is awesome, although it feels less vert then the daly chutes at deer valley.
Gets skied out fast.
The bowls Laramie, Bernies,are bumped out and with the snow they claim its seems like they shouldn't be as they're filled in more often by snow and wind too. Casper I only got the bottom of and it was less bumped, and the upper sections that I saw looked great.
Best skiing was under the tram line, hoebacks (especially Colton ridge and sublet ridge) and Teton Moran face and adjacent trees. Around Bridger Gondi is really amazing terrain but since its lower angle it attracts hordes of tourists. Love the vert it gives. The lodge at the top of Bridger is very nice.
Arrived back in Park city fri night to 30" of snow at my house at 8k ft. from the 3 days Jackson got 14".
But 14' in Jackson is a fun trip so no complaints.
 
i agree about your observations

there are too many locals who are "on it" ....

i guess my only question is, what marketing department doesn't pimp their resort out? the internet has changed the face of ski reporting. gone are the days of using a landline to get the ski report updated at 530 am and now, videos and perfect nipple deep powder shots are in the feed of millions of americans. just look at the traffic on saturday morning going up LCC........

no more secrets.........
 
The pimping out comment came from some Jackson locals. According to Jackson and its people they are the baddest deepest most extreme skiing in the states, and all sorts of people and abilities now show up for it, more flights, more moguls. The side country gets bumped out now. The place deservedily is a ski Mecca in the states.
I have always taken issue with JHMR snow reporting as the fine print shows more modest totals at there mid Mtn site, which really represents 90% of the skiing there.How do you have a 39" base with 200" of snow for the year? Tony's site shows 360" per year at Jackson and I buy that, not 460" they report. In comparison PCMR summit house (mid Mtn) averages 300" and Jupiter (top site) 370"
 
The mid-mountain figure in smaller print is the one to use and has a comprehensive data set going back to at least 1971.

The upper site was created after the Bridger gondola was built in 1998, and TRam has it exactly right that is representative of 10% max of JHMR terrain.

Both figures also include October, which I usually back out. This year I left it in because most of that snow came late in October and both Targhee and Jackson had a meaningful Nov. 1 base.
 
@Tony Any idea about JHMR low base number (39" when I was there fri am now 57" after 10" of snow since :{) Does this seem low for 167" mid min number?
 
Props to TRam for posting a report that was interesting and informative even without pix.

TRam":27iukcw8 said:
Saratoga bowl is fun! headache to get out off but not skied as much so better pow preservation and faces a bit east north east. I liked it and hadn't been over to that side before.
Since I'm not a strong enough skier to attempt JH's most difficult terrain, Saratoga Bowl has always been a go-to sector for me.
 
Well over half of JHMR's ski terrain is lower than the mid-mountain snow site at 8,250. Base depth measurements are nearly always to be taken with a grain of salt. 39 inches on the lower mountain strikes me as quite reasonable.

James perhaps underestimates his ski ability. Liz is an enthusiastic fan of JHMR. What JHMR is all about are long continuous fall lines, ideal for skiing powder. That's why the Hobacks and other Lower Faces are so famous. If you're not a fan of 40 degree confined chutes, Tower Three and Alta Chutes are the obvious ones near lifts to avoid. But in general, there's a lot of terrain visible from lifts so I think it's a fairly easy place to assess what is or is not within one's comfort level. I like the Lower Faces much better than Saratoga Bowl. The latter is shorter, possibly even more sun exposed and has a long tedious traverse out. I'd say only about 10% of JHMR is off limits to Liz, and I'm sure that applies to James too.

JHMR clearly knows how to market itself. During a 20 year period when US skier visits have risen 10%, JHMR's have risen 60%. Cited reasons are:
1) Lots of direct flights to make it one of theme convenient "remote" resorts.
2) Upgrading Teton Village for the affluent crowd that wants both luxury and convenience. Meanwhile the town of Jackson is a screaming bargain for last minute lodging because it's primarily a summer resort.
3) More and better grooming. The intermediate groomers on Apres Vous and Casper are very nice, though they are on the steep side by Colorado standards. JHMR is a much better mountain for intermediates than Snowbird or Squaw for example. It should be said that the good groomer terrain is heavily sun exposed, so the advice to ski Jackson prior to President's Week applies forcefully here.

The reason not mentioned that is important IMHO is the advent of versatile rockered all mountain skis. JHMR ungroomed is way more accessible to high intermediate/low advanced skiers that it was 30 years ago.
 
Tony Crocker":1jczcou1 said:
If you're not a fan of 40 degree confined chutes, Tower Three and Alta Chutes are the obvious ones near lifts to avoid.
That's ^^ the type of stuff I was referring to.
 
I was there Jan 21 to 26..kept snowing. Glad I brought the 117's..as I watched many on my trip flounder in the knee deep. Saratoga Bowl is no Joke. Stayed in the glades mostly, very awesome....moguls everywhere...
 
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