Grand Targhee/Jackson Hole Christmas Lodging options

vanhanbr

Member
I booked a (refundable) flight to Jackson Hole over Christmas break for our family. I would have preferred to go later, but did not want the kids to miss any more school. We plan on skiing mostly Grand Targhee. Does anyone have experience who would recommend ski-in/ski-out at Grand Targhee vs staying in town in Alta or Driggs. Also, given that we will be going during a holiday, how practical would a day trip to ski at Jackson Hole be. Thanks
 
Targhee is the only ski area with a perfect snow record for adequate coverage by Christmas. Historically it also has a good record for low crowds in terms of annual skier visits relative to the size of the ski area. Christmas is the ultimate stress test for crowds but Targhee is certainly a promising choice.

Jackson's skier visitation in the past 20 years has doubled vs. overall US skier visits increasing by only 10%. Jackson's lift capacity has expanded but not as fast as visitation. Therefore you can expect lift lines at popular times like Christmas. As a daytripper you should get there early and you'll be paying for parking. Jackson's snowfall is about 80% of Targhee's at comparable elevation, and well over half of Jackson's terrain is lower than Targhee's base. Jackson averages 82% open at Christmas and is less than half open by Christmas in about 15% of seasons, which is still an excellent record for an area that steep.

At some point Jackson's growing popularity rates to spill over to Targhee. Perhaps you can illuminate that conjecture after this Christmas.
 
Thanks for the reply Tony. Have you been to Targhee recently? I was curious on the parking situation there. Traveling during the Christmas break isn't ideal (we usually ski in Upper Michigan) but the weather/conditions have been bad there the last three years in a row.
 
Targhee's parking was fairly standard: big lot, free and walk to the lifts. But the last time I was there was in 2015.
Jan. 25, 2015
Feb. 10, 2012
Nearly all of my Targhee days are tacked onto a Jackson trip. The Jackson trips are in late January/early February for reasons I've expounded often. I have not been since 2015 because that late January/early February time frame is also good for flexible trips to the Alps, as demonstrated by mine in 2013 and 2017-19 and some of James' before then.

Liz signed up for a late January Kristen Ulmer clinic at Alta in 2020, so we expected to ski Jackson/Targhee before or after that:
Liz couldn't do the clinic in 2020 because of her shoulder injury.
Liz did the clinic in 2021 but we wanted to avoid Jackson during the pandemic due to its tram/gondola dependent lifts.
Liz plans the same clinic next year so we expect to ski Jackson/Targhee before or after. The Alps will be in late March/early April 2022.
 
Skier visits are way up at Targhee the last few years, so don't expect it to be like it used to with no lift lines, etc. The most plausible reason is the addition to GT being part of the Mountain Collective, but also the Ikon Pass addition for Jackson Hole undoubtedly brought more skiers to the area, too. Targhee has always been a popular add-on a day for JHMR skiers.

That said, some changes are in the air, like a new 6-pack chair that will replace the Peaked lift, and now to go the top of the mountain nixing the snowcat operation that used to always use that area. However, that won't be completed until next year.

https://www.grandtarghee.com/grand-targ ... reloaded=1
 
snowave":2w92t40c said:
That said, some changes are in the air, like a new 6-pack chair that will replace the Peaked lift, and now to go the top of the mountain nixing the snowcat operation that used to always use that area. However, that won't be completed until next year.
They've been threatening to do that since my first visit during the 2001-02 season and the rumors were really strong during my catski day there ten years later.
https://nyskiblog.com/magazine/the-west ... valley-id/
 
Ha...understood, but according to the post in April, it's supposedly starting this summer.

EDIT: It HAS started per their FB page. The installation of the list bases will be done this summer, and the remaining chairlift stuff next summer, etc.. and will be ready for 21/22 opening.
 
I just got a marketing e-mail from Targhee in which they mention that this is the last season of cat skiing so snowave's rumor-mongering turned out to be correct. :lol:
 
Grand Targhee, I went there for the first and only time on Friday, Feb 28, 2020. Weather 30 degs, super sunny, packed powder conditions. I day-tripped over from Jackson, WY. It has a wonderful low-key vibe compared to Jackson Hole. It was a nice day at the peak of the season, but there was ample free parking 100' from the lodge and light trail traffic. Awesome experience. One of my favorite ski days in recent years. Not sure, but hopefully it wouldn't be too mobbed at Christmastime either?? They tell me I was lucky to catch such clear, stellar conditions for my one visit because it's often foggy/snowy/low visibility. Not for me:)
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Glad you enjoyed Targhee. As I mentioned above, the visitor numbers have been increasing quite significantly over the past few years, but in comparison to Jackson Hole, it probably does still have a low key vibe.

While I only lived in Alta, WY for a year, I feel the foggy/cloudy/low vis reputation Targhee gets is exaggerated. Sure, you get some days like that, but there are many bluebird days, too.

On another note, Targhee has parking lot cams with updates on how full they are throughout the day (at least they did last season).
 
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