Beginning and End of Trip Planned. Help me plan the middle bit!

[E221b]

I went and booked the hotel in Teton Village. I've never had anything but a blast at JHMR and I'm psyched to ski it again

 

[James]

OMG

Seeing trucks just barreling through not even slowing down some even seem to accelerate wtf

I know! Never seen anything like it. Most chain wrecks aren’t filmed though.
It’s not the SLC - Jackson so much as the Jackson - Denver, where you’re on I-80 till Cheyenne, then head south.
Rabbit Ears Pass into Steamboat is hellish in a snow storm, especially in a rental car with crap tires. Did that once at night, at least it was after the worst of it, but not fun.

 

[Jim Kenney]

I went and booked the hotel in Teton Village. I've never had anything but a blast at JHMR and I'm psyched to ski it again

Have a great time. If your trip from SLC to Denver includes JH and Steamboat then it should be very manageable. Throwing in Big Sky too could be arduous. A couple years ago I drove from SLC to JH to Revelstoke to Banff and then points East. Too much road time

 

[wyowindrunner]

Don't get too bound up on timing if you are traveling I-80 and west central Wyo- or anywhere across Wyo as far as that goes-the weather that makes for great sking is great for road closures also.. I-80, I-25, and MANY of the U.S. Hwys and state roads have been closed several times this season. You say you are renting a car? Make it a 4wd/awd please! with decent tires! (Check out the car forums).

I-80 can certainly get interesting in winter. It’s not so much the quantity of snow falling, but the constant blowing across the flat lands.

While I-80 does travel a lot of flat relatively flat terrain ( at 6000'+) primarily thru the Red Desert. the "Sisters" out of Evanston into Bridger Valley can close often and the stretch around the north side of Elk Mountain can be very dangerous. Locals told the highway planners not to put the Interstate there and move it farther north but they did not listen. Actually the whole road sucks in the winter- have seen the hills just west of Rawlins reduced to one lane and you were driving thru basically roofless snow tunnels- when it was open. This is one of those "flat" spots.
One thing that always cracks me up is the questions from people that are not from this part of the country- " what are those bleacher looking things along the road?" They are snow fences to direct drifting and hopefully keeping the drifts off the road-sometimes it works-sometimes not so much.
If you end up in the GT area end of January/beginning of February and are interested PM me and I could give you a little tour- promise not to take you over the aussie drop.

 

[E221b]

Don't get too bound up on timing if you are traveling I-80 and west central Wyo- or anywhere across Wyo as far as that goes-the weather that makes for great sking is great for road closures also.. I-80, I-25, and MANY of the U.S. Hwys and state roads have been closed several times this season. You say you are renting a car? Make it a 4wd/awd please! with decent tires! (Check out the car forums).

While I-80 does travel a lot of flat relatively flat terrain ( at 6000'+) primarily thru the Red Desert. the "Sisters" out of Evanston into Bridger Valley can close often and the stretch around the north side of Elk Mountain can be very dangerous. Locals told the highway planners not to put the Interstate there and move it farther north but they did not listen. Actually the whole road sucks in the winter- have seen the hills just west of Rawlins reduced to one lane and you were driving thru basically roofless snow tunnels- when it was open. This is one of those "flat" spots.
One thing that always cracks me up is the questions from people that are not from this part of the country- " what are those bleacher looking things along the road?" They are snow fences to direct drifting and hopefully keeping the drifts off the road-sometimes it works-sometimes not so much.
If you end up in the GT area end of January/beginning of February and are interested PM me and I could give you a little tour- promise not to take you over the aussie drop.

4WD I’m planning on. No rental car company offers winter tires, unfortunately.

 

[E221b]

New Plan. Rent from Silvercar so I'm positive that I'm going to get AWD. After JHMR, drive back to Park City and stay 2 nights. I've never skied PC so a day there should be fun. Then got a super cheap SW flight from SLC to Denver and another Silvercar reservation at Denver. More complicated, but peace of mind of knowing exactly what I'll be driving makes it worth it for me. Also, obviously, PC is on my pass and Steamboat is not.

 

[James]

Whatever floats the boat! I’m not sure many would recommend PC over Jackson/Snowking/Targhee. But, there’s always off snow things to consider.

 

[E221b]

Whatever floats the boat! I’m not sure many would recommend PC over Jackson/Snowking/Targhee. But, there’s always off snow things to consider.

Well I'm still doing those! Just not driving from Jackson to Colorado afterwards. Spending a day in PC instead and then flying from SLC to Denver.

NYC>SLC
Alta/Snowbird
SLC>JH
Jackson Hole/Grand Targhee
JH>PC
Park City
PC>SLC>DEN
Vail
DEN>NYC

C'est Voila!

 

[tball]

Oops. You somehow managed to miss Telluride, Aspen, and Crested Butte for Park City?

 

[Lofcaudio]

Snowbasin >>>>>> Park City

Not interested in Snowbasin?

 

[James]

You could just fly from Jackson - Den and do Park City or another, on the front side when you’re skiing SLC area.
Maybe even skip the car rental and fly up to Jackson, rent the car in Denver.

 

[E221b]

Snowbasin >>>>>> Park City

Not interested in Snowbasin?

Lol. I'm just trying to enjoy myself and not kill myself driving. I think I'm going to have a blast either way Snowbasin is only an hour and change drive from PC if I really want to get up early and do that. I think by that point, I'm going to want a more leisurely day resting my legs from JH and prepping for Vail...

 

[E221b]

Oops. You somehow managed to miss Telluride, Aspen, and Crested Butte for Park City?

I've skied CB. 3 years ago when it was like a super epic snow year and the North Face was completely open and full of powder. It was awesome. It was sooooo good. I got a private lesson mid-week even though I booked a group lesson and the instructor showed me all the best ways around the North Face off the T Bar.

If I'm doing JH, then I'm not going to be able to drive to Telluride. I made the choice to go North this time 'round. :-p

 

[E221b]

You could just fly from Jackson - Den and do Park City or another, on the front side when you’re skiing SLC area.
Maybe even skip the car rental and fly up to Jackson, rent the car in Denver.

Gahhhh now there are too many good options. Flying SLC to JH and the JH to Denver would probably cost about the same as renting a car if you include baggage fees. And then there's the pain of going through security. And I'm actually looking forward to the drive. I did it once 2 years ago and it was a beautiful drive. I think I'm gonna stick to driving.

 

[tball]

I made the choice to go North this time 'round. :-p

Just my two cents, but I'd a) hold off on the North or South decision until the last minute, and b) skip PC either way given you've got so many other better options having both Epic and MC passes.

 

[E221b]

Just my two cents, but I'd a) hold off on the North or South decision until the last minute, and b) skip PC either way given you've got so many other better options having both Epic and MC passes.

Yeah. I did think about that, but decided that I love skiing JHMR so much that it's worth booking ahead. The trip is kinda balancing ski days with driving with days to relax. It's going to be an almost 3 week trip when it's all said and done and I'm feeling good about the choices. Spending nearly 5 days at Alta/Snowbird to start means that I doubt I'll be left wanting for amazing skiing!

Also I've been saving up so I can stay in some really nice places, but I'm definitely saving some money booking accommodations ahead of time.

 

[Jim Kenney]

LOL. E221b, quit messing up our vicarious ski trip
You gonna have a blast no matter what.

Here are some comments about Park City: Some of my favorite advanced terrain on the Park City side of the layout included the very handy Motherload Glades, Jupiter Bowl and its surrounding glades, and the bumps of McConkey’s Bowl. On the Canyons side Ninety-Nine 90 gets a lot of mentions and I concur that Red Pine Bowl and the runs/glades under the Ninety-Nine 90 Chair are challenging and beautiful. I had a local friend take me into the steep Grande/Deschutes area off the Tombstone Chair. Otherwise, I might have totally overlooked it. I had a great run on one of the batch of south facing offpiste slopes descending to skier’s right from the upper Super Condor lift line. I think it was Aftershock.

If just one day at PC you have to decide if you want to do the grand groomer tour and try to ski from one end to the other. Or do you want to concentrate on some of the best of the advanced stuff. The paragraph above addresses some of that stuff.
Park City to left, Canyons to center/right.


Aftershock


Jupiter Chair


Grande


McConkey's Bowl to left


@Wasatchman and @Tony up on 9990.

 

[James]

Well here’s hoping your drive isn’t a white knuckler! Even going to VT you never know.
(You think we’re bad, wait till you mention Park City to the Altoids )

 

[E221b]

Where you go kind of depends on where you've been and whether you like to try new places and how adverse you are to buying lift tickets and if you are trying to maximize ski days.

Since you are both skiing and picking up car at SLC on 1/31, Snow Basin (on Epic Pass) seems like a good choice for 2/1 although that is a Saturday and the day before Super Bowl so it will be busy. Get there early and quit early and drive to Pocatello (2+ hrs) or Idaho Falls (~3 hrs) and stay there, then drive to Jackson early on 2/2 and ski there.

Or just drive all the way to Jackson on 2/1 after skiing part of the day at Snow Basin, but that is almost 5 hours with last hour over Teton Pass if going that way or on very to somewhat isolated roads, probably some after dark, if going through Lava Hot Springs or Evanston. After skiing a couple of days at Jackson, you could quit early enough to drive to Rock Springs and spend a night there on way to Steamboat without losing a day to only driving.

You think Superbowl weekend will be crazy on the slopes at JH? I was hoping that going 2 weeks before President's Day would make it a less crowded experience. I'll be there Sunday and Monday too. I'll deal with it either way, it's just good to have the right expectations!

 

[Tony]

I think Saturday will be busy as it is at most places. Even though Jackson Hole is remote from big cities and people coming for a week tend to arrive and leave on Saturdays and not ski, there are enough people around there that work Mon-Fri and make Sat busy, especially if snow if good.

Jackson has been affected by the Ikon Pass. The bus driver on our shuttle from in-town motel last year on Sun 3/3 said traffic was bad from in-town to the ski area on Sat 3/2, a powder day.

A lot of people don't realize you can ski most of the day and still watch the Super Bowl in the West. I think that weekend would have bigger than normal crowds on Sat and a little smaller than normal on Sun due to people preparing for game. If you are staying in Teton Village, you don't really have much of an excuse for not being ahead of the crowds and getting a lot of skiing.