Oh boy, Jackson Hole might just be my new favorite ski mountain! I just got back a few days ago from my first ever trip to Jackson. Before I start, I want to thank Bob Peters for the unofficial guide, and everyone in the various Jackson Hole threads which I read through before coming. There is so much great information on this site. My leg has been hurting lately, so I didn't try and meet up with any Pugs in Jackson for fear of holding them up from my skiing slowly/cautiously. Anyway, let's get started.
My first day was Saturday, 1/26. Jackson Hole got 7" the day before, and over 30" in the week leading up to my arrival. Saturday was an amazing day of skiing. Even when the 7" got chopped up, it was still all very soft. I decided to skip the tram because it was a Saturday with new snow, so I figured that the lines would be crazy. I got in line at the Bridger Gondola at 8:45, and was riding up by 9:10 or so. Pictured below is Laramie Bowl:
I ended up spending most of my day lapping the Sublette Chair. I did a bunch of runs down Laramie Bowl and in the trees around Pepi's Run. I kept working myself up to skiing down the Alta Chutes, and after a little while finally managed to muster the courage to try Alta Chute 1. It was so much fun! The top part wasn't very difficult because there was so much soft snow to turn in. The difficult part is the choke-point just before you go under the Sublette Chair where it gets narrow and bit skied out, and then once you're past that it's not bad again. I ended up doing Alta Chute 1 twice, and also skied what may or may not be considered Alta Chutes where you get spit out even further down Laramie Bowl a couple more times.
Here is looking up Alta Chutes 1 after skiing it.
After lunch, I skied over to Saratoga Bowl, hoping to find some untracked snow. Saratoga ended up being pretty much tracked out (or at least the run that I did). It probably would have been a great place to be first thing in the day, as there were lines for the Tram and Bridger Gondola but no lines for Teewinot (which accesses après Vous)! I finished off the day by skiing the South Hoback. That was also totally tracked out by the time I skied it, but it was still so much fun. I ended up loving the Hobacks/ridges that end up at Union Pass. They have a really nice consistent pitch, are wide open, and there are so many different ways to ski them. The skier density on them was very low too, which was nice. This is a picture of the Middle Hoback looking up from later in the trip:
I remember seeing @doc post a picture of the Headwall (I had to ask which trail it was) in one of the Jackson threads, and I knew I had to try and ski it. On Sunday, I ended up hiking up to the Headwall from the Tensleep traverse. It's not a bad hike, but some combination of altitude and being out of shape meant I had to take a few breaks on the way up. The run down to the top of the gondola, while short, was so much fun! And there was still fresh snow even the day after it had snowed! I liked the run so much that I hiked up to the Headwall two more times that day (the hike closes at 2pm to allow ski patrol time to sweep the runs at the end of the day). Here's a picture of the Headwall from close to the bottom at the end of the day:
I also took the tram for the first time on Sunday, and had my scariest run of the whole trip going down Rendezvous Bowl with very, very low visibility. Logically, I knew that there weren't any hidden obstacles or cliffs in front of me because I've seen the bowl in FATMAP and was following the markers down the middle, but for whatever reason it was still a bit freaky. I took it really slowly.
Bluebird skies finally greeted us on Monday, and holy cow were the views gorgeous! I ended up getting onto the first tram. It turns out that when you have good visibility Rendezvous Bowl isn't bad at all! There was some really nice wind buff on the left side by the trees that I was the first to ski through. It was only an inch or two on top of the packed powder, but it still felt very nice. Here's a picture looking towards Cody Bowl:
I hiked the Headwall two more times on Monday. Not only were the runs fun, but there was still decent snow days after the storm passed. I kept eyeing Casper Bowl, and trying to make myself check it out for a run. The third time I hiked to the Headwall, I decided to traverse into Casper Bowl, all the way in until just before you get to The Crags. Here's the view looking back at Casper Bowl and the Headwall:
My run in Casper Bowl was so much fun! It was more challenging and longer than the runs on the Headwall:
The next day, I skied Casper Bowl twice and did the Headwall once. If I had realized how fun these would be, I probably would have hiked up to them on Saturday when the snow would have been at its best. Here's another picture from Casper Bowl:
The snow was starting to get crusty and sun/wind affected, especially in the non-gladed parts of the bowls that faced south. The best snow was definitely in or near the trees and in more northern facing slopes. I tried to work up the courage to ski The Crags, but decided to save that for my next trip.
My final morning of skiing was on Wednesday before my flight in the afternoon. The views from the top of the tram were amazing! It's worth doing the very, very short hike to the true summit of Rendezvous Mountain for the 360 degree views of the Tetons and the valley:
Here's a shot looking at towards Corbet's:
Corbet's was open on at least two days that I was there, but I had no interest in trying it given my skill level and the likelihood that I would injure myself and cut my season short. I saw a couple of people skiing down it on Tuesday. My only run on Wednesday was one last run in Casper Bowl. I ended up helping a group of people navigate Casper who had never skied it before. It felt good helping people find some of the last remaining pockets of good snow.
Here's a shot of Jackson from the plane (that's Snow King in the background):
Overall I had so much fun, and really want to go back to Jackson Hole next year! I just checked and next year's Gathering is at Jackson Hole. I won't be able to make it to Big Sky for this year's Gathering, but having a Gathering in Jackson Hole next year gives me an easy excuse to plan a trip to Jackson Hole next year
! I hope that I get to meet some of you next year in Jackson Hole. There is still so much of the mountain that I have yet to explore. My goals for next trip are to ski more of the runs in Casper Bowl, and try out The Crags, specifically one of the Shots, and Sheridan Bowl.
My first day was Saturday, 1/26. Jackson Hole got 7" the day before, and over 30" in the week leading up to my arrival. Saturday was an amazing day of skiing. Even when the 7" got chopped up, it was still all very soft. I decided to skip the tram because it was a Saturday with new snow, so I figured that the lines would be crazy. I got in line at the Bridger Gondola at 8:45, and was riding up by 9:10 or so. Pictured below is Laramie Bowl:
I ended up spending most of my day lapping the Sublette Chair. I did a bunch of runs down Laramie Bowl and in the trees around Pepi's Run. I kept working myself up to skiing down the Alta Chutes, and after a little while finally managed to muster the courage to try Alta Chute 1. It was so much fun! The top part wasn't very difficult because there was so much soft snow to turn in. The difficult part is the choke-point just before you go under the Sublette Chair where it gets narrow and bit skied out, and then once you're past that it's not bad again. I ended up doing Alta Chute 1 twice, and also skied what may or may not be considered Alta Chutes where you get spit out even further down Laramie Bowl a couple more times.
Here is looking up Alta Chutes 1 after skiing it.
After lunch, I skied over to Saratoga Bowl, hoping to find some untracked snow. Saratoga ended up being pretty much tracked out (or at least the run that I did). It probably would have been a great place to be first thing in the day, as there were lines for the Tram and Bridger Gondola but no lines for Teewinot (which accesses après Vous)! I finished off the day by skiing the South Hoback. That was also totally tracked out by the time I skied it, but it was still so much fun. I ended up loving the Hobacks/ridges that end up at Union Pass. They have a really nice consistent pitch, are wide open, and there are so many different ways to ski them. The skier density on them was very low too, which was nice. This is a picture of the Middle Hoback looking up from later in the trip:
I remember seeing @doc post a picture of the Headwall (I had to ask which trail it was) in one of the Jackson threads, and I knew I had to try and ski it. On Sunday, I ended up hiking up to the Headwall from the Tensleep traverse. It's not a bad hike, but some combination of altitude and being out of shape meant I had to take a few breaks on the way up. The run down to the top of the gondola, while short, was so much fun! And there was still fresh snow even the day after it had snowed! I liked the run so much that I hiked up to the Headwall two more times that day (the hike closes at 2pm to allow ski patrol time to sweep the runs at the end of the day). Here's a picture of the Headwall from close to the bottom at the end of the day:
I also took the tram for the first time on Sunday, and had my scariest run of the whole trip going down Rendezvous Bowl with very, very low visibility. Logically, I knew that there weren't any hidden obstacles or cliffs in front of me because I've seen the bowl in FATMAP and was following the markers down the middle, but for whatever reason it was still a bit freaky. I took it really slowly.
Bluebird skies finally greeted us on Monday, and holy cow were the views gorgeous! I ended up getting onto the first tram. It turns out that when you have good visibility Rendezvous Bowl isn't bad at all! There was some really nice wind buff on the left side by the trees that I was the first to ski through. It was only an inch or two on top of the packed powder, but it still felt very nice. Here's a picture looking towards Cody Bowl:
I hiked the Headwall two more times on Monday. Not only were the runs fun, but there was still decent snow days after the storm passed. I kept eyeing Casper Bowl, and trying to make myself check it out for a run. The third time I hiked to the Headwall, I decided to traverse into Casper Bowl, all the way in until just before you get to The Crags. Here's the view looking back at Casper Bowl and the Headwall:
My run in Casper Bowl was so much fun! It was more challenging and longer than the runs on the Headwall:
The next day, I skied Casper Bowl twice and did the Headwall once. If I had realized how fun these would be, I probably would have hiked up to them on Saturday when the snow would have been at its best. Here's another picture from Casper Bowl:
The snow was starting to get crusty and sun/wind affected, especially in the non-gladed parts of the bowls that faced south. The best snow was definitely in or near the trees and in more northern facing slopes. I tried to work up the courage to ski The Crags, but decided to save that for my next trip.
My final morning of skiing was on Wednesday before my flight in the afternoon. The views from the top of the tram were amazing! It's worth doing the very, very short hike to the true summit of Rendezvous Mountain for the 360 degree views of the Tetons and the valley:
Here's a shot looking at towards Corbet's:
Corbet's was open on at least two days that I was there, but I had no interest in trying it given my skill level and the likelihood that I would injure myself and cut my season short. I saw a couple of people skiing down it on Tuesday. My only run on Wednesday was one last run in Casper Bowl. I ended up helping a group of people navigate Casper who had never skied it before. It felt good helping people find some of the last remaining pockets of good snow.
Here's a shot of Jackson from the plane (that's Snow King in the background):
Overall I had so much fun, and really want to go back to Jackson Hole next year! I just checked and next year's Gathering is at Jackson Hole. I won't be able to make it to Big Sky for this year's Gathering, but having a Gathering in Jackson Hole next year gives me an easy excuse to plan a trip to Jackson Hole next year
! I hope that I get to meet some of you next year in Jackson Hole. There is still so much of the mountain that I have yet to explore. My goals for next trip are to ski more of the runs in Casper Bowl, and try out The Crags, specifically one of the Shots, and Sheridan Bowl.
