- Joined
- Oct 28, 2016
- Posts
- 81
Hi, all.
I know I have been pretty incommunicado since the demise of EpicSki but I'm definitely still out here (at Jackson Hole) and still skiing.
I thought I'd start a thread devoted to little reports on how our season is going. I hope to be fairly reliable about what's happening on our mountain, so here goes...
Today, Friday, November 24, 2017, was DAY ONE of lift-served skiing at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. A week ago, we were all in awe of the early season snow conditions here in JH. The Bridger Teton Avalanche Center - http://www.jhavalanche.org/viewTeton - was reporting the most early snowfall in the Teton Range since they've been keeping records almost 50 years ago.
Well, as often happens when Mother Nature has a little time to stop and reflect, things got weird about three days ago. The dreaded Pineapple Express came to visit and temps got to nearly 50 degrees here in the valley yesterday and today.
This morning, six of us collected at the bottom of the Teewinot Chair at 8:45am, only to be greeted by a cold rain and moderate wind. Hoods over helmets, wipers on goggles, hunched shoulders, etc. It was a little off-putting to have the R-word associated with opening day, but we rode up into the clouds anyway.
By midway up après Vous, the valley rain had turned to snowflakes and at least we were sliding on snow rather than rain slop. We skied quite a few thousand vertical feet, some in rain, some in fog, some in snow, and some in sunshine. It seemed just like a "normal" ski day in April.
Bottom line - it was outstanding to be back on snow and back on JHMR's lifts. Best of all, we skied with a longtime friend who hadn't skied the resort for two years because he had a live liver transplant a year ago and wasn't able to ski for a year before the operation and is just now getting back on the hill. I skied with him the last time he could ski before the transplant and the first time he could ski after and it felt GOOD for everybody involved.
The upper part of our mountain has incredible coverage for this time of year. The lower thousand vertical feet needs a few good storms. Considering we are still a week away from the end of NOVEMBER!, it's an outrageous start to our ski season. I've now skied at Targhee, a few days on Teton Pass, and a lift-served day at JHMR. It's all good.
Today's best turns? Easy Does It (in the fog). Smooth, huggable, low-angle turns on two inches of cream cheese on a relatively firm base. If you weren't there, you never will be.
I know I have been pretty incommunicado since the demise of EpicSki but I'm definitely still out here (at Jackson Hole) and still skiing.
I thought I'd start a thread devoted to little reports on how our season is going. I hope to be fairly reliable about what's happening on our mountain, so here goes...
Today, Friday, November 24, 2017, was DAY ONE of lift-served skiing at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. A week ago, we were all in awe of the early season snow conditions here in JH. The Bridger Teton Avalanche Center - http://www.jhavalanche.org/viewTeton - was reporting the most early snowfall in the Teton Range since they've been keeping records almost 50 years ago.
Well, as often happens when Mother Nature has a little time to stop and reflect, things got weird about three days ago. The dreaded Pineapple Express came to visit and temps got to nearly 50 degrees here in the valley yesterday and today.
This morning, six of us collected at the bottom of the Teewinot Chair at 8:45am, only to be greeted by a cold rain and moderate wind. Hoods over helmets, wipers on goggles, hunched shoulders, etc. It was a little off-putting to have the R-word associated with opening day, but we rode up into the clouds anyway.
By midway up après Vous, the valley rain had turned to snowflakes and at least we were sliding on snow rather than rain slop. We skied quite a few thousand vertical feet, some in rain, some in fog, some in snow, and some in sunshine. It seemed just like a "normal" ski day in April.
Bottom line - it was outstanding to be back on snow and back on JHMR's lifts. Best of all, we skied with a longtime friend who hadn't skied the resort for two years because he had a live liver transplant a year ago and wasn't able to ski for a year before the operation and is just now getting back on the hill. I skied with him the last time he could ski before the transplant and the first time he could ski after and it felt GOOD for everybody involved.
The upper part of our mountain has incredible coverage for this time of year. The lower thousand vertical feet needs a few good storms. Considering we are still a week away from the end of NOVEMBER!, it's an outrageous start to our ski season. I've now skied at Targhee, a few days on Teton Pass, and a lift-served day at JHMR. It's all good.
Today's best turns? Easy Does It (in the fog). Smooth, huggable, low-angle turns on two inches of cream cheese on a relatively firm base. If you weren't there, you never will be.