Northern Rockies/Alberta Targhee conditions right now?

[JohnL]

Point of clarification...

GTSP puts out small (2-4”) pine boughs (harvested from downed trees - blown over by high winds), not pine cones, out on the upper parts of TVT, Short Fuse, and Headwall Traverse.

They also have “Fog Flags” (bamboo with day-glow orange flagging on the tops) that are on the upper parts of TVT and the Headwall Traverse.

All of this is placed to help guests find their way down out of the fog to areas with more trees.


HB

Corrected. Boughs/branches are what I meant. And the bamboo helped a lot. But, the conditions those two days were immensely challenging even with the aides provided by GTSP.

 

[slowrider]

How are the crowds first week in March? Will Targhee be too much for an Intermediate skier? I want to make sure he has a goodtime, timid skier. Thanks.

 

[wyowindrunner]

You are then at Patroller Chute to Crazy Horse Woods area. It may sound more complicated, but you always have trees in sight (or pine boughs), and are always going straight down the fall line to a set of trees or doing a traverse across the hill.

Some times the snow is good over there but it can get crusty and become gloppy in the afternoons - depends on the recent snow-due to the southern exposure- I just like the north facing stuff in the G,B,U area- the snow stays better over there-there are generally two fairly established traverses into the area below the headwall- Chief joe is not my favorite spot either- When you get out of the trees you can cut across the cat that leads to the base area and drop back across Chief Joe to the little spine below where Steam vent comes out to Chief and down to the Blackfoot lift.

How are the crowds first week in March? Will Targhee be too much for an Intermediate skier? I want to make sure he has a goodtime, timid skier. Thanks.

Not on a sunny day- the fog might though- The groomer down the traverse to leave the Sacajewea area can bother some people- it gets icey at times and scrapped off. Crowds are not a problem in general.

 

[JohnL]

Some times the snow is good over there but it can get crusty and become gloppy in the afternoons - depends on the recent snow-due to the southern exposure- I just like the north facing stuff in the G,B,U area- the snow stays better over there-there are generally two fairly established traverses into the area below the headwall- Chief joe is not my favorite spot either- When you get out of the trees you can cut across the cat that leads to the base area and drop back across Chief Joe to the little spine below where Steam vent comes out to Chief and down to the Blackfoot lift.

.

Good point on sun exposure. Snow was fantastic everywhere, viz was the primary issue.

 

[AmyPJ]

How are the crowds first week in March? Will Targhee be too much for an Intermediate skier? I want to make sure he has a goodtime, timid skier. Thanks.

So, if Targhee has a "downside" it's that the intermediate terrain is pretty steep. You go from the fun learning area (which really is a hoot) under Shoshone, to blue runs that would be in the black diamond territory at other mountains, or, they start out easy but have steeper pitches mixed in, or you have the visibility to deal with.

And as @wyowindrunner mentioned above, that only way back from Sacajewea side is quite often either icy or a scraped off sheet, at the very least. I personally HATE it. But, ice and scrapy are the two types of snow I struggle the most in.

On-piste yesterday, the Blackfoot side was just phenomenal (off-piste was pretty fun, too.) Off-piste on the glades directly under Dreamcatcher were a hoot. I could have lapped that stuff all day. Pretty cold weekend up there, for sure! And we lucked out and had good visibility!

 

[wyowindrunner]

A couple of shots below the head wall this afternoon. Snow was fine but coming hard, filling tracks quick with the aid of a pretty strong wind. Should be good tomorrow.

 

[tch]

Wow, what a nice little mountain! 5-6" of fresh this morning with LOTS of people and no visibility. But....still plenty of powder to be harvested. First time here and a really nice change from Jackson. I felt like I could ski almost anywhere, regardless of the fact I was on the mountain for the first time. I definitely didn't feel that way at JHMR. Thanks to Puggers who raised my consciousness and piqued my interest. .

 

[wyowindrunner]

Another crowded day at Targhee. Don't the slopes looked packed? Top is dreamcatcher about 1pm. Bottom is in the trees below GBU looking uphill. Went down to Sacajawea about noon- an actual lift line at Targhee!! Dreamcatcher had few folks and Blackfoot the same. Lifty said most people were in the bar! Every time I went by Shoshone it was full- a lot of people in lessons by the looks of things. Vis was crappy and very windy at lift tops most of the day. Lots of snow but was warm last night and the snow really packed out and filled in. Cool today but had a good day.

 

[SBrown]

View attachment 39786

View attachment 39787
Another crowded day at Targhee. Don't the slopes looked packed? Top is dreamcatcher about 1pm. Bottom is in the trees below GBU looking uphill. Went down to Sacajawea about noon- an actual lift line at Targhee!! Dreamcatcher had few folks and Blackfoot the same. Lifty said most people were in the bar! Every time I went by Shoshone it was full- a lot of people in lessons by the looks of things. Vis was crappy and very windy at lift tops most of the day. Lots of snow but was warm last night and the snow really packed out and filled in. Cool today but had a good day.

Soooo .... if I were to go skiing there in the next couple days, should I pick tomorrow or Tuesday?

 

[wyowindrunner]

Soooo .... if I were to go skiing there in the next couple days, should I pick tomorrow or Tuesday?

Check the weather- last one I looked at predicted some colder weather coming-Monday is Presidents day- my money would be on Tuesday just for less visitors. But supposed to be colder and crappier. No big snow amounts predicted until the next WE. But this is Targhee....

 

[Fuller]

I was looking at the Targhee Plaza webcam last night as a groomer was coming down illuminating the Dreamcatcher lift area. I swear there was a wolf sitting next to the lift, he moved away as the machine came closer. Big ol' dude...

I checked the same webcam a minute ago, just in time to see a drunk guy stagger across the plaza and run into the menu board almost knocking it over. A very entertaining place!

 

[slowrider]

Wonder Wyoming

 

[jgiddyup]

Fantastic conditions at Targhee today with nary anything firm to be found and great soft snow everywhere. Kind of crowded compared to previous visits but I still only waited for a chair once all day

 

[jgiddyup]

Day two at Targhee and they reported 3in since lift closing. Seemed about right on Blackfoot, but seemed like double that on Sacajawea.

BTW, I stayed with the wife on Shoshone first thing in the morning and there's some damn fun trees in there to keep people like me from being bored

The wife skied some VERY steep groomers for her on Blackfoot and Sacajawea and not only survived it but enjoyed it

 

[SKI-3PO]

The wife skied some VERY steep groomers for her on Blackfoot and Sacajawea and not only survived it but enjoyed it

Nice! Looking forward to seeing her progress.

 

[slowrider]

4 of us heading for Targhee next week. Conditions sound promising.

 

[sbooker]

How are the crowds first week in March? Will Targhee be too much for an Intermediate skier? I want to make sure he has a goodtime, timid skier. Thanks.

I can’t give an expert opinion on timeframe but Targhee is perfect for intermediates.

 

[Slide of Hans]

i saw that GT an get pretty foggy at times - is there a certain weather pattern to look for to tell if it would be foggy on a particular day? I was heading to J Hole next week and was gonna shoot over for a day at the Targ, trying to avoid fog.
Does J Hole also get heavy fog??

 

[wyowindrunner]

Fog-clouds can set in any time even on bluebird days a cloud can drift in. Can't say about JH- haven't been over there in years. Haven't been up in a couple weeks- In Ohio on a job- Thankful for the work but sure cuts into the serious screwing off stuff. Web site reported a foot of new. Damn

 

[Fuller]

Sitting here in my cabin at Teton Valley Cabins, the wife approves of the accommodations and I do too. The snow report says 12" last 24 hours which is good. Monday and Tuesday skiing should be decent although the Sunday crowds have probably worked it over by now, I'm hoping for some visibility to make the day a success. The wind was brutal between Rexburg and Driggs but is pretty mellow here at TVC.