The wife and I packed up and moved from Leavenworth, WA to Alta, WY this summer... very excited to have Targhee as my home mountain 8 miles away. So far, we (wife and I) love Teton Valley and the surrounding area. I have only ridden here once, on a trip to Jackson about 13 yrs ago.
It's been a good fall here along the west slope of the Tetons... 98" YTD snowfall, with a 48" snow depth at Chief Joesph Bowl. Opening day was probably the best I've ever had in 22 yrs of riding. Yeah, I've had a couple great storm powder days at Mammoth on opening day, but not bluebird like this and such good snow. It was a crisp 9 degrees when I left the house, but with no wind and bright sunny skies, it I overdressed for the day...I forgot how a sunny, windless day at elevation in this part of the country can feel so much warmer than it is.
We got about 9" of fresh the day before, and it rode very nicely. All lifts and about 98% of the in bounds terrain were open. I never hit bottom once, well except when I was traversing around the back and Grand Teton came into view and I forgot to pay attention and ran over a few rocks. #-o
Pretty good crowd at the lift for opening at 9AM...several hundred I would guess.... the Avy Gun and a roar of cheers went off... as they loaded first chair. I got my first run in about 15 min or so later. The rest of the day, I never waited more than a few chairs to get on any lift.
My first run was great.. it's been a while since I've been able to ride powder, but I didn't feel any worse for wear. Unfortunately, I didn't have my season pass clipped on my jacket yet, since I was wearing a jacket I never usually wear... and left it in my OPEN pocket. I got to the bottom and in line realized it was gone. I walked over to the season pass office and the line was at least 50 deep... the guest host standing at the end of the line saw my flustered face, and after I told him my story, he handed me a day ticket and told me to go enjoy the powder before it's gone, and come back later to get a new pass... I thought that was pretty cool. I got a new pass later, no charge and no wait... only a few laughs.
All in all, a great few hours before my legs were screaming, and the powder was tracked, so I went home and sat in the hot tub with a beer. I've got a nice case of powder leg still... but I plan to get back out on the hill tomorrow.
Targhee may not be the steepest hill in the world, but it looks like a real fun mountain (with obviously great snow) to call home.
If anyone comes over this way from Jackson to ride the Ghee for the day, gimme a holler and we'll do some runs together.
Here's some various Iphone pics I snapped of the terrain and other conditions throughout the morning. Sorry, no action shots.
It's been a good fall here along the west slope of the Tetons... 98" YTD snowfall, with a 48" snow depth at Chief Joesph Bowl. Opening day was probably the best I've ever had in 22 yrs of riding. Yeah, I've had a couple great storm powder days at Mammoth on opening day, but not bluebird like this and such good snow. It was a crisp 9 degrees when I left the house, but with no wind and bright sunny skies, it I overdressed for the day...I forgot how a sunny, windless day at elevation in this part of the country can feel so much warmer than it is.
We got about 9" of fresh the day before, and it rode very nicely. All lifts and about 98% of the in bounds terrain were open. I never hit bottom once, well except when I was traversing around the back and Grand Teton came into view and I forgot to pay attention and ran over a few rocks. #-o
Pretty good crowd at the lift for opening at 9AM...several hundred I would guess.... the Avy Gun and a roar of cheers went off... as they loaded first chair. I got my first run in about 15 min or so later. The rest of the day, I never waited more than a few chairs to get on any lift.
My first run was great.. it's been a while since I've been able to ride powder, but I didn't feel any worse for wear. Unfortunately, I didn't have my season pass clipped on my jacket yet, since I was wearing a jacket I never usually wear... and left it in my OPEN pocket. I got to the bottom and in line realized it was gone. I walked over to the season pass office and the line was at least 50 deep... the guest host standing at the end of the line saw my flustered face, and after I told him my story, he handed me a day ticket and told me to go enjoy the powder before it's gone, and come back later to get a new pass... I thought that was pretty cool. I got a new pass later, no charge and no wait... only a few laughs.
All in all, a great few hours before my legs were screaming, and the powder was tracked, so I went home and sat in the hot tub with a beer. I've got a nice case of powder leg still... but I plan to get back out on the hill tomorrow.
Targhee may not be the steepest hill in the world, but it looks like a real fun mountain (with obviously great snow) to call home.
If anyone comes over this way from Jackson to ride the Ghee for the day, gimme a holler and we'll do some runs together.
Here's some various Iphone pics I snapped of the terrain and other conditions throughout the morning. Sorry, no action shots.
