tseeb
Well-known member
Not sure if I never posted this or if I posted it and it got lost somehow, but I couldn't find it. Since I wrote it and it was 97 where I was this afternoon about 15 miles S of my house, I'm posting it (again?).
Summary:
Sunday 3/3 Only 1 tram and I got lucky to only have a two tram wait. I was about 10 people back and was not going to make it, but they needed two singles and I was the second and last one on. 26K
Monday 3/4 Only one tram and it was a three tram wait on mostly sunny day. 24K
Tuesday 3/5 Three trams with a one tram wait before lunch, then hustle on for no wait after lunch and just missed one about 40 minutes later 20.6K
The long version. My wife and I left the Pugski Big Sky Gathering about 5 PM on Friday after stopping for a quick beer at Montana Jack where we went for Apres every day after skiing. We snowmobiled into Yellowstone on Saturday from West Yellowstone, which is about an hour South from Big Sky turnoff and had an amazing amount of activity for being such a cold place. We stayed at Stagecoach Inn, designed by same person and built at about the same time as the Wort in Jackson and recommended in winter. I’ve heard it's over $300/night in summer (and that RV campsites are $120 in the area in summer). We paid about $60 including breakfast.
The snowmobile tour from there to Old Faithful was highly recommended by Tony Crocker and now by me. We snowmobiled 64 miles.
The coldest I saw on my phone was -3 before sunrise, but the official low that day was -13. My wife used their suit, boots, gloves and helmet with visor while I made do with what I brought including DOT approved full face helmet and goggles from dirt bike. Temps were in the 20s in the afternoon. Park in winter is beautiful and much less crowded than summer. There were a lot of bison including one that walked by about 10 feet away while we were stopped.
We also saw a coyote feasting on a swan
and another coyote motionless on a log that extended about 30 feet into the Madison, hoping a duck floated by.
After snowmobiling, we drove to Driggs, ID where we had great view of the sunset on the Tetons on the way
and spent night after excellent dinner at Teton Thai. During my ride up to lunch at super-busy lodge at top of Bridger gondola on our first day skiing Jackson, I realized that there was too much to do in area including Bill Brigg's band playing at Stagecoach Inn. He is on banjo at right and was first to ski the Grand Teton, and bought Snow King in 1966 and started the Great American Ski School there, and has been playing at Stagecoach (where they also have great food) on Sunday for over 50 years.
See https://www.jhnewsandguide.com/mult...c ... 732ec.html a lot more pictures from 50th anniversary. For $5 from Rendezvous Lodge, I was able to delay our night in Evanston, WY and get a second night at the Antler, mostly using a hotels.com rewards, so we didn't have to re-locate after one night. We pushed our skiing at Deer Valley back a day to have three days skiing Jackson, plus two nights in the same place in Jackson.
We rode a bus to ski area every day. Our first and last day, we parked at Stilson lot and used free (from there to resort) public bus. The middle day we rode 8 AM shuttle (60 passenger bus with luggage bays underneath for skis) provided by our motel that made one stop before ours and one stop after. All the buses were SRO although we had a seat on all rides except for return to Stilson the first day. Our driver said that on Saturday, there was stop-and-go traffic all the way from town of Jackson to the ski area. See https://www.jhnewsandguide.com/opinion/ ... d7aac.html for some details on Jackson crowds that set a record at 750K this season.
We began our skiing every day by riding the Bridger gondola to 9,000’ and skied over to Caspar chair for a warm up run or two. Groomer was excellent the first two days, but had a lot of little ice balls on top of the groom the last day unless you stayed on skiers right where it was more shaded during the day. We would move to the Teton chair for a groomer lap or two. By the last day, my wife was skiing the groomed blacked runs such as Kemmerer, although I had to warn her to stay off ungroomed blacks. All three days she stayed on those two lifts or would move to Apres Vous. I only rode and skied Apres Vous once, on my first day and found the ungroomed too variable. Snow was OK at start of Big Horn, then had too many re-frozen ruts so I traversed over to short Secret Slope which was better.
From my one Sunday tram, I skied to Corbet’s and took a look and decided not to do it as it looked like a good way to ruin my trip. Half of the usual entrance was a rock wall so there was about a 30’ long x 10’ wide near vertical chute to get in. I skied into Tensleep Bowl and found a good long line on skiers left of the Expert Chute, next a rock wall. Both runs up high had excellent winter snow. I rode up Thunder which had 5 minute singles line and skied Tower 3 which snow was very good, but light got very bad even though it was mid-day. It was like skiing into a chimney and I crashed falling backwards going off a big drop that I had not fully seen.
Monday was clear and cold with -2 reported at base and -1 at top early. We skied to Thunder about 11. My wife took groomed Lupine Way while I skied a S-facing chute above the Amphitheatre that had softened. We rode up Thunder and skied Laramie Bowl to Sublette chair which had a 6-minute doubles line. We skied across Laramie traverse which was confusingly marked black on a least one sign and my wife repeated Laramie Bowl while I cut in earlier and skied a more N-facing and steep chute, then continue to right of Flip Point. We rode up Sublette again and skied Hanging Rock, Rendezvous Trail, South Pass Traverse and Lower Tram Line to bottom. We quit early to catch 3 PM shuttle as I had some business to take care of back at motel that I had scheduled for 3 PM PST.
At some point in the day, I had a three tram wait (couple I was in line with said it’s at least three trams if line starts on snow) and skied Rendezvous Bowl, which was in great shape, smooth to small to medium bumps depending on where you came down with winter snow even though it was getting a lot of sun and had also had sun on Saturday. I also skied Bivouac which had been groomed, then cut right across Rendezvous Trail and took a very difficult traverse to North Hoback which skied well at the top, OK in the middle as long as I stayed on left side that had received less sun although it got a little crunchy from below 7500’ to 6600’ catchline. Also at some point in the day, I skied Alta 1 where snow and line I took were great, but I was not paying enough attention to looking for rocks and hit two in a row. I left my skis at shop at base where they patched a core shot in each new to me ski that only had 10 ten days on them (one was probably from Liberty Bowl at Big Sky), and waxed my skis for $20 cash.
On Tuesday, even though my SUV had trouble starting after being parked in shade of motel at Jackson for two nights and needed a jump, we perfectly caught 8:45 shuttle from Stilson lot. It was overcast and less crowded than previous two days. I had one tram lap before lunch where I led a skier from Turkey who said he didn’t want to ski the groomed runs down Rendezvous Bowl and top of Rendezvous Trail and Hobacks. I thought I was on South and cut across to Middle, but was already on Middle and cut over to North. Snow was still OK on left side although cutover crossed some very firm snow. I met my wife and was heading to Village Cafe, which was rated as best place on/near mountain for reasonable lunch. It’s a good thing my wife stalled crossing dip before the Hostel as guy walking by told us it was closed and recommended Moose Belly which has good menu and food and was reasonable and uncrowded.
I think my wife was done after lunch so I took two quick tram laps. The first lap took some hustle to make tram and I skied Middle Hoback, then gully between it and North at bottom. A tram was leaving when I arrived so I had a less than 10 minute wait for the next one which made my lap just over 40 minutes (including short, but slow Union Pass chair). At the top, I look into Corbet’s as it was my last chance, but it was closed so I skied sunny side of Sublette Ridge (probably some of Dog Face and Pepi’s), then Lower Sublette Ridge. I cut over high enough to avoid repeating South Pass lift and quit in time to catch 2:30 shuttle from Village back to Stilson lot.
Summary:
Sunday 3/3 Only 1 tram and I got lucky to only have a two tram wait. I was about 10 people back and was not going to make it, but they needed two singles and I was the second and last one on. 26K
Monday 3/4 Only one tram and it was a three tram wait on mostly sunny day. 24K
Tuesday 3/5 Three trams with a one tram wait before lunch, then hustle on for no wait after lunch and just missed one about 40 minutes later 20.6K
The long version. My wife and I left the Pugski Big Sky Gathering about 5 PM on Friday after stopping for a quick beer at Montana Jack where we went for Apres every day after skiing. We snowmobiled into Yellowstone on Saturday from West Yellowstone, which is about an hour South from Big Sky turnoff and had an amazing amount of activity for being such a cold place. We stayed at Stagecoach Inn, designed by same person and built at about the same time as the Wort in Jackson and recommended in winter. I’ve heard it's over $300/night in summer (and that RV campsites are $120 in the area in summer). We paid about $60 including breakfast.
The snowmobile tour from there to Old Faithful was highly recommended by Tony Crocker and now by me. We snowmobiled 64 miles.
After snowmobiling, we drove to Driggs, ID where we had great view of the sunset on the Tetons on the way
We rode a bus to ski area every day. Our first and last day, we parked at Stilson lot and used free (from there to resort) public bus. The middle day we rode 8 AM shuttle (60 passenger bus with luggage bays underneath for skis) provided by our motel that made one stop before ours and one stop after. All the buses were SRO although we had a seat on all rides except for return to Stilson the first day. Our driver said that on Saturday, there was stop-and-go traffic all the way from town of Jackson to the ski area. See https://www.jhnewsandguide.com/opinion/ ... d7aac.html for some details on Jackson crowds that set a record at 750K this season.
We began our skiing every day by riding the Bridger gondola to 9,000’ and skied over to Caspar chair for a warm up run or two. Groomer was excellent the first two days, but had a lot of little ice balls on top of the groom the last day unless you stayed on skiers right where it was more shaded during the day. We would move to the Teton chair for a groomer lap or two. By the last day, my wife was skiing the groomed blacked runs such as Kemmerer, although I had to warn her to stay off ungroomed blacks. All three days she stayed on those two lifts or would move to Apres Vous. I only rode and skied Apres Vous once, on my first day and found the ungroomed too variable. Snow was OK at start of Big Horn, then had too many re-frozen ruts so I traversed over to short Secret Slope which was better.
From my one Sunday tram, I skied to Corbet’s and took a look and decided not to do it as it looked like a good way to ruin my trip. Half of the usual entrance was a rock wall so there was about a 30’ long x 10’ wide near vertical chute to get in. I skied into Tensleep Bowl and found a good long line on skiers left of the Expert Chute, next a rock wall. Both runs up high had excellent winter snow. I rode up Thunder which had 5 minute singles line and skied Tower 3 which snow was very good, but light got very bad even though it was mid-day. It was like skiing into a chimney and I crashed falling backwards going off a big drop that I had not fully seen.
Monday was clear and cold with -2 reported at base and -1 at top early. We skied to Thunder about 11. My wife took groomed Lupine Way while I skied a S-facing chute above the Amphitheatre that had softened. We rode up Thunder and skied Laramie Bowl to Sublette chair which had a 6-minute doubles line. We skied across Laramie traverse which was confusingly marked black on a least one sign and my wife repeated Laramie Bowl while I cut in earlier and skied a more N-facing and steep chute, then continue to right of Flip Point. We rode up Sublette again and skied Hanging Rock, Rendezvous Trail, South Pass Traverse and Lower Tram Line to bottom. We quit early to catch 3 PM shuttle as I had some business to take care of back at motel that I had scheduled for 3 PM PST.
At some point in the day, I had a three tram wait (couple I was in line with said it’s at least three trams if line starts on snow) and skied Rendezvous Bowl, which was in great shape, smooth to small to medium bumps depending on where you came down with winter snow even though it was getting a lot of sun and had also had sun on Saturday. I also skied Bivouac which had been groomed, then cut right across Rendezvous Trail and took a very difficult traverse to North Hoback which skied well at the top, OK in the middle as long as I stayed on left side that had received less sun although it got a little crunchy from below 7500’ to 6600’ catchline. Also at some point in the day, I skied Alta 1 where snow and line I took were great, but I was not paying enough attention to looking for rocks and hit two in a row. I left my skis at shop at base where they patched a core shot in each new to me ski that only had 10 ten days on them (one was probably from Liberty Bowl at Big Sky), and waxed my skis for $20 cash.
On Tuesday, even though my SUV had trouble starting after being parked in shade of motel at Jackson for two nights and needed a jump, we perfectly caught 8:45 shuttle from Stilson lot. It was overcast and less crowded than previous two days. I had one tram lap before lunch where I led a skier from Turkey who said he didn’t want to ski the groomed runs down Rendezvous Bowl and top of Rendezvous Trail and Hobacks. I thought I was on South and cut across to Middle, but was already on Middle and cut over to North. Snow was still OK on left side although cutover crossed some very firm snow. I met my wife and was heading to Village Cafe, which was rated as best place on/near mountain for reasonable lunch. It’s a good thing my wife stalled crossing dip before the Hostel as guy walking by told us it was closed and recommended Moose Belly which has good menu and food and was reasonable and uncrowded.
I think my wife was done after lunch so I took two quick tram laps. The first lap took some hustle to make tram and I skied Middle Hoback, then gully between it and North at bottom. A tram was leaving when I arrived so I had a less than 10 minute wait for the next one which made my lap just over 40 minutes (including short, but slow Union Pass chair). At the top, I look into Corbet’s as it was my last chance, but it was closed so I skied sunny side of Sublette Ridge (probably some of Dog Face and Pepi’s), then Lower Sublette Ridge. I cut over high enough to avoid repeating South Pass lift and quit in time to catch 2:30 shuttle from Village back to Stilson lot.