Planning a trip there in late January/ early February. For those who have been there, if you can provide tips about your stay there, I'd appreciate it. Trying to book a trip for 5-8 people in the next couple of weeks while things are available and cheap.

9/23/2009 3:23:48 PM

do the snowmobile through yellowstone. Make sure the people you go with are all decent skiers.

9/23/2009 6:38:05 PM

overpriced

the town

not cheap

9/23/2009 8:09:55 PM

^^

Yellowstone in Winter is soooooo pretty

9/23/2009 8:17:05 PM

I was going to go there this coming season, but it looks like my crew is going to Park City instead. We'll probably go to Jackson Hole winter 2011. I did hear that the majority of the trails are for experts and that snowboarders aren't allowed on most (if not all) of the trails. I'm not sure if that's true though.

Jen, that's an awesome idea! I will definitely remember to do that whenever I get out there.

9/24/2009 9:34:38 AM

almost, if all the trails, are defiantly open to snowboarders so you shouldn't have any problems. And the trails are difficult, like a blue there is like a double black here. I ended up trowing oodles of money down the tube and having a miserable time on the mountain because the trails were way above my experience level. Id been skiing a few times so i thought i would be ok... totally was not. The snowmobile thing is expensive (like $170 i think?) but do it anyway, its worth it

[Edited on September 24, 2009 at 10:08 AM. Reason : doubt everyone would agree with me but ive heard other people second that so oh well]

9/24/2009 10:06:22 AM

Not sure how much snow they got in this last storm, but on the 21st we got about 9 inches in a day in Aspen, haha. Should be an awesome winter...

9/24/2009 10:24:36 AM

Ooooh, Jackson!

I went up there in Feb., it was hands-down the best winter vacation ever.

Here's my advice. Fly into SLC airport. There's a direct flight there from RDU, and if you're not in RDU, it's still WAY cheaper to fly into than Jackson Hole airport. The drive to Jackson from SLC is a gorgeous 5 hours, plenty of photo ops along the way.

I actually stayed in Garden City, UT on the UT/ID border and skiing at Beaver Mountain. But I've heard Jackson Hole is great if you're into black trials and don't mind steep everything. It's really expensive though, like 3-4x more than Beaver Mountain per day.

But what you HAVE to do is snowmobile through Grand Teton national park. I went & used these guys (http://www.yellowstonerv.com/) since it's completely unguided. That means you sign a waiver, get on a snow machine and literally do whatever you want for the whole day. There are an insane amount of square miles covered in snow, they give you a map & you just follow trial signs to wherever you want to go. Unreal scenery. Just unreal. My wife & I got a 2-man machine which was fantastic, because after an hour of driving your thumb is KILLING due to holding the throttle, so you just switch up people and keep going. Was worth every dime, and there's so much open land you could easily do it 3-4 days and not cover it all. We saw moose grazing and ate at this huge log cabin that's only accessible by snowmobile in the winter. Truly awesome.

Have fun out there, rent a 4WD vehicle, snowmobile some, and take pics!

9/24/2009 12:16:17 PM

I'm not worried about the difficulty level as long as it isnt any worse than most other west coast places I've skiied (Lake Tahoe area). I have been a skiier for a long time, but prefer harder blues and lower level blacks. I ended up inadvertantly having to ski a double black at kirkwood last year with Skack and survived it Whats funny is after the double black, all the hard blacks downhill of it seemed easy

[Edited on September 24, 2009 at 3:00 PM. Reason : .]

9/24/2009 2:58:53 PM

Don't ski down Corbet's Couloir
I stood at the edge of it and nearly wet myself.


On a more productive note, heed the advice that you should not take any amateurs with you. The vast majority of the mountain is a challenge. Although the blue groomers really aren't bad, you can easily end up in some steep terrain. And buy a helmet, if you don't already have one.

I stayed with a friend who lived there so I can't give lodging advice. I flew straight from RDU->Dallas->Jackson Hole and it was $400 round trip. It was expensive but worth it.

Lift tickets were around $90 a day and you could save a little money by buying a 3 or 4 day pass.


It's absolutely badass though and you'll enjoy every minute of it

9/24/2009 6:56:00 PM

i would say fly strait into jackson. The next closest airport is like 5 hours away so it may not save you all that much (my ticket was about 300 into jackson). I also stayed with a friend, so no lodging advice. However, you might want to try a rental place outside of town. Also are you bringing your own equipment? I think the rental is about $30 a day. ~$120 a day to skii


oh, i dont know what the rates are like for this place but its nice, and has an amazing view. We jumped in and used their hot tubes one nice http://www.snowking.com/default.aspx I saw this on their website

Quote :

"Ski Jackson Hole: A Best Buy! Stay at Snow King and ski at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. Package includes lodging, lift tickets for Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, skier shuttle to Teton Village, roundtrip airport transfers, and discounts for ski, snow tubing and dining at Snow King Resort during your stay. Prices start at $297 per person based on double occupancy for four nights lodging and three days of skiing."

[Edited on September 24, 2009 at 7:21 PM. Reason : snowking ]

9/24/2009 7:11:59 PM

Quote :

"I ended up inadvertantly having to ski a double black at kirkwood last year with Skack and survived it "

lol...that was pretty funny.
The ski lift had a warning saying "this lift services (insert black diamond picture) only". We get off the lift at the top and there is nothing but double black diamond runs and a picture of a skull & crossbones that says something about dying if you're not an expert skier.

The "easiest" run (according to the ski patrol guy) started with a little cliff that you had to drop in on and land on the face of the mountain. It was all good as far as I was concerned except the whole dropping in thing. I mean, it was literally the steepest mountain I've ever ridden and I had to drop in on it. Skiers had it a little easier because they could use their poles to go uphill and bypass the cliff section. It was fun though and we were both fine on it. Just a little more than we were expecting at that point.

9/26/2009 11:20:16 PM

best friend works at the four seasons at the base of he mountain. Got a voice mail from her a few days ago that said they got 26 inches on the mountain that day.

10/3/2009 2:57:20 PM

Hey! I lived in Jackson for a while. Snowboarders can go anywhere skiiers can.

My suggestion is to stay in or go to Driggs and ski Grand Targhee. Its an amazing resort and has a lot more variety than Jackson. Easier trails, half the price, only an hour drive from Jackson, still has difficult runs, and a few bars and restaurants at the base.

I suggest trying the beer at Snake River Brewery or Wildlife Pizza. The beer out there is amazzzzing. If you're into massages and facials hit up a spa. Tons of deals if you just call around. There are hot springs near Jackson. The Bunnery, merry piglets, and sidewinders have great food.

10/8/2009 6:40:49 AM

Thanks! We're going to be staying for 7 days. I expect I'll get to go to Grand Targhee on one of those days. I rented a big ass 4x4 12 person van to haul everyone around in.

10/8/2009 9:28:36 AM