Keep Submitting Trip Reports!
September 9, 2005
12 posts
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Even if it's only 3-4 sentences describing the snow conditions and crowds, it's really useful to find out first-hand what's happening on the slopes. Doesn't matter if it's an area you've visited hundreds of times before or an area that no one has heard of.
Shameless plug for more information!
Well, if more info is what you want, here it is (and my first real post! woohoo!)!!!
I went to Whitetail on Friday night for a few hours to ski off my fustrations from the week. It was very warm and Lake Ontario was forming in front of the lodge coming in from the slopes. People were dropping their skis/board in the gigantic lake and I just cringed.
Snow was loud, corny and very fast. I enjoyed the ride down Bold Decision (fav run of the night). I don't think it ever got below freezing. Terrain Park was too fast for my blood, kept falling down after the jumps....
Hit Whitetail on Sunday, on the slopes by 8:45 a.m., already soft and heavy. Things just got softer and more heavy as the day went on. Crowds were light, never in a lift line for more than a couple of minutes.
I was running tele gear, getting SPANKED by my lack of ability and knowledge. However, since the snow was so soft, didn't hurt nearly as bad when I fell. There were enough tele skiers out there to see one somewhere all the time if you kept looking.
I am amazed at the fact that the majority of my chair lift rides that had other people, 90% of those other people were speaking a language other than english. I heard German, Spanish, French, and I think Farsce (no idea how to spell it..language of the Persians) Typically they drew attention to themselves by the way they pushed and forced their way through the crowds to get ahead of everyone. Then I would hear them speak and understand there is a cultural difference between American ski lift lines and European. Since I was dead tired from being SPANKED on the hill, I didn't mind waiting patiently for another 15-20 seconds as the next chair came around.
Steve
Persian language is Farsi.
... and here in the US (as in Great Britian) we are, what is called, a 'self queuing society'. In other words we line up all by ourselves when the situation calls for it. Now in Greece and other Med and ME countries, all that counts is who gets to the front of the crowd first. Sharp elbows, large handbags what ever it takes .. I know, I lived in Greece for 26 years where every year there is at least 1 crowd related death.
Was at Timberline over the weekend. Skiing was GREAT if you didn't mind slow chairs. Even got the terrain park put together on Saturday. OTW was excellent though too many on it who should've been on less vert. Lift lines were about 5-10 minutes max.
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OTW was excellent though too many on it who should've been on less vert.
I encountered a similar situation at Laurel Mt. on Sunday. There were way to many people skiing the double black slope who should not have been skiing there. In fact there were some snowplowing down the slope, but I don't think they were skiing by choice.
Just got back from Jackson Hole last week. Got an insiders tip to bring the east coast skis, so I packed the 5 stars. Turned out to be a great choice!
To start with, everyone who works at JHMR and the locals are just super friendly. They kept apologizing for the "lack of snow" and tough conditions to which my wife and I could only laugh and shake our heads in wonder. Maybe you don't typically head out to Jackson Hole to ski groomers but I have to say that from Apres Vous mountain to the Tram, all the trails were absolutely awesome. I heard the word "ice" mentioned a lot but that was crazy talk. Mildly hard packed would be my description of the slopes in the early part of the day but if/when you got above the clouds and followed the sun around the conditions were primo for carving.
Overall, we skied at JH for three days and one at Grand Targhee. Jackson Hole has some of the longest top to bottom runs I've ever skied on in my less than three years of experience. Before going, I had a little bit of nervousness based on its reputation but that was totally unfounded. There is a ton of steep stuff to ski and a plethora of off-piste to choose from but given the lack of snow coverage the locals weren't recommending that. Our third day out we meet up with local resident, Bob Peters, who graciously took us on a tour of the upper parts of the place. Finally there was the Tram ride. Classic. The view from the top is spectacular and looking over Corbet's on the way up was awesome. It was closed though (not that I could've done it in the first place!) and skiers were going off the top through the Rendezvous Bowl. Nothing groomed about this spot but it was fun and challenging to get through it! If you love long, wide open runs you need to check out Targhee. There had been five inches of snow the night before we went there and took a patrollers advice to check out the Lost Warrior run. Whoa. Lots of action through trees but the powder wasn't really there and it was mass crud and cut up tracks through there but it was soft and I had a blast bashing through to the bottom.
Based on the way I skied, it ranks up there at the top of my Western trips. I found something that I felt had been missing since I took up skiing... my balls. Don't know if it was the new skis or just the prevailing attitude but I finally was able to keep up with my wife and father in-law who've both been skiing for 18 years. Guess I was a little impatient but it was nice to ski WITH them for once! The town of Jackson is a very cool place. There are some typical touristy things to do but there are some great restaurants and as I mentioned before, the people are so damn nice. One note is that if you are headed out there it might be best to rent a car. We stayed in a condo in Teton Village but were kind of at the mercy of the bus schedules. They would come around to the condos every 15 or 30 minutes depending on the time of day, take you to base and then you'd transfer to a bus that would take you into Jackson. I didn't find it bothersome at all but some people might not dig it. All told, it was a truly amazing ski vacation!
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It was very warm and Lake Ontario was forming in front of the lodge coming in from the slopes.
Traversing Lake Ontario was even more fun on Sunday. After I changed out of my ski boots and went to get my skis from the ski check, I realized my Chuckie T's weren't the best choice of footwear. 
Swimmer,
I saw a very large number of free-heelers on Sunday. I was amazed at how well some of you guys did negotiating the bumps on Exhibition.
Caveat: for me, it is never to warm on the slopes and the snow is never too soft. Skiing Whitetail on Sunday before the Super Bowl was a total blast: good friends, bright sun, warm temps and soft snow. It was spring during early February. The zipperlines through the bumps on Exhibition were as forvinging as they'll ever get. Plus skiing the soft snow at the sides of Far Side and Bold Decision had nearly the same tempo and required nearly the same form as powder skiing.
TLine Friday was fantastic! No lift lines except for about an hour around 11am, then only 5 mins max. Nice soft cover until mid afternoon and then only a few minor icy spots. OTW had huge mounds of snow and was lots of fun. They even had all 3 lifts running!!!
Canaan on Saturday had some thin cover and the usual icy spots. Gravity opened mid morning and it also was center lined with mounds of snow. It was fun especially as one of the first to make tracks. Overall, not bad and very short lift lines. Meadows 2 had very thin cover but Meadows 1/terrain park had pretty good cover.
John,
I am on top of the trip reports!
Only problem is I only been skiing 1 day in the last 2 weeks.
Snowcone,
Yeah, not shoving, pushing, etc, it's called common courtesy. It's generally considered being part of a civilized society. I've encounetered folks trying to push their way into lift lines
and I've educated them that there's a line of people for a reason. We're all waiting our turn!
-Warren-
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Hit Whitetail on Sunday, on the slopes by 8:45 a.m., already soft and heavy. Things just got softer and more heavy as the day went on. Crowds were light, never in a lift line for more than a couple of minutes.
I was running tele gear, getting SPANKED by my lack of ability and knowledge. However, since the snow was so soft, didn't hurt nearly as bad when I fell. There were enough tele skiers out there to see one somewhere all the time if you kept looking.
I am amazed at the fact that the majority of my chair lift rides that had other people, 90% of those other people were speaking a language other than english. I heard German, Spanish, French, and I think Farsce (no idea how to spell it..language of the Persians) Typically they drew attention to themselves by the way they pushed and forced their way through the crowds to get ahead of everyone. Then I would hear them speak and understand there is a cultural difference between American ski lift lines and European. Since I was dead tired from being SPANKED on the hill, I didn't mind waiting patiently for another 15-20 seconds as the next chair came around.
Steve
lbotta, you out there? I think those darn europaens just have it in for swimmer....... .
