Jackson Hole 3/18-3/20

kcyanks1 · Mar 20, 2007, 11:19 PM

Where: Jackson Hole, WY
When: 3/18 (last 1-2 hours of the day), 3/19, 3/20
Weather: HOT (at least for March and what I was expecting). I skied in a long sleeve t-shirt and jacket liner on 3/18, a short-sleeve t-shirt and jacket liner on 3/19, and a turtle neck and jacket liner on 3/20. By the end of 3/20 it was snowing somewhat at the top, but I can't imagine that it was below freezing. Perhaps it was a little hotter further up and the precipitation just never changed from snow. Or maybe it was the sun. But it felt warm still.
Conditions: Spring conditions - standard icy/corn/slush cycle, the amount of each depending on how high you were on the mountain, time of day, direction the trail faces, and how much sun the trail receives. The base up top is pretty good still, though less than it was another time I was here in March, and I suspect well below average considering they have had under 300" this year and they average over 400".

Boring paragraph you can skip if you want (airline troubles): I was supposed to arrive on the 17th so I could ski on the 18th, but due to flight issues I didn't arrive until the afternoon of 3/18 ... without my baggage. Thankfully Jackson gives you a free ticket and rental for the afternoon you arrive if you present your boarding pass, so I did that for the first afternoon. Nothing too much to report then since I didn't get much skiing in. Though I never thought I'd be very picky about equipment, but I felt like I was skiing like crap with what I had.. I think it was the boots more than the skis--they just didn't fit tightly enough. I then skied full days on 3/19 and 3/20. On 3/19 I had to demo skis because my stuff still had not arrived (I demoed Nordicas, not sure what model, but they were wider than my own skis and quite fun), and then my stuff arrived the afternoon of 3/19 so I had my own equipment for 3/20. So, sorry for the boring stuff. Now on to my report which pales in comparison to dmc's reports. And even though I did finally buy a camera, I only took a couple pictures and they are all awful.

Report: My description of the conditions sums it up well. I was able to ski a good amount of the expert terrain -- Expert Chutes, Tower 3 Chute (it was open on 3/19 but closed on 3/17 and 3/18 for some reason), Paintbrush, Hoops Gap, and Alta 3 (Alta 1 and 2 which I like better were closed. 1 looks very skiable, 2 would have some more rock dodging). Even found the Mushroom chutes (thanks dmc!). Of those Expert Chutes and Paintbrush were probably in the best condition. Tower 3 was good at the top and bottom but the most challenging part was somewhat icy. Our first attempt to find the Mushroom Chutes on 3/18 led to some pretty icy stuff which might've been Hoops Gap or the bottom of the Mushroom Chutes, but then we skied it further up on 3/20 and it was nicer..Still a bit hard, but fun, and as dmc said, narrow. We also hiked to Casper Bowl on 3/20, but the snow up there wasn't as good as on other trails and was skied out enough so it might not have been worth the effort. It is lots of fun being on a big mountain with such great terrain... I think the snow was much better for dmc though.

As for Corbets, haven't gotten me on that yet. The report actually said it was closed, and we actually took a lesson today and the instructor thought it as closed (though he wasn't positive it seemed), but on 3/19 when we were traversing below it we did see someone exiting it and a bunch of others looking down. I still wish I had the guts to ski it, but it really depends on the drop I guess. If it were as low as 5 feet at the easiest entrance I might (emphasize might) go for it (the instructor estimated it at 5-7 feet at the easier part, though when I was here last time and there was more snow but still below average, and I looked down, it seemed like more than that). Not sure if I should just continue thinking it's probably closed so I don't have to face my fear, or go and look

I'll update later in the trip unless I complete bored everyone with no pictures and not much detail

Hope everyone is enjoying the huge storm from this passed weekend in the east!

dmc · Mar 21, 2007, 8:12 AM

Glad my BETA got into Mushroom Chutes...

Sounds like a typical spring adventure at JH..

kcyanks1 · Mar 22, 2007, 6:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmc

Glad my BETA got into Mushroom Chutes...

Sounds like a typical spring adventure at JH..

Sorry to be ignorant, but what do you mean by calling me your "BETA"? (If you are making fun of me in some joking way I don't care at all..I just want to have some idea what you are saying

)

SkiDog · Mar 23, 2007, 1:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcyanks1

Sorry to be ignorant, but what do you mean by calling me your "BETA"? (If you are making fun of me in some joking way I don't care at all..I just want to have some idea what you are saying

)

BETA...its like "early release information"..He wasn't calling you anything...

M

kcyanks1 · Mar 23, 2007, 3:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SkiDog

BETA...its like "early release information"..He wasn't calling you anything...

M

I know what beta software is.. I just didn't get how it related to me

SkiDog · Mar 23, 2007, 3:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcyanks1

I know what beta software is.. I just didn't get how it related to me

DMC gave YOU the heads up (BETA) on the mushroom chutes. Get it? Got it? Good!

M

dmc · Mar 23, 2007, 3:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcyanks1

Sorry to be ignorant, but what do you mean by calling me your "BETA"? (If you are making fun of me in some joking way I don't care at all..I just want to have some idea what you are saying

)

BETA is just me giving you info on the goods... It's a good thing..

kcyanks1 · Mar 23, 2007, 3:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmc

BETA is just me giving you info on the goods... It's a good thing..

Cool .. thanks again for the tips!

Justin10 · Mar 25, 2007, 7:23 PM

I dont mean to hijack the thread, but I was also there last week, and it was typical spring conditions like kcyanks1 said. First time to the mountain, and I was very impressed with the terrain there, even though lots was closed. The hobacks and all those faces on the lower left part of the mountain were closed. Didn't have the balls to do corbets either, but got a few pictures of that. I was alone, so i didnt get in any hiking, but still got in my fair share of scares on some trails. kcyanks1 covered it all pretty well...here are just a few of the pictures i took....

Laramie bowl:

Bivouac and Cheyenne Bowl:

Corbets:

Rendezvous Bowl:

We also did Grand Targhee for a day and that was very frozen on the top all day, but softened up about mid-mountin down around midday. Not nearly as challenging, but with some nice powder, seems like it would be a really amazing mountain. Jackson Hole would have also obviously been much better with better and more snow. Talks of maybe heading out there again next year at the end of January/first week of February.

Also, thanks to DMC for the heads up before we headed out there. Never hit the rock springs bowl however becasue the lack of snow and not wanting to hike. But it was nice to know a little about the mountain before heading out there!

kcyanks1 · Mar 25, 2007, 8:14 PM

Thanks for the report and pics Justin! Glad you seemed to have a great trip as well. I think I mentioned it in my other post, but the lower faces did open for a while on Thursday morning .. we decided not to do them at that point since we didn't want to head down and figured they'd be rock hard despite the low elevation, and then by the time we went by them again they were all closed.

Mar 20, 2007, 11:19 PM	#1 (permalink)
kcyanks1 Sugarbush Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: New York, NY Posts: 1,128	Jackson Hole 3/18-3/20 Where: Jackson Hole, WY When: 3/18 (last 1-2 hours of the day), 3/19, 3/20 Weather: HOT (at least for March and what I was expecting). I skied in a long sleeve t-shirt and jacket liner on 3/18, a short-sleeve t-shirt and jacket liner on 3/19, and a turtle neck and jacket liner on 3/20. By the end of 3/20 it was snowing somewhat at the top, but I can't imagine that it was below freezing. Perhaps it was a little hotter further up and the precipitation just never changed from snow. Or maybe it was the sun. But it felt warm still. Conditions: Spring conditions - standard icy/corn/slush cycle, the amount of each depending on how high you were on the mountain, time of day, direction the trail faces, and how much sun the trail receives. The base up top is pretty good still, though less than it was another time I was here in March, and I suspect well below average considering they have had under 300" this year and they average over 400". Boring paragraph you can skip if you want (airline troubles): I was supposed to arrive on the 17th so I could ski on the 18th, but due to flight issues I didn't arrive until the afternoon of 3/18 ... without my baggage. Thankfully Jackson gives you a free ticket and rental for the afternoon you arrive if you present your boarding pass, so I did that for the first afternoon. Nothing too much to report then since I didn't get much skiing in. Though I never thought I'd be very picky about equipment, but I felt like I was skiing like crap with what I had.. I think it was the boots more than the skis--they just didn't fit tightly enough. I then skied full days on 3/19 and 3/20. On 3/19 I had to demo skis because my stuff still had not arrived (I demoed Nordicas, not sure what model, but they were wider than my own skis and quite fun), and then my stuff arrived the afternoon of 3/19 so I had my own equipment for 3/20. So, sorry for the boring stuff. Now on to my report which pales in comparison to dmc's reports. And even though I did finally buy a camera, I only took a couple pictures and they are all awful. Report: My description of the conditions sums it up well. I was able to ski a good amount of the expert terrain -- Expert Chutes, Tower 3 Chute (it was open on 3/19 but closed on 3/17 and 3/18 for some reason), Paintbrush, Hoops Gap, and Alta 3 (Alta 1 and 2 which I like better were closed. 1 looks very skiable, 2 would have some more rock dodging). Even found the Mushroom chutes (thanks dmc!). Of those Expert Chutes and Paintbrush were probably in the best condition. Tower 3 was good at the top and bottom but the most challenging part was somewhat icy. Our first attempt to find the Mushroom Chutes on 3/18 led to some pretty icy stuff which might've been Hoops Gap or the bottom of the Mushroom Chutes, but then we skied it further up on 3/20 and it was nicer..Still a bit hard, but fun, and as dmc said, narrow. We also hiked to Casper Bowl on 3/20, but the snow up there wasn't as good as on other trails and was skied out enough so it might not have been worth the effort. It is lots of fun being on a big mountain with such great terrain... I think the snow was much better for dmc though. As for Corbets, haven't gotten me on that yet. The report actually said it was closed, and we actually took a lesson today and the instructor thought it as closed (though he wasn't positive it seemed), but on 3/19 when we were traversing below it we did see someone exiting it and a bunch of others looking down. I still wish I had the guts to ski it, but it really depends on the drop I guess. If it were as low as 5 feet at the easiest entrance I might (emphasize might) go for it (the instructor estimated it at 5-7 feet at the easier part, though when I was here last time and there was more snow but still below average, and I looked down, it seemed like more than that). Not sure if I should just continue thinking it's probably closed so I don't have to face my fear, or go and look I'll update later in the trip unless I complete bored everyone with no pictures and not much detail Hope everyone is enjoying the huge storm from this passed weekend in the east! __________________ -Kenny

Mar 21, 2007, 8:12 AM	#2 (permalink)
dmc DMC TUX Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Hunter, NY Posts: 6,513	Glad my BETA got into Mushroom Chutes... Sounds like a typical spring adventure at JH.. __________________ "The snowboard track is the most aesthetic and ephemeral passage that man can leave on a mountain" Stephen Koch ------------------ DMCs Interactive Tuckerman Ravine Map

Mar 25, 2007, 7:23 PM	#9 (permalink)
Justin10 Cannon Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Plymouth, NH Posts: 82	I dont mean to hijack the thread, but I was also there last week, and it was typical spring conditions like kcyanks1 said. First time to the mountain, and I was very impressed with the terrain there, even though lots was closed. The hobacks and all those faces on the lower left part of the mountain were closed. Didn't have the balls to do corbets either, but got a few pictures of that. I was alone, so i didnt get in any hiking, but still got in my fair share of scares on some trails. kcyanks1 covered it all pretty well...here are just a few of the pictures i took.... Laramie bowl: Bivouac and Cheyenne Bowl: Corbets: Rendezvous Bowl: We also did Grand Targhee for a day and that was very frozen on the top all day, but softened up about mid-mountin down around midday. Not nearly as challenging, but with some nice powder, seems like it would be a really amazing mountain. Jackson Hole would have also obviously been much better with better and more snow. Talks of maybe heading out there again next year at the end of January/first week of February. Also, thanks to DMC for the heads up before we headed out there. Never hit the rock springs bowl however becasue the lack of snow and not wanting to hike. But it was nice to know a little about the mountain before heading out there! __________________ SNOW

Mar 25, 2007, 8:14 PM	#10 (permalink)
kcyanks1 Sugarbush Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: New York, NY Posts: 1,128	Thanks for the report and pics Justin! Glad you seemed to have a great trip as well. I think I mentioned it in my other post, but the lower faces did open for a while on Thursday morning .. we decided not to do them at that point since we didn't want to head down and figured they'd be rock hard despite the low elevation, and then by the time we went by them again they were all closed. __________________ -Kenny

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