Zand
Well-known member
- Resort or Ski Area
- Snow King
- Date
- Feb 21, 2021
- Snow Conditions
-
- Powder
- Chopped or Crud
Landed at the airport shortly after 11:30 and headed for my now traditional 1/2 day start at Snow King before a week of Jackson. First time on skis since my rough wipeout at Cannon. Took about a week for the leg to feel better. Could've skied last week but didn't feel like dealing with the vacation crowds.
Everytime I go west, the first day always makes me feel like a totally out of shape fatass (which I am, but it gets cranked up to 100 on these first days) and I was sucking wind all day, not to mention boot discomfort that also only seems to happen my first day out west. I was able to ski like gangbusters on that last powder day at Cannon, but I guess between the (slight) high elevation of Snow King plus being up since 3:30am eastern for the flight, I only survived 7 or 8 runs before heading out to check into the hotel and promptly pass out.
Don't have a whole lot to elaborate on. I wrote last year about how surprising of a "hill" this is (it has as much vert as Mt Snow but it's basically the Ward Hill of Jackson) and it really does have some kickass terrain with 0 crowds. Basically a bigger Plattekill, it maintains a steep pitch through all of its vertical and has a ton of fun woods shots. It's very much an eastern type hill with narrow trails and much less natural than Jackson Hole gets 15 miles away. It was already a no brainer to spend a half day at, but now that it's on the Indy Pass it's even more of a no brainer.
I don't know if this is legit or it was just me, but I kinda had a hard time in the woods figuring out the surface. There was 4-6" of dry powder on top of either an unsupportive base that you would sink into, or the base would be almost porcelain. While the powder on top looked nice, the uncertainty of what was underneath made turns in the untracked very uncomfortable. And good luck finding any tracks at Snow King. On a busy day this place gets like 200 people, so powder sits for days.
I did very much enjoy the insanely steep Liftline under the Summit Double. The top of this thing is right up there with stuff like Tower 3 at JH as far as steepness goes and much more surefooted underneath compared to the glades. With a little bit better of a base (the depth is fine, just the consistency was bad) this place would be a blast on a powder day.
Phone died early on so not many pics, which is unfortunate because this place has the coolest views of any ski area, bar none. In a season of uncertainty, the one thing I can be certain of is that the next four days at Jackson Hole will be batshit insane after last week's snow cycle and more coming this week. Can't wait.
Everytime I go west, the first day always makes me feel like a totally out of shape fatass (which I am, but it gets cranked up to 100 on these first days) and I was sucking wind all day, not to mention boot discomfort that also only seems to happen my first day out west. I was able to ski like gangbusters on that last powder day at Cannon, but I guess between the (slight) high elevation of Snow King plus being up since 3:30am eastern for the flight, I only survived 7 or 8 runs before heading out to check into the hotel and promptly pass out.
Don't have a whole lot to elaborate on. I wrote last year about how surprising of a "hill" this is (it has as much vert as Mt Snow but it's basically the Ward Hill of Jackson) and it really does have some kickass terrain with 0 crowds. Basically a bigger Plattekill, it maintains a steep pitch through all of its vertical and has a ton of fun woods shots. It's very much an eastern type hill with narrow trails and much less natural than Jackson Hole gets 15 miles away. It was already a no brainer to spend a half day at, but now that it's on the Indy Pass it's even more of a no brainer.
I don't know if this is legit or it was just me, but I kinda had a hard time in the woods figuring out the surface. There was 4-6" of dry powder on top of either an unsupportive base that you would sink into, or the base would be almost porcelain. While the powder on top looked nice, the uncertainty of what was underneath made turns in the untracked very uncomfortable. And good luck finding any tracks at Snow King. On a busy day this place gets like 200 people, so powder sits for days.
I did very much enjoy the insanely steep Liftline under the Summit Double. The top of this thing is right up there with stuff like Tower 3 at JH as far as steepness goes and much more surefooted underneath compared to the glades. With a little bit better of a base (the depth is fine, just the consistency was bad) this place would be a blast on a powder day.
Phone died early on so not many pics, which is unfortunate because this place has the coolest views of any ski area, bar none. In a season of uncertainty, the one thing I can be certain of is that the next four days at Jackson Hole will be batshit insane after last week's snow cycle and more coming this week. Can't wait.
