driving from SLC to jackson? to big sky?

[KustyTheKlown]

i am fully aware that they need a lot of snow to open anything. I'm mainly happy to see them predicting the ridge breaking down by 12/10. mid month could be salvaged. I'm still driving to Montana for the first half of the trip. I'm hoping by 12/10 it starts snowing again. big sky is well positioned to open more terrain. they have a good base down. Utah will need a lot more help. so hopefully they are in business by the 20th. a couple good storms between 12/10 and 12/20 can make a world of difference.

 

[kingslug]

I'll be leaving the place the 17th..hope something happens before then. This would be my first skunk out...ever.

 

[BenedictGomez]

If the December climatology prediction is correct, the west might have a lackluster month in terms of snow. Keep in mind this is just a below/normal/above % metric, so that certainly doesnt mean it's not going to snow (or even snow a lot), it just means that the predicted temps are slated as less than optimal for big snows.

EDIT: Apologies for the massive picture.

 

[Smellytele]

that is temp do you have the precip one?

 

[kingslug]

I'll be spending a lot of time in VT..looks like the NE will do well this season.

 

[thetrailboss]

If the December climatology prediction is correct, the west might have a lackluster month in terms of snow. Keep in mind this is just a below/normal/above % metric, so that certainly doesnt mean it's not going to snow (or even snow a lot), it just means that the predicted temps are slated as less than optimal for big snows.

EDIT: Apologies for the massive picture.

Don't remind me.

 

[abc]

I had a BAD experience last year
...
When I politely asked Priceline.com to please cancel based on what I thought was either a very poorly worded product description at best, or a deceptive marketing practice at worst, they told me to pound sand and that they'd fight my credit card company to force me to pay! And they did! And there were rude to the point of "ha, ha, ha, you're screwed!" arrogance about it.
....

Moral of the story, I will never use Priceline.com again.

I always wonder about prepaid car rental. What if the flight was cancelled due to weather?

I've had to eat hotel reservation when flights were cancelled. But often times, there's no choice but to take the risk. Not so with rental car reservation. Most of the time, the prepaid rental car saving I found were not big enough to worth losing the flexibility.

 

[jimk]

That's sort of one of the points I was trying to make. There are some (though seemingly few) that explicitly say 4WD, and I'd want to confirm that were I booking.

I had a BAD experience last year (and this is how I know about the RAV4 thing) where I had to get refunded and FIGHT Priceline.com through my credit card company, because I booked a "RAV4 or similar", leading me to believe that meant 4WD.

My assumption wasnt crazy or irresponsible, because RAV4 literally stands for "Recreational Activity Vehicle: 4-wheel drive" <--- the underlined is straight from Toyota. BUT it turns out none of the RAV4 cars in the rental fleet are actually 4WD! When I politely asked Priceline.com to please cancel based on what I thought was either a very poorly worded product description at best, or a deceptive marketing practice at worst, they told me to pound sand and that they'd fight my credit card company to force me to pay! And they did! And there were rude to the point of "ha, ha, ha, you're screwed!" arrogance about it.

Luckily I was savvy enough to screenshot their marketing info through each step of the purchasing process, as well as the online customer service chat with the Priceline underling, as well as the Priceline supervisor, but they actually took my credit card company to disputes! In the end, the credit card company sided with me based on my substantial evidence and I got my money back, but it took a few months and much frustration. Had I not the foresight to save all that stuff Priceline probably would have won and screwed me over as their "buy now and you get what you get" contract is pretty iron-clad.

Moral of the story, I will never use Priceline.com again.

I've used priceline for advance payment car rentals a couple times in recent years and it's been good and cheap, but I kept it real simple and only rented an economy car and didn't try to change dates or times.

Sorry kind of longish post, One of my better car rental stories: In late Dec 2012 I flew into SFX airport to begin a two week ski trip. I had reserved a small suv specifically identified as a 4wd jeep, sorry can't remember the company. I planned to travel from San Fran to Mt. Bachelor for three days, then to ski some mtns in North Lake Tahoe with my son, then back to San Fran to pick up wife and daughter and take a weekend break with cousins in the city, then drive over to Kirkwood for four days, and then back to SFX, 2000 miles of driving total. I got what I thought was a pretty good deal on the 4wd Jeep out of SFX during the Holidays, IIRC for about $750 total for two weeks. When I went to pick up the jeep they did not have it or any small 4wd vehicles, they wanted to rent me a larger suv that was 2wd for an upcharge. I checked another car company nearby in the airport and they wanted $1500 for a 4wd suv for two weeks. I went back to original company and fussed with them and they offered an extended bed chrysler minivan for my original rate of $750 for two weeks. It had been a snowy dec in tahoe and bachelor and told them I was going skiing and one of the agents actually suggested I take the minivan and put chains on it if I got stuck in a storm. I thought about this and since I was eventually going to have four in my party I took the minivan. It worked out great and I did pick up some chains for about $50 and used them one day going to Sierra at Tahoe for a great powder day during a stormy day when chain laws were in effect in the Tahoe area. Then we drove back to SFX the night before our flight back home and I threw the chains in a trash can at the motel. They didn't fit any vehicles I had at home and I didn't want to take them on an airplane.
Worth every penny of those tire chains:

 

[Harvey]

Keep in mind this is just a below/normal/above % metric, so that certainly doesnt mean it's not going to snow (or even snow a lot), it just means that the predicted temps are slated as less than optimal for big snows.

You know weather better than I do BG. That map (if it verifies) means a trough in the east and high pressure out west. While it doesn't ensure snow in the east, it does mean a snow drought in the west is likely.

 

[kingslug]

Well they opened. 4 inches so far and another 10 to 15 on the way. Its something.

 

[abc]

Who are they?

 

[kingslug]

They being Alta Snowbird

 

[kingslug]

Snow
Powder

Open trails
5/116

Open lifts
2/10

​

Base

25"		9°F
Snow depth		NW 3 mph

Summit

25"		9°F
Snow depth		NW 3 mp

Alta​

 

[snoseek]

If you're into rock climbing or mountain biking I imagine Moab would be a hell of alot more fun than lcc in the next couple weeks.

Mammoth is supposed to be skiing real good. We are skiing all of the front side at Kirkwood but the skiing is about to deteriorate for the next few weeks.

 

[kingslug]

Chance to bail and only lose a few hundred..might take it.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

i could bail and lose about $300. since big sky is on my pass and will have decent skiing, i dont think it is worth it to cancel. it is use it or lose it vacation days for me in 2017. sitting around nyc for the entire two weeks would be so boring. skiing the east for the two weeks would just eat up my max pass days and kill me on lodging and gas and mileage. i know i'm spending on hotels out there, but its real cheap ($40/night SLC, $70/night west yellowstone).

 

[abc]

($40/night SLC, $70/night west yellowstone).

West Yellowstone is a long way from Big Sky

 

[Jcb890]

West Yellowstone is a long way from Big Sky

Yeah, no way I'd make that trek daily to get to the mountain. Staying in the town/village was far enough away for us, but not too bad.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

West Yellowstone is a long way from Big Sky

I know. it's an hour. but I'm alone and staying in big sky is prohibitively expensive, and staying in Bozeman is basically as far as west Yellowstone while being 2 hours further from my starting point in SLC. it's not ideal but I'm trying to make lemonade with this trip. if the weather forecasts are to be believed, I will have clear driving the entire trip :-(

 

[Jcb890]

I know. it's an hour. but I'm alone and staying in big sky is prohibitively expensive, and staying in Bozeman is basically as far as west Yellowstone while being 2 hours further from my starting point in SLC. it's not ideal but I'm trying to make lemonade with this trip. if the weather forecasts are to be believed, I will have clear driving the entire trip :-(

I think you'll wind up traveling 191, which was mostly flat from what I saw. Pretty dark, but flat. If no snow, it travels fast too.

If you don't eat dinner at both Buck's T-4 Restaurant and Gallatin Riverhouse Grill, then you're fuckin' up. They're both on 191 also. Just posting about it makes me want to get a nice steak at Buck's.