Jackson Hole trip from 2/15 to 2/20...

[Tonyr]

Resort or Ski Area

Jackson Hole

Date

Feb 15, 2025

Snow Conditions

1. Powder

We visited Jackson Hole for the first time in February of 2021 and due to the pandemic which made lift capacity very small, I remember waiting in 40 minute line after 40 minute line throughout that whole trip. This visit so far has been the total opposite. The longest wait we had yesterday was 20 minutes to get on the tram. In 2021 we didn't ride the tram due to the two hour waits.

The Bridger Gondola and Thunder lift were less than 5 minutes in the singles lines. We lapped the Sublette chair which had no wait the whole day. I guess the Ikon being blacked out had something to do with the light lines. Still, I was really kind of surprised seeing it's Saturday, they have a ton of snow here, and it's President's Weekend.

In any event, yesterday was a 10 out of 10 conditions wise, it snowed around 8 inches overnight and a little in the morning then the sun came out mid-morning. It was windy at the top, but the snow was deep off trail and was light like Utah powder...






We were out from 9.30 until 2pm today. The first run was from the top of the tram all the way to the bottom with the highlight being the unmarked trees near the Rendezvous trail on the way down which were full of deep powder.

On our second ride up we moved over to the Sublette lift and lapped that the rest of the day.





Alta Chute Zero wasn't open but we hit the other three Chutes. Alta Chute 1 is the longest, we thought Chute 2 was tougher as the line is narrower and thinner.

If you've never skied the Alta Chutes before I would recommend starting with Chute 3 first which was the easiest of the three then work your way over to the others. Chute 1 is supposedly the most challenging but Chute 2 was definitely worse today.

When we finished up on Sublette we called it a day. My legs were cooked and skiing back through the Hobacks didn't help as the snow is thick and was cut up pretty good by the end of the day. Looking forward to the next 4 days, It's supposed to dump here all week...

 

[Edd]

The chutes look ok but those trees seem too fahkin steep for me to have a good time. Nice pics.

 

[Tonyr]

Well, trees like that definitely make you stay super focused sking through them. I always remind my son that if he falls on something steep make sure to fall into the mountain. If you go over your skis on a pitch like that it's a problem!

At a place like Jackson or Snowbird I'm most worried about getting cliffed out on a trail I'm not familiar with especially with my son trailing me. That happened to us once skiing out of bounds at Brighton, not fun.

 

[Tonyr]

Had another 10 out of 10 ski day today. It started snowing around 7am this morning and it isn't supposed to let up until tomorrow. We got out at 10.30, did a warm up run off of the Bridger Gondola through the Woolsy Woods, then made our way from the base over to the Thunder lift for the rest of the day...


The snow again was awesome with deep pockets of light powder all over the place. There were no lines at all other than the tram. We skied right onto the Thunder Lift each time hitting Paintbrush, Tower Chute, and Hoops Gap...

The real fun though came from all of the unmarked trees to the right of Tower 3, the right of Hoops Gap, the left of Paintbrush, and the left of Riverton Bowl . The unmarked trees next to Tower Three Chute in particular may be my new favorite treeline anywhere. It's a long amazing line that is super steep and was chalk full of deep powder...






At 2pm we called it quits. Tomorrow should be another fantastic one as well. My son and I are going to try and hit the tram line early.

 

[eatskisleep]

Awesome! I love JH such a fun mountain!!

 

[Zand]

The chutes look ok but those trees seem too fahkin steep for me to have a good time. Nice pics.

Thing about Jackson is the snow is usually so good that the steepness is less noticeable. Every turn is a pillow.

First time I went there my first resort back east I went to was Sugarloaf. Second time I went there I came back to Cannon. I couldn't believe how flat both of those places felt after skiing Jackson, and they're both tough in their own right!!!

 

[Tonyr]

So today was an 11 out of 10 conditions wise. It snowed 12 inches overnight night then it snowed Utah level powder all day. Saturday and Sunday there were no lines, today was different. The tram line at 8.45 looked like this....

We took the Bridger Gondola instead to the Thunder lift and immediately skied down the Tower 3 Chute glades which were incredible...



The line wasn't bad getting on the Thunder lift but it was horrible the 2nd time around so we skied from the right of the Bridger Gondola over the rest of the day hitting powder stash after powder stash in the trees.

It was an all time day today and even our waiter at dinner, who is a local, said it was the best day of the season so far. It isn't supposed to stop snowing so tomorrow is going to be fantastic as well, here are some photos of the day...

 

[Tonyr]

Thing about Jackson is the snow is usually so good that the steepness is less noticeable. Every turn is a pillow.

First time I went there my first resort back east I went to was Sugarloaf. Second time I went there I came back to Cannon. I couldn't believe how flat both of those places felt after skiing Jackson, and they're both tough in their own right!!!

I 100% agree. A 40 plus degree pitch at Jackson or Snowbird in 12 inches of fresh snow is much easier to ski than a 30 degree-ish pitch on the east coast that is a sheet of ice.

 

[Tonyr]

Awesome! I love JH such a fun mountain!!

It's definitely gone up a notch in my book this trip!

 

[Tonyr]

Also, we hit the Saratoga bowl for the first time today. It reminded me of Blue Sky Basin at Vail without the long trek getting there. It's really a great section of the mountain.

 

[Tonyr]

Today was less than a 2 hour day out. The conditions were fantastic and the crowds were low but my legs were tired from the 3 days of hard skiing prior and I had to work so there's that!

Our plan was to ski Corbet's today. With 36 inches of snow over the last couple of days, our thought was there is no better time then now to ski it. We got out around 10.30 am, the tram line was less than 25 minutes...

The top of the mountain this morning was windy and had very low visibility. As we skied up to the edge of Corbet's my son looked over and said no thanks to that!

So the best we got today was a picture with the sign...

We ended up skiing the East traverse down to the base, met my wife at the bottom then skied a couple of intermediate runs off the Apres Vous lift and called it a day. The snow was perfect yet again. Tomorrow is our last day in Jackson, below are some of my best photos from the short day...

 

[Tonyr]

Finished up our last day at Jackson. Got out for a couple hours today and took it easy with the family as we skied mostly the Apre Vous and Teton lifts. There is lots of great terrain off of both those pods. Here are some of my better photos of the day, conditions were once again awesome....









Tomorrow is a break day as we are driving down to Park City to ski for a few more days. I'm already looking forward to coming back here though! I hope you enjoyed the report.

 

[Zand]

I miss Jackson. Wish I could find some of those $200 RT flights that I found during Covid winter (although the liftlines were absolutely atrocious even midweek). I'll get back one of these years.

I still every so often scroll back through my pictures of the Hobacks on a powder day. 4 years ago but still remember it fondly.

 

[Tonyr]

I haven't been huge fan of the Hobacks, we have skied through a bunch of chopped up snow each time we've been in that pod. I'm sure under the right conditions its amazing. We really loved the Saratoga bowl though. The skiing is great back in there.

In any event, It has gotten so expensive to visit here mainly due to the flights. Then when we landed at 9pm an Uber was $180 to the hotel which was ridiculous but you have no choice if you didn't know to plan for a ride in advance.

I love JH and look forward to coming back again one day but I can also go to Alta Snowbird or Aspen Snowmass and do both easier and cheaper and I like all three places about the same. On the bright side, other than the tram, there where no lines this visit. We pretty much skied on to every lift throughout the 5 day trip.

 

[jimk]

Another great and snowy trip report Tony! You are doing some awesome ski travel AND you're bringing along one or more family members every time. Not easy and not cheap. But you are building on something you can do together for many more years with a lasting positive impact on the family.