Jackson Hole Mountain Resort
With the greatest sustained vertical drop, 4,128 feet, in the United States Jackson Hole Mountain resort is world famous for it powder, its steeps, and its wide open bowls and glades. Combine that with Grand Targhee's impressive 480 inches of some of the lightest snow in the country, and Snow King's in-town convenience, night skiing, and flexible ticketing and you've got the recipe for some of the greatest skiing in the world.
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Jackson Hole has it all – varied terrain, abundant, dry powder and few crowds. See you on the slopes!
By Ann Vinciguerra
In the 65 years since the first lift was put up in Jackson Hole, the area’s ski scene has grown to include 8,000 acres of lift-serviced terrain spread over three very different resorts. Enjoy!
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (307) 733-2292, www.jacksonhole.com
You’ve read endless stories about skiing Corbet’s Couloir. You’ve seen the sign: “This mountain is like nothing you’ve skied before. It is huge. With variable terrain from groomed slopes to dangerous cliff areas and dangerously variable weather and snow conditions. You could become lost. You could make a mistake and suffer personal injury or death.” Your friends have skied it and talked about nothing else for days after their return.
What are you waiting for? It’s time you hit Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. But don’t fear, while the resort’s reputation as a challenging place to ski or ride is well deserved, not all of its 2,500 acres of in bounds terrain are heart-stopping black diamonds (most of the 3,000 additional acres of accessible out-of-bounds terrain is however). There are plenty of trails to please beginning and intermediate skiers and snowboarders.
Ten-percent of the resort – 250 acres -- is actually beginner terrain. That’s a lot more than at other “beginner-friendly” resorts. Eagle’s Rest and Teewinot chairlifts, servicing wide, uncrowded and well-groomed trails are great places to start.
Take a few lessons at Jackson Hole’s Mountain Sports School and you’ll soon move up to intermediate trails. Bridger Gondola and Thunder, Sublette, Casper and Après Vous lifts all access blue runs, but Casper, Bridger Gondola and Après Vous in particular are intermediate havens; most runs off these lifts are suitable for intermediates.
If you’re an intermediate itching for views, try Rendezvous Trail, off Sublette. The run, one of the longest groomers at the resort, circles around the base of Rendezvous Bowl and then parallels a lower ridgeline. Laramie Bowl, reached by either Thunder or Sublette is a good practice ground for intermediates looking to tackle ungroomed terrain. (But don’t worry, if powder proves too much to handle, skier’s left of Laramie Bowl is groomed daily.)
For the experts out there, the sky’s the limit at Jackson Hole. Most lifts access black diamond terrain -- wide open bowls, narrow chutes, gnarly cliffs and every combination thereof – but the Aerial Tram is king. In ten short minutes, it whisks skiers and boarders 4,139-vertical feet above the valley floor. It’s a long way down to the bottom, but you’ll be smiling the whole time, even as your thighs burn.
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