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Grand Targhee and Jackson Hole travel and snow, late Feb 2019

marzNC

Angel Diva
I and a few other Divas are headed to Grand Targhee and/or Jackson Hole in the next week or two. Per usual, that means I'm having fun tracking the snow forecasts. Also interested in the weather for driving north from SLC, which is where I'm flying to meet my ski buddy in a few days.

So far, the timing seems to be pretty good. It's snowing big time at Targhee right now. But the big storm should be over by the time I land in SLC. As folks in the PacNW and Tahoe know, there is such a thing as too much snow.

I noticed that the main Dreamcatcher lift was on wind hold most of the day on 2/13.

From OpenSnow
Screen Shot 2019-02-13 at 10.24.23 PM.png
 

contesstant

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
These big storms have definitely brought in not only almost TOO much of a good thing, but a LOT of wind. Biggest issue at Targhee is typically visibility. It is my absolute favorite place to ski, so have fun!
 

Skisailor

Angel Diva
These big storms have definitely brought in not only almost TOO much of a good thing, but a LOT of wind. Biggest issue at Targhee is typically visibility. It is my absolute favorite place to ski, so have fun!

Agree - really fun place to ski but it’s so open - in bad visibility or even just cloudy flat light, it can be really tough. Those bluebird days are the thing to root for at Targhee!
 
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marzNC

Angel Diva
These big storms have definitely brought in not only almost TOO much of a good thing, but a LOT of wind. Biggest issue at Targhee is typically visibility. It is my absolute favorite place to ski, so have fun!
Luckily, low visibility isn't an issue for me. Especially when I have enough sense of a mountain. We had good visibility the first time at Targhee, so were able to get a good sense the layout at Targhee. The next time, did a day trip from Jackson since Jason hadn't been before. Wasn't the greatest skiing because off-piste was too frozen, but great views.

Hopefully with two days, Dreamcatcher won't be on wind hold the entire time. So far, I'm holding off on getting a lift ticket in advance. If Teton Pass is open, Bill and I have the MCP so in theory could go ski at JH on Sunday. But given that it's a holiday weekend, I expect lift lines there.

View from old Blackfoot double lift in Jan 2014, ski buddies Jason and Bill
Grand Targhee Blackfoot Jan2014  - 3.jpg
 

contesstant

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
The trees off of Blackfoot are the place to be in bad vis. Love it over there! It's a triple now, too. Still slow, but I like the old school vibe so much!
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Based on OpenSnow as of Thu morning, looks like the winds are going to die down a bit sooner. Looking good for the weekend. :smile:

Based on her ongoing trip report, sounds like @Yamaste and her DH made the drive from Sun Valley to Jackson just in time to avoid the storm on the highway.

Screen Shot 2019-02-14 at 10.17.35 AM.png
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
The daily snow report on the Targhee website is quite good. Audio and text. Noticed that freeheelers are mentioned along with alpine and snowboarding. Several webcams. Don't remember all that info being available before but it's been 4-5 years since I've paid attention.

They got 10 inches of new snow after the lifts closed yesterday, expecting another 4-8 inches today.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Have realized that the audio update that's available by phone can include more details than the text update. For instance, mentioned snow depths at three different locations on the mountain: 5 inches at the base, 7 inches at a mid-mountain snow plot, and 9 inches at the summit. Also mentioned the snow density as 10% (5-6% is really fluffy, 15% is pretty dense). The base measuring stick is very cute.

Grand Targhee Report as of early morning Feb. 15
"9" in 24 hrs, 8" of that after lift closure! Once again, we find ourselves surrounded by a world of fresh snow. Emerge this morning to powder fields as far as the eye can see. This pow will be a bit on the heavier side, so bring the widest boards you've got and drop in on some surfy, soft turns. Skies will remain cloudy with an additional 3-7" of fresh through the day, temperature high will reach 24, and winds will be a breezy 13-22 mph."
 

snoWYmonkey

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
@marzNC Hurray, you're coming back to the tetons! We have more snow on the WY side on the valley floor than has ever been recorded in the past 114 years since they started taking measurements. It is all a bit crazy really. Pass and canyon were closed most of today. Not sure about quality, but can guarantee quantity! Here's to our paths crossing on the mountain.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
@marzNC Hurray, you're coming back to the tetons! We have more snow on the WY side on the valley floor than has ever been recorded in the past 114 years since they started taking measurements. It is all a bit crazy really. Pass and canyon were closed most of today. Not sure about quality, but can guarantee quantity! Here's to our paths crossing on the mountain.
Not sure we'll get to JH or not this time. Obviously can't happen if the pass stays closed. How busy do you think it will be for Sun and Mon of Pres. Day weekend?

We (me and Bill) have the MCP so that's a factor. I haven't bothered to get an advanced lift ticket for Targhee. Wanted to stay flexible. Only plan is that we'll stay in Driggs Sat and Sun night.

Have been trying to get back to JH and/or Big Sky for a few years. The first trip to Taos in Jan 2017 because of they joined the MCP changed my thinking fairly significantly.
 

snoWYmonkey

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Not sure we'll get to JH or not this time. Obviously can't happen if the pass stays closed. How busy do you think it will be for Sun and Mon of Pres. Day weekend?

I unfortunately think it will be a bit of a mad house this weekend. Not telling you to stay away, but pretty sure I would not be heading out to the Village to ski if I had the weekend off.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
I unfortunately think it will be a bit of a mad house this weekend. Not telling you to stay away, but pretty sure I would not be heading out to the Village to ski if I had the weekend off.
That was my guess. Especially given the recent snowstorms. No one was going to be cancelling holiday plans. And why I decided on Targhee. Especially after finding that we could get rooms at The Pines. Stayed there the first time we checked out Targhee.

Considered Discovery, but that adds a fair amount of driving. Turns out Targhee and Bridger got more snow out of the storm.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Had a lift ride at Targhee with a couple friendly young men (boarders) who are doing a ski trip staying in Jackson. They planned to ski Targhee on Friday but the pass was closed. The price for lift tickets for JH was too steep so they skied at Snow King instead. Today I think they got a good deal given that the lift lines were probably much shorter than at JH (holiday weekend). They've skied enough at JH to know that things didn't get skied out as fast.

Apparently the road across the pass was okay. More snow in one direction than the other.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
The trees off of Blackfoot are the place to be in bad vis. Love it over there! It's a triple now, too. Still slow, but I like the old school vibe so much!
The new Blackfoot lift is a quad. Nice ride compared to the old lift.

Bill skied over off Blackfoot quite a bit today.
 

contesstant

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Oh that's right! We rarely have more than two on it, but yes, we did have 4 on it last season LOL.
 

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