More fresh snow

More fresh snow
Originally uploaded by krughb.

The dry snow is back

The dry snow is back
Originally uploaded by krughb.

Chest shot?

Chest shot?
Originally uploaded by krughb.

Chivers Ridge on Monday

blower snow
Originally uploaded by krughb.

After getting shot down on Cat Skiing for Charlotte's birthday at Grand Targhee due to poor snow conditions on Sunday a few storms have rolled into Wyoming and Teton Pass has been skiing well.

We took 1 run cat skiing and immediately grabbed rain/snow checks. Most of the cat skiing area faces South and East and all snow was wind and sun effected. It was the worst run of the year -- 3 inch breakable crust and mix of unbreakable crust. Hats off to the G'hee for offering a snow/rain check. We decided to head to Driggs for a late breakfast and fueled up for 2 runs in North facing trees in Teton Pass.

I skied Chivers on Monday morning with a few friends grabbed a few powder shots. I have not taken many ski pictures this year but I'll post a few shots from Sunday. Perhaps the video camera will be taken out of the closet if the snow keeps on falling.

Teton Pass - 2nd Turn

Yesterday I skied Glory again but descended down 2nd Turn, a West facing ridge that is adjacent to 1st Turn. It snowed 2-3 inches overnight and most of the old tracks were filled in. I opted to telemark yesterday and the skiing was solid knee deep powder. I only felt the old tracks/crust on 3 turns - not bad for a 2000ft run.

When I drove through Wilson I saw my friend Tim loading skis on his car and I ended up parking next to him on the top of the pass. I was planning on touring South of Teton Pass but decided to hike with Tim up Glory. It was a good decision and I enjoyed working my way down 2nd Turn. The only downside with 2nd turn is that you must walk back up the road for 15 minutes after then run. Thankfully no snowplows drove by us during our road hike.

Skiing in Jackson is back

After a long dry and warm spell the Tetons received 20-30 inches of snow during the past 5 days. Loyal readers may have noticed that the number of my posts describing epic ski runs has dropped to zero, especially after mid-January.

I motivated myself for my 2nd trip of the year up the 2000 ft bootpack on Mt. Glory. I can't believe that it's mid-Feb and I have only hiked Glory twice. I guess that speaks to the snow conditions for the past month. I skied 1st turn today (a west facing ridge of Glory) and enjoyed knee-boot deep powder turns down the entire run. It was 2000 feet of 30 degree bliss. The snow was less dense then what I expected and I only felt the crust underneath on about 8 turns.

The past 1 month in Jackson has been very cold and dry which helped to preserve good ski conditions until the big thaw that occurred last week. We don't have much snow down low and many low elevation South faces have bare spots. In the past 1 week we lost about 1 foot of snow in our yard.

The recent 20 inches has turned around the upper mountain and I am hopeful that we will receive more this week. Either way, Teton Pass skied well today and I heard that Teton Village was great yesterday.

Taste Test Part 2

Taste Test
Originally uploaded by krughb.

On Friday night I went out to dinner with my new friend Owen and continued upon my Mac & Cheese restaurant review. We had dinner with friends at the Calico in Wilson and Owen and I conducted a formal review of the dish.

1. Owen officially ordered the grub because the M&C is on the kids menu

2. Owen and I both rate the M&C in #4 place in Jackson Hole

Again, the dish does not contain macaroni, but rather ziti topped with Valveta. Enough sad.

Judging from Owen's smile I guess he enjoyed the food.

Heli Skiing is Dead in Jackson Hole

Our local Heli operation High Mountain Heli Skiing has been operating in a Wilderness Area and this feds have caught up to the company. The feds are forcing the company to limit the number of skier days to 65 per year in the Wilderness area which accounts for 90% of their terrain.

In my opinion this will shut down the company. I assume that after paying for the chopper, guides, and management overhead a heli company would need to clear about $500K to be profitable. I suppose they could sneak through the cracks by charging just under $10K per day!

I think loosing the heli operation is a big loss for the winter ski atmosphere, but a win for the environmentalists. These types of decisions are very challenging and always result in winners and losers. I hope that High Mountain can find additional terrain and expand their operation outside of the wilderness area.

I was lucky enough to fly with the company in 2001 and I must say that the company runs a very safe and professional operation and the skiing was fun. It's hard to have a bad day when you are skiing knee deep powder and catching rides with a heli.

Sushi in Wyoming

Tonight Charlotte and I had dinner at Masa Sushi. Believe it or not, Sushi is popular in the tiny cosmopolitan town of Jackson. Masa was the first Sushi restaurant in town and now we have 3 other fine raw fish Establishments.

Tonight was my first sushi experience in Jackson Hole over the past few years. I quickly realized that I became spoiled with the quality of sushi in Seattle. We did enjoy our meal and the atmosphere inside Masa is unforgettable. Imagine a sushi restaurant tucked randomly inside the back of a Best Western only accessable by walking through the hotel pool.

It's still 45 degrees in Jackson

We are in the final day of our thaw. We can't afford to loose much snow and I have heard that the ski area is experiencing spring conditions. I believe the rumours because our driveway in Wilson is slush.

I have not been able to get out this week because my work schedule has been insane. I ended up working a 15 hour day yesterday and I imagine that I will spend about 10 hours working today. I have been very busy with long term strategic planning, but I see this wrapping up by next Monday. Maybe it will snow by then?

Update

It's 42 degrees in town at 10:30am.

The cold snap is history

It was 28 degrees F when I woke up today! The high pressure ridge has moved out and we even picked up six inches of snow between Wednesday and Saturday. Six inches is comparable to a blizzard after a month of cold and dry weather. The snow softened up Teton Village and made for some fun north facing runs on Teton Pass on Sunday. I can't disclose any details about the run on Sunday or my tour guide will kill me. We skied a secret stash which even entailed setting our own skin track which is very rare at the pass due to the number of backcountry skiers.