March 16, 2010 Grand Targhee, WY

We spent the night in Driggs, ID and drove the 12 miles to Grand Targhee this morning. The road between Driggs and the ski area is littered with housing developments that appeared to be “on hold”. Seems the speculative land development days are over for awhile. The ski area has a reputation for about 500” of snow yearly, but a young patroller told us that this year they were at about 55% of normal. The setting is beautiful with the Grand Teton directly to the east. There was a big warm-up the previous day and the groomers were really icy; reminded me of skiing back east 25 years ago. Off piste it was frozen ice chunks. Their last storm was 3 days ago, and the 6” they did receive was skied out. The cat skiing operation was not operating due to the conditions. The backcountry terrain off Peaked Mt. and Mary’s Nipple had so much traffic there were moguls on one descent. We used a Shell 2 for 1 coupon and felt 3 hours was enough. The base is at 8000’ and the ski area tops out at 10,000’. There are numerous backcountry gates around the ski area, and the available touring terrain seems extensive. Next stops are Big Sky and Moonlight Basin.

Photo1: Mary's Nipple(left) and Peaked Mtn(right)

Photo 2: Grand Teton(left), Mary's Nipple(center), Peaked Mtn(right)

Thanks for the reports from the rockies. Your pics from Targhee and Teton Pass are bringing back recent memories. Too bad they had a warm spell - we had a great day just past Mary's Nipple (in the far left cliff-y area in your first picture) skiing leftovers from the last storm. You seem to be doing the exact same loop we did, but in reverse...hopefully your car ain't stolen when you get back! Enjoy Big Sky. It was my first time there a few weeks ago, quite the eye opener.

Nice trip and pix, Zap.
I'd like to meet that Mary;she looks smooth and svelte.

...hopefully your car ain't stolen when you get back!

Too soon man...too soon