Jackson Hole, WY - searching for info

travelling to Jackson in december for almost two weeks and i'm looking for info on the following:<br><br>please PM me if you have any answers, suggestions, tips, etc.. many thanks!<br><br>1. are there any good backcountry guides out for the tietons, jackson, etc? i checked SPL and Amazon and didn't find anything.<br>2. Jackson Hole resort is really expensive. anyone know of ways (without package lodging - i have lodging) of getting deals on tickets at Jackson Hole?<br>3. Any idea of the typical late Dec, early Jan snow fall/coverage? is there great pow in the bc all the time?<br>4. any goood message boards for jackson or wy that anyone knows of? <br>5. any particular trips (that are not too long (&gt;3 days) that one might suggest)<br><br>thanks in advance

I spent my first season living in Jackson too poor to buy a pass for the Resort, so I skied Teton Pass all year. It should be fine when you get there.<br>JHMR also offers a guide service for terrain accessed from the ski area boundary - it also gets you in the short line for the tram, so its worth every penny if you're looking for a mileage day.<br>There's also a heli-ski guide service, whose office is at the JHMR base area.<br>Last, but not least, I've heard of a yurt guide service in northern GTNP, but I can't find it on the web either. I'd suggest calling Exum or Jackson Hole Mountain Guides and asking for recommendations. Neither of them offer winter ski guiding, and both offices are really friendly.<br>Jackson Hole was the best two years of skiing I've ever had - I've never experienced so much talent in one place at one time. Have a great time!

If you mean backcountry guide books instead of actual person guides, there is a nice picture guide to the Teton Pass area. You can find it in local ski shops. That plus a map and you should be good to go. Grand Targhee on the Idaho side of Teton Pass offers good skiing and might be less expensive than Jackson Hole. The Bridger-Teton avalanche center is quite good with mountain weather stations and avalanche advisories: www.jhavalanche.org/

Have fun!

I'll second Matt's recommendation for Targhee, throwing on the qualification that we're talking about a powder day. On a powder day, there's few places finer. If you have a place to stay somewhere in the valley of Jackson Hole, however, it can take a while to get there and the savings on the ticket could be eaten away by the gas to get there - just a thought. <br><br>My experience is Jackson's winter skiing is more fun than its spring skiing. Decembers can be really good - the year I moved there it snowed almost every day in December. January-February are really good.<br><br>It's been a while, so anywhere I knew for guides has long since left me. I can say, however, that anywhere along the crest between Highway 22 north to the park (and even into the park) is fun if you're looking for backcountry. It's hard to go wrong. South of the pass is also fun, but if memory serves is more mellow.<br><br>My last comment would be that, if you're looking for backcountry solitude, heading up to the NE corner of the valley and skiing Togwotee Pass is a great option. The only people typically up there are the snowmobilers going east from Cowboy Village (a good way to access terrain, coincidentally) - once you get over the first set of east-west running ridges you tend lose them as they more or less parallel the highway over the pass. That up there is both pretty and lonely terrain.

This is great information. Thank you all!<br><br>Further questions:<br><br>What's Snowking like? I checked out their website and last season lift tickets were $35! Way cheaper than everywhere else. It also looked like there was some good access into the bc off the higher lift, but of course I&#8217;m looking at a resort map and that really doesn&#8217;t mean much. <br><br>As for the snow in general, I&#8217;ve never skied in WY, ID, UT or CO, so I have no idea what that pow is like&#8230; besides hearing it&#8217;s awesome. Is it generally good all the time or is it only really good after a storm? <br>

I've never tried to bc from Snowking.  That's the town mountain (it's literally on the edge of town), and is where they run the town downhill; it has a lot of steep runs, though doesn't offer terribly much vertical.  It's worth going to if you have a couple of weeks, but I personally would rather ski the big mountain.<br><br>As for the powder, like everywhere it depends on how the weather treats you.  I think it's safe to say, however, that it's lighter and tends to stay nicer longer than the PNW given the generally colder temps and lower water content.  Of course, the tradeoff is the relative instability of the snowpack...