Erin808

Made it home last night. Was dumping when we left but we got out with no probs. We didn't get any more fresh snow after the 12" on Sunday and the 10" on Monday. Tuesday we took the day off and went snowmobiling in Grand Teton National Park. It was pretty fun and my concession for my husband to take a day off and do something else. But can say that we've done it and dont need to do it again. Lots of amazing nature and very peaceful. Except when I almost flipped it over and it got stuck. That kind of slowed us down. But our dude came out and rescued us. We did a self-guided tour which was less scheduled but it meant that we were on our own. It was good but if we were with a guide I wouldn't have gotten stuck. We also wouldn't have been able to go so fast and go off trail as much. Wednesday I hit the hill by myself and went straight up to the 2-chair but it was pretty crusty. Stayed on the groomers for a few hours until it softened up. It was really warm and the even the North facing stuff was crusty. But it got really good around 11am. Met up with some locals I met on the chair and hit corbetts. I think it looks worse than it is and the drop in was pretty intimidating (esp without a pillow of powder) then hiked the headwall - worth the hike for a clean line two days after it snowed. Was a beautiful day and pretty warm. You knew it wasn't going to be good for the next morning's snow but oh well. Did some stuff on Casper bowl, hiking from the gondola a little bit. Everything was packed so the hikes weren't that bad. Heard on Thursday that a group of people got caught in a slide near the M&M chutes on Wed, it was pretty dicey if you actually left the gates but the stuff in bounds was fine. Finally checked out North Hoback, was pretty good. Wished I did it on Monday with powder but it was still pretty sweet. And there was no one on the hill so I had it totally to myself. The lower 1/3 was pretty in pretty rough shape. I did a few easy runs and headed down before 4pm. I ran into my original snowboard instructor from 12 years ago at Beaver Creek. He works at JH now and so do a bunch of other BCer's that I used to know. It was cool to see some people that I haven't seen in years and doing well. Thursday was a repeat of Wednesday, but it got warmer faster and then a cold front came over and FROZE everything above Thunder and Sublette after 2PM. So we stayed low which was kind of a bummer. But my husband totally improved this trip and was going down everything I suggested and even dropping in the trees every time with me It was seriously what I've been waiting for so that we can ride together. I think the two days of powder broke his fear of steeps and bumps and just getting more time on the hill helped him. Friday we went over to Grand Targhee. Glad we did since it was not icy at all and there was still stashes of power to be found. I only took my camera up at G.T, I'll post some pics later. It wont be enough to satisfy Glenn but I guess its better than nothing. All in all was a super great week. Got a little bit of everything weather-wise and we both came home injury free!

We arrived Saturday night and hit the hill on Sunday. There was about 6" of fresh and it continued to snow throughout the day. The South facing stuff was SUPER crusty underneath so I had to learn to avoid that. Saturday was good, I worked on getting my bearings with little visibilty. Hit up Thunder and Sublette for a bunch of runs. The run under the thunder chair was the best thing I did all day Bivouac woods was kind of crowded and skiied out yesterday but I hit it today and it was awesome. Yesterday truly kicked my butt with a new mountain and a new set-up. I was really tired last night and wanted to save myself for today. Today was awesome. 12" of fresh in the last 24H was the report but t was closer to 18" in some places. Plus it continued to dump 1-2" an hour for most of the day. Got fresh turns on Laramie and some other bowl that I forget the name of (to the right off the thunder chair) then hit up some stuff off sublette and the double to the top. Visibility at the top was terrible so I only did two runs on Rendezvous but a bunch more on sublette. Pepi's ridge and the alta chutes were amazing. Bivouc was much better today too, less skiied out and fewer peeps. Took my husband through the trees (his first) off Apres Vous and the gondola this afternoon. He did really good and there was enough snow so it was a good first time. I haven't hit up much of lower sublette, only one run (and I have no idea what its called.) I heard the hobacks aren't that good at the moment. They haven't had any snow until Saturday for 2 weeks and it was warm so I'm not super anxious to check it out. We are going snowmobiling tomorrow but we'll head back on Wednesday. Thanks for your advice GSS! It's been great so far. Its a vastly different mountain with 12" for fresh on it...

Great report and info. Thanks! Looking forward to my trip to Snow this weekend.

Awesome! Blue sky basin is not hard. It's annoying to get there but most of it isn't really steep. On the front side the Avanti lift is prob the best and least crowded intermediate spot. You'll have a great time.

Due to the weather forecast for tomorrow I'm skipping out. If I lived closer I'd be all over it. Plus I don't have waterproof enough stuff to hit it in the rain. Anyway I've got two tix if anyone's interested, I'll just give em to you. I think you just need the email for confirmation. PM me.

Congrats! Sounds like you are in for a fun week.

Great Pics!

I'll be there. The tix said JF only when I bought them.

Agreed, I tried riding without them but the wind made my eyes water -- even with sunglasses on.

1/5 was my first day at Blue and it was awesome. I rolled in around 9am (couldn't drag myself out of Philly earlier). I was really impressed with the mountain set-up and all the terrain parks. They were in great shape early on but did get a little soft in the PM. It was my first day up this year and I was kinda rusty for the first few runs. Coverage was way better than I expected. I think their snowmaking crew does a great job. I didn't think the crowds were bad. There was a wait sometimes for a chair but once you got on the runs there wasn't a huge crowd. I see what all the fuss is about.

I've done it twice. It's a fun thing to do but the skiing/riding is nothing spectacular. But its the whole experience. I wouldn't bother with doing it again but it was fun when I was younger.

I spent all this time figuring out which board I want (either a Burton feelgood or Salomon ivy or maybe a Palmer Halo but I only want that cuz its cheaper) and have no clue what bindings to get. I plan on getting a whole new setup this year. I think I am going with the Salomon Kiana boot. Any recommendations for what bindings to get? I ride all mountain and pretty much no park. I will prob continue to ride an older board if I ride in this area so its mainly for bigger mountains. Any thoughts about the setup?

Thanks for the advice but those pants are from about ten seasons ago. And I WISH my mom was doing my laundry then (or now!)

I made the white pants mistake too. I dont even ride rails and mine got filthy from jsut general sludge. Good luck!

So is it worth it? I know it will be a lot of last year stuff but will there be any good gear or just softgoods. I dont want to go all the way there just to pick up some cheap socks.

Birds of Prey is a sick course, its was one of the toughest downhills in north america when they designed it about 10 years ago. But it must've been bad if they took him to Vail Valley Med b/c there is a little hospital at the base of Beaver Creek.

Blue Sky is flatter terrain so if there's a big dump I would stick to outer/inner mongolia. You are going to have more peeps but there is still going to be plenty of fresh. On a warm day or if it hasn't snowed in a few, hike over the ptarmigan cornice on the West side. skate out and hike over a little bit -- its really fun and closer to main mtn than BSB and there's never anyone over there. The trees under chair #17 are super fun but dont keep too far skiiers left or there's some nasty cliffs (not the good kind). On the front the best is northwoods which can get crowded but is really fun and there's some super steep stuff below that (forget the name) to hit when you are going down at the end of the day. Blue Ox is the best run on the front side but its serviced by the highline lift which is a long fixed grip or you can go down to gold peak where the park is (but that is a shitty traverse.) If you see Blue ox on the grooming report you should def hit it up -- unless you prefer waist deep moguls . As for the Beave. I know its a lot more crowded and developed that 5 years ago but its worth a look and has some great terrain. Chair #10, Grouse is the bestest. Good moguls skiiers right and good trees skiiers left. If you traverse really far left there's a backcountry gate and some awesome trees. Plus its a high speed quad so plenty of runs. If there's no snow ask a local how to get to the bald spot -- it will make your trip but its only worth the hike if the main mtn is not up to par. I could continue but those are the highlights. Most of the bars have changed -- except the coyote at the Beave where you can hang with the patrollers and Garfinkel's in Lionshead -- they used to have cheap burgers on Mondays which would be worth checking out.

You prob want to stay in Vail. Beaver Creek is awesome but much more upscale and a smaller mtn so not as good an option as Vail. Dont stay in East Vail, its far and quiet. Vail and BC are about 10 miles apart but there is good bus service between the two so you could hit up the Beav for one day. I've never stayed in a rental so I dont have advice about which complexes but you can PM me or post for specific advice. I lived there for and worked at beaver creek for 3 years and I dont think I've forgotten everything (jsut some of it.)

I guess there's no time like the present to try something new! I usually stay out of the park on the EC since its gotten so much more hardcore than whenI started riding. It's pretty intimidating to be a total beginner in the park with 12 year olds tearing it up. This year is the year that I actually make an effort to learn it and spend time in the park.