J-hole T-10 hrs

[moe ghoul]

have a good weekend and week, hope the rain doesn't do too much damage tonite. I'm already looking at a 1 hour delay when we get into Cincy. They have a blizzrad warning in effect until Saturday, 4PM. I might be doing my first TR from Cincy. Wish I had a pair of snowblades, I could get a few runs in at the airport. There must be a little hill or rampart with a foot of freshie to play in . I'm on my fourth Grand Marnier, so sleeping should be a breeze.

 

Laters Pazers....................

[phillycore]

bump for stoke.... oh and yeah to Cincy as well.... go Bengals!!!

[moe ghoul]

Quickie report, Pre-ski:

 

Left Philly on time, 1.5 hour delay in Cincy, pulled into JH around 3PM, a bit of luggage chaos, but I got all my shit . Checked in to the 49er, got a nice room right by the exit and on ground floor for EZ window frig access for beers and beverages. Dinner at the Silver Dollar bar, sweet Buff burger and a few drinks. It's 7AM, heading out to B-fast, p/u freshly tuned boards at Edge (thanks for the tip, Steezer). Clear skies, 20 degrees, should warm up, soften snow, a dusting in the forecast tonite. Later.

[moe ghoul]

Keepin it short. great spring skiing conditions Sunday, low 30's mid-day, partly sunny, a few flurries, packed and loose pow. Did the 2 hour tour of the mountain with Joel, a patroller at JH. Lotsa fun, Spent morning session in and around Casper, then Rendez-vous area, including some great glading in and around Bivouac. Snow was soft and unrutted. Plan to spend time exploring lesser travelled terrain today. Snow coming in by Wednesday from the west. Prolly heading towards B.C., but the storm tails may bring snow here for a few days. Wait and see. Dinner at Cowboy Bar Steakhouse downstairs. Stuffed Brie starter, NY strip, rare, Pittsurgh style, A coupla pinot noirs, and then stingers upstairs. In bed by 11PM. It's 7:10AM Monday, heading out for B-fast and catching the 8AM shuttle. Some pix are posted in my album. Serious Stoke........

Edited March 10, 2008 by Moe Ghoul

[moe ghoul]

Monday report: On the slopes by 9AM, took 2 gondola rides and hit Sundance and Gros Ventre. A lite dusting of less than an inch of fresh on top of cord made for hi speed carving and it just got better as the day wore on. Blue skies, sun and above 30 temps softened up the glades by 11AM and we worked our way over to the Thunder Quad, taking 2 trips on that lift. first run down on Tower chute and then Hoops gap. A few icy spots at the top, but nothing us Noreaster skiers don't laugh at every season. Worked our way over to the Sublette Chair via Grand and took 2 rides on that lift, hitting Pepi's Run, and Dogface/Bird in Hand. Both were softened up sufficiently to keep the focus on immovable objects and not the snow. Unreal feeling, had to make frequent stops to take in the terrain and views. More Pix to follow tonite. Made it over to Rendez-vous, which was pretty bumped up, so we took one run off the top and headed to the base, via Bivouac woods, South Pass traverse, eventually Slalom to the base for lunch at Wilson's Cowboy Cafe. After lunch, we gondola'd back up, did runs in and around casper bowl as the snow continued to soften. Finished up with some Apres-vous runs which have a few ez type glades to play in and wrapped it up by 3. Happy hour at the Mangy Moose, drinking PBR Pounders and flask of Baerenjaeger and Bourbon. Dinner at Bubba's and in bed by 10:30PM. I was wiped. It's Tues, 7AM, headin for Targhee Later.

[moe ghoul]

Tuesday at Targhee was fun as to be expected. Conditions were sadly on the crusty side since the sun didn't make an appearance until late afternoon, making for flat light conditions and temps in the high 20-low30's. I didn't bother posting pix since the lighting sucked. Covered the whole mountain for the most part, and had a wicked time in Mother earth. Very memorable, very challenging under the crusty conditions. Took a nice spill catching an edge and bouncing back up. Bus trip thru the passes on the way back to Jackson are breathtaking. Had dinner at Shogun sushi, stingers at Burke's, and in bed by 11PM.

 

Wednesday at JH: Early bfast at the 49er, at the mountain by 8:20AM. Having persistent hotspots on my right foot finally prompted me to get custon footbeds made. Ohhh, MYYYYY! What a difference that made. Almost felt like new skis and boots, and had to spend some time breaking bad habits due to overcompensating for hotspots while skiing. Perfect spring skiing day, full sun, chalky, soft packed powder on most trails, and some pie dough/applesauce by day's end. Spent the morning covering the apresvous and Casper bowl area to break in the new footbeds. The glades and bumpier runs were soft enough by 11AM to put in some time punishing the legs. took a short lunch break in a cafe, cant remember the name of it. Then spent the rest of the afternoon in the Hobacks, Cheyenne, and Bernie's bowl. Seems like this mountain has endless terrain and hope to cover at least 80% of the skiiable terrain that is within my abilities. Most of the chutes are not up to par conditionswise and are closed off. Snow was expected today (Thursday) and clouds are building up as of 6AM. Cool events are scheduled for friday, free skiers will be competing in a huckfest on Casper bowl. We saw several guys taking practice runs yesterday, catching some sick air and entertaining the masses below. More later. Will try to hit some of the lesser travelled runs today, depending on lighting and conditions. Dinner last nite at Snake River Brew Pub. Had a great gorgonzola & walnut salad, and the "Blue" pizza in honor of our fave pokey mountain. Schwarzbier, which was awesomely authentic, washed it all down. Sad to hear Blue is shutting down on the 22nd, and that weather conditions have sucked moosecock.

 

More later. Posted a few new pix, might be a double or 2, my bad.........

[moe ghoul]

Nice Moe..I hope you get some snow out there...

 

 

Thurs. 7:30AM: Just slammed down some oatmeal and left over 'za from last nite. cut up a hard boiled egg for bfast pizza topping, wrapped it in foil, and sent it thru the toaster conveyer a few times for a quality meal . It's snowing right now as I await the shuttle with Fred and Mike, and the cloud cover is moving in quickly as you can see the snowshowers in the horizon. Best guess is 5-8" by the locals, but we shall see. Some world class free skiers are on deck for tomorrow, and I'm hoping to get some good pix of the action. Cash purses and prizes are part of the package, and local fave Crystal Wright, whose 4th on the tour, is looking to improve her standings. Huckin', billygoatin' and straightlining comps is gonna be mad steeze all around. can't wait to check out the action. this is JH's 3rd annual freeskiing comp. Even hung out with Jim "The worm" Jack in the 49er hot tub yesterday, who is a competitor and promoter and is here on the promotional end for USFREESki. LATERS, PAZERS....................

[moe ghoul]

Sweet..I can just picture you sitting on the computer in the lobby of the 49er...My stank ass spent quite a bit of time typing away feverishly...Enjoy the fresh snow..

 

 

ALMOST A FOOT ALREADY AND WILL SNOW THRU TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! STOKE FACTOR IS OFF THE CHARTS. i'M NEVER LEAVING THIS PLACE!!!!!!!!!!! HOBACKS, DICK'S DITCH, PEPI'S RUN, TABLE ROCK, SPLIT ROCK, ALTA CHUTE, TOWER CHUTE.BEEN THERE, DONE THAT....WOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO! FOOTBEDS HAVE TAKEN ME UP A NOTCH, I WENT BACK AND BOWED TO THE BOOT GUY MATT THAT FIXED ME UP. LUNCH AGAIN IN THE VILLAGE CAFE, STELLAR WRAPS, NICE ONION ON THE BARTENDER, STEEZY GRATEFUL DEAD SKIS ON THE WALL. VISIBILITY WAS SKETCHY, WHO CARES............. NO PIX TODAY, YOU'D ONLY SEE WHITE......... ELK BBQ TONITE AT THE ANTLER INN, THEN SOME LIVE MUSIC LATER. GLADES AND CHUTES WILL BE F'IN AWESOME TOMORROW. GETTING THERE FOR FIRST TRAX, JHOLE RULES...............PEACE OUT.

[moe ghoul]

The Village Cafe is the shit..enjoy it because that bulding is being demolished this summer for more condos or hotels..

 

Don't you wish you were back in PA???

 

 

PA???? What's that??

[moe ghoul]

Waterboarding IS torture. That's what a mouthful of pow feels like. We started up to the mountain on the 8AM shuttle after a breakfast of oatmeal and eggsalad sandwiches (I grabbed mayo and dijon packets from the Village Cafe on Thursday and converted those lame hardboiled eggs at the 49er breakfast joint into a nice meal). On the 8AM shuttle to Teton village, and suited up by 8:45AM. We headed for the gondy and the line was too long, so we headed over to the Teewinot lift and worked our way over to the Apres vous lift. 1st run was down the Teewinot face in 23" of powder that morning. When we got off the lift it was pure magic as skiers and boarders dropped into the woods from all directions with no regard to trails or direction. The mountain was totally skiable. Pick a spot and drop into it. About half way down my tips nosedived and I had my first face plant. A mouthful of pow and loss of sight temporarily had me floppin like a fish outta water to catch my breath. Fortunately, my bindings didn't pop open, and after about a 5 minute struggle I got back up and made it down to the Casper lift. Fred and I were pretty drained from our first falls and we stopped in at the casper restaurant first to clean up the goggles and catch our breaths. Pretty exhilarating. We took the casper lift up and cruised down Sleeping Indian and then 2 runs down the lift line. I never heard more whooping and hollering or saw more smiles than yesterday morning. Sheer joy. 6 days of skiing took its toll on these old legs so we headed for the gondy to take a load off and dry out a bit. We then took a run down Sundance, which was largely untracked and headed to the Village Cafe for a slice of Italian Stallion and gatorade, chatted with some of the freeski competitors and headed back up to the Gondy Summit. Took Lupine Way into the Amphitheater which really crushed me. 2 more faceplants later we made it to Thunder lift and floated our way down slowly to the Sublette lift. This mountain kicked my ass and I was running on fumes by then. At this point, fred and I decided this would be our last run. I could barely lift my tails or control my tips at this point in time. we struggled down Dogface over to a final goodbye on Pepi's Run. taking a breather on the traverse before ripping down South Coulter Ridge to the base and threw in the towel for the day. Beer never tasted as good as it did yesterday. I had loaded up with PBR's and Pilsners when we first arrived last Saturday and kept them in our locker. I'd stash a few of each in the snow banks each morning, so they were nice n icy after skiing. Hung at the Moose for about an hour, and then back to the 49er. I had nothing left in my legs and hit the hot tub with beers, then dinner at the Gunbarrel Inn. Had the mixed game sampler of Venison bratwurst, Buff prime rib and Elk Chop. I inhaled it and washed it down with a coupla Pinot Noirs. We had a creme brulee and coffee at the bar, and caught the 10:22PM free shuttle back to the hotel. I couldn't rally for a night out drinking, took a pass and collapsed in bed. We missed the Free ski competition due to weather. The sun broke out around noon, so they did run a few women's comps, but we were on the other side of the mountain by then. Flight outta here around 2PM. Atlanta got hit by severe storms, I don't know if that will impact our flight or not since we transfer there. I have a few pix I'll post tomorrow but didn't take too many cuz I was reluctant to take the Treo out of my pocket. Jackson is da bomb...............

Edited March 15, 2008 by Moe Ghoul

[moe ghoul]

Saturday: Final entry......... Our flight out was cancelled due to engine trouble and snowballed into a shitstorm. That's the bad news. Good news is Delta put us up at Snow King for the nite, so Fred and I jammed 6 runs top to bottom at Snow King a/k/a the "Town hill" before the sun went down. I think there were 4 peeps on the whole hill. Sweet vertical and sweeter incline, good conditions after the big snow. Teton officially recorded 34" for 3 days of snow. Jackson got less. Delta gave us 3 vouchers for $7 a piece for meals..........ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!! They absolutely suck. I gave one of em to a kid that was broke on the trip, and cashed the others in for breakfast burritos at the Jackson airport on Sunday AM, and for a Freshen's Mango Beach smoothie in Atlanta. So much for inflation adjustment. I'm writing a letter to those douchebags, and I guarantee I'll get a round trip ticket for it. Suckers. We crashed at Snow king saturday nite (waay too many kids and the lobby smelled like hot dogs and french fries, with tons of screaming kids and jailbait galore. We took a cab to Snake River and had some great Pasta and Trout dishes, and polished off 4 bottles of Dynamite Cabernet before cabbing back to the hotel. Up at 5AM on Sunday and got the plane into Atlanta. At that point, it was a free for all to get Space Available seating. I lucked out cuz 9 people got assigned seating randomly, and I was one of em. Some folks connected to BWI and Newark, then rented cars to get back to Philly to get their cars and luggage. Some folks are still stuck in Atlanta as I write this. Even worse, they won't get a flight out until tomorrow nite unless there are cancellations. Wadda hose job. Those cheap Delta bastards refused to book on other airlines or pay for Amtrak. I'll never fly with em again unless its for free. Otherwise the trip was a cathartic moment in skiing for me. As a side note, I was there 15 years ago and I barely recognized the place. Mega buckaroos are pouring in there. If you haven't gone there, you gotta go.

[toast21602]

glad you had a good time man! you should come to Blue on saturday for closing.

[moe ghoul]

I'll try and get up there, might even catch a weekday morning, but I have fence guys coming Monday and Thursday for estimates and I got wind damage on my roof. I guess there were some stormy days while I was away. Left a message with the roofer, so that might be another day knocked out this week.

[moe ghoul]

Moe, I really enjoyed reading your reports from Jackson Hole. It's such a great place to ski and I've had some of my most fulfilling ski days there. You definitely hit a bunch of my favorite eating/drinking spots including Bubbas BBQ, The Silver Dollar Bar, The Snake River Brewary, The Village Cafe, The Mangy Moose, Shogun Sushi, The Gunbarrel Steak and Game house, and other spots..

 

It's cool that you got some bonus runs at SnowKing..I'm not a fan of the Jackson Hole airport..it's a tiny airport which handles a large number of people and it's rare for a flight to take off on-time. When I go back to J-Hole in January I'll probably stay at the 49er again..it's tough to beat the location and the price.

 

Thanks, glad you enjoyed them. The airport is definitely overwhelmed by airtraffic but it's Delta's fault for being such shits. I have more pix to post, but need to get the film developed. I have a few more on my Palm that I need to send to my email as well and post. A few cool glade shots we skied on Friday.

[moe ghoul]

I posted more pix from Friday's JH Powder deluge. I posted em in the album. One of these days I'll learn to post em on the thread.

[moe ghoul]

My first trip to J-Hole was in January of 2002..and it's changed so much since then. 300k houses back then are now over a million bucks. If you want to torture yourself..check out the Jackson Hole snow report..they keep getting dumped on and they're now up to 525 inches for the season.. People are going to be earning turns for months after the lifts stop turning..

 

I know, I'm stoked for folks out there. 500 mighta been a previous record. Teton Village is rapidly competing with Jackson for the tourist dollars. I think I might try and stay there next season.

[moe ghoul]

Apparently Jackson is packed to the gills with people in the summertime...because of the easy access to Yellowstone. I know J-Hole received about 600 inches of snow back in 1996-97...

 

The reason I stay in town vs on-mountain is because it's cheaper and because there are so many restaurants/bars within walking distance. Avoiding the 20-30 minute morning busride in ski boots would be sweet though..

 

 

Yeah, but I like ski in/ski out and sleepin in another hour. Plus, the public shuttle service is great and runs late enough if you want to go into town, and the mountain has a decent variety of restaurants, too.