AtomicSkier Posted January 7, 2009 Report Posted January 7, 2009 What a buzz kill. After skiing some epic snow yesterday, I woke up to JH's snow report showing 15" in the past 24 hours, with up to 9" falling today. We were stoked. I knew that we'd have some serious delays this morning with the rising temperatures making the snowpack just that more unstable in addition to the new snow. When we got off the bus this morning, I ran my pole through the snow and could tell instantly, that at least on the lower faces, it was going to be wet, really wet. We got in the gondola line at 8:45 and people quickly lined up behind us. They announced at 9am that the whole mountain was on a "significant delay". By 9:30ish Teewinot was open, so people started taking that lift up and waiting at AV. At this time, it was a wintry mix, mostly made of sleet. It wasn't looking good as the bombing on the upper mountain continued with increasing frequency and more and more firepower. At one point, they set off such a huge charge so close that it shook the base area and some peoples skis slid off the gondola line dividers. Around 9:50am AV opened. Nobody budged from the gondola line, so we stuck around. By 10:35ish the line really started to thin out when some guides were talking to their friends ahead of us, talking about the avy conditions and what slid. We decided it was either time to leave, or ski. We took Teewinot up to AV to pretty nice line lift line. It moved nicely, and it only took us about 15-20 minutes to reach the lift despite all the people. At the top, it was still sleeting, ugh. The snow was still cement, so we popped into Saratoga Bowl, and traversed as far left as we could. There was plenty of untouched lines, but the snow in Saratoga was pure cement, and Saratoga is no where steep enough to ski snow that deep and heavy. Plenty of snow snakes though, between the heavy snow, and now hidden rocks and tree stumps. By the time we hit the ski area boundary at the bottom, we were freaking sweating and tired. The traverse out was not a fun one. We decided Saratoga wasn't the thing to ski, so we hit up Teewinot face, which was much more skiable. After our third run of the day, second on Teewinot face, we saw the gondola was open, so one more ride up AV, and we headed for the gondola. It was getting even warmer, and it the precipitation was a mix of sleet and rain. I was hoping, but not expecting, the snow was better up higher, but it wasn't. Down into Amphitheater, and even down Cascade, it was so sticky. There was no denying it was deep though, knee deep most certainly. Up the Thunder, and down into Laramie which slid this morning with the help of JH ski patrol. Some nice avy debris on the skiers right in Laramie, but nothing major, and some nice untracked could be had. Up Sublette, and down Bivouac, plenty of untouched, and for once, at the bottom, it was steep enough to make some decent turns. We took Sublette up, and went into Tensleep and then continued on to the Cirque. The traverse into Cirque had only a handful of tracks, which made the traverse very slow. Cirque was nearly untouched and had the most snow yesterday. It had plenty today, but the weight of all that new snow on top of a weak snowpack had me a bit spooked. Nevertheless, at the bottom, we were toast. Yesterday was one of my top 10 days of skiing, today was no where near that. I haven't seen snow this heavy at Blue Mountain. Great for making snow balls, bad for skiing. Still managed 8 runs and 15k vertical feet, but it was the toughest 15k. Every turn was laboring trying to keep the skis under me. It's a shame that it's going to be so warm the rest of the trip and I have a feeling that it's not going to get any better No pictures today, wasn't worth it. Weather was so shitty. Quote
AtomicSkier Posted January 8, 2009 Author Report Posted January 8, 2009 It was 37 degrees at the base when we left. Wow. Quote
AtomicSkier Posted January 8, 2009 Author Report Posted January 8, 2009 jackson sucks. ski PA! heh....it's the nature of the beast. we had blower yesterday, but cement today. can't have everything now the question is to take tomorrow off with much colder temperatures expected for friday with some more [hopefully lighter] snow, or ski tomorrow to avoid what could be some pretty nasty dust on crust friday. 60 degrees warmer than Sunday morning...that's one thing about the Rockys..the weather can change fast...is it snowing in town??? What are you guys doing tonight?? It's not snowing in town anymore. I'm drinking a Snake River Lager right now. We're undecided for dinner at the moment. We skipped our normal early lunch in favor of a later lunch after we were done skiing before we caught the 3pm bus, so we're not super hungry right now. Quote
sibhusky Posted January 8, 2009 Report Posted January 8, 2009 If Targhee's higher, then I'd go there, the snow might be lighter. Quote
Dan- Posted January 8, 2009 Report Posted January 8, 2009 (edited) Targhee is lower. But i think the base elevation is higher. Edited January 8, 2009 by Dan- Quote
sibhusky Posted January 8, 2009 Report Posted January 8, 2009 Dan be knowing..the base of Targhee is 8k...the base of J-hole is 6300..Summit of J-Hole is 10450..summit of Targhee is about 10k..So basically, you'll be able to STAY higher at Targhee. It's raining here and my neighbor's blocking my road (perpendicular and wedged into snow banks), so I guess I'll have to wait and ski tomorrow. Quote
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