During mid-March of 2015, as a weekend of debauchery for my cousin to send him off into the wonderful world of marriage, we headed to Jackson Hole for a few days of riding. It is no surprise that Tahoe has been utterly horrendous for skiing this season, so any skiing destination outside of California seemed like a dream. Of course, as luck would have it, we brought the Tahoe weather to Jackson Hole. The mountain was in almost 100% spring skiing mode with almost no signs of wintery snow anywhere. That’s where Granite Canyon came into play…
I’ve been to Jackson many times in my lifetime and have been lucky enough to know a few locals to show me the hidden gems beyond the gates. Granite Canyon is definitely high on my list with the most consistently steep pitches combined with a Northerly aspect. Aesthetically walled chutes, couloirs, cliffs and long sustained pow runs litter the area.
On the two days I had in Jackson, my buddy Tim guided us on three laps in the area. We hit the ABC chutes for the best snow and longest descents. First up was B chute, then A, and topped it off with AAA chute as the most technical line of all three. The locals would probably say that the snow quality was probably the worst of the whole year, but given my season, it was epic…go figure.
March 13-14th, 2015
Flying in looked way more wintery than Tahoe…
These accommodations will do for 18 dudes…
Corbet’s closed for ‘firm conditions’…
Cody Peak wasn’t really speaking to us, so Granite Canyon was the call…
Tim leads the way into the ABC Chutes…and the snow quality was already a massive improvement.
Snow was chalky and steep in ‘B Chute’ and I’m definitely not complaining…
I guess sustained pitches are pretty fun…
For a guy from Tahoe, this is a pow turn…
Timmy following the sun down the same line…
The turns were soft and carvable until we hit the lower apron where it started harden due to aspect…
I’ll take this…
The Zone…ABC Chutes in the late afternoon.
The next day was pretty gloomy so we decided to…head back out there!
This time we decided on ‘A Chute’…
The snow quality continued to be wind-buffed and chalky…
Timmy and I decided that ‘AAA Chute’ was doable so we went for the quick access route from the Gondola…
On the upper section, the author finds an obstacle to leap over…
Let’s just hope the exit at the bottom is soft…
Yours truly was ecstatic on the snow conditions…
As long as its not blue ice, this guy will never complain…
The exit was a tad spicy but only because it was impossible to know if the snow down below was firm or chalky…
Well, it turned out to be more wintery than we thought…
I believe its time for a beverage????
Nobody said the walk out would be easy…until next time Jackson!
Always enjoy your skiing, but could really do without you trying to push that music on us in every vid.
You’re not the first to say that…
…but that’s my style. May need to hit mute on the next few vids then. 🙂
I use music that’s released right around the time I create the video, so when I watch them years from now, its sort of an audio time stamp to connect my records to my ski trips.
Even though thats lift access its still BC…nice work around 1:30. solid skills