*Flat-out fun! image: Powder Day Photography*

Brought to you by Grand Targhee Resort

Report from Friday thru Sunday, January 8th-10th 2021

Grand Targhee Resort owes its current scene to a front which shifted-in late-week. Thick cloud, flying snow, and thrill-seeker skiing (conditions quite familiar on the west side of the Tetons) brought a modest refresh to the slopes and set the stage for an action packed Friday thru Sunday.

*A cold white worm to an early bird. image: P.M.Fadden*

That moderate snowfall continued overnight to taper off shortly after first chair Friday morning, meaning the best of the goods went to the early birds. The powder was of that lightweight, frigid crystal for which Targhee is famed. And temps have been consistently on the low end so surface layers off piste remained mostly dry and workable well into Sunday when surface layers on south facing aspects particularly began to put on a bit of girth, making for meatier turns classic of higher moisture content snowpack.

*Not exactly untracked, but delightful all the same. image: P.M.Fadden*

Saturday and Sunday themselves were pages straight from the storybook about we love spending time in the mountains. That said, a decent amount of the skiing public have read that book, so carving fresh tracks (or finding solitude) required the extra effort of getting to the wide sides of the ski field boundary or getting send-y in the zones that give most people the willies.

As icing on the proverbial cake, summit zone Mary’s Nipple and gates accessing the wild, uncontrolled lands behind were open. And there’s nothing quite like packin’ in a thermos to the tiptop of a mountain to enjoy a steaming hot beverage in early morning air.