Jackson Hole Mountain Resort started spinning it’s lifts for the 2014/2015 season opening 4 lifts, Casper, Marmot, Apres Vous, and Teewinot on Thursday followed by the Gondola and Thunder on Saturday.
The Thursday opening provided nice cream cheese like conditions on all open terrain with the groomers being partially fun and fast. Off trail areas were a little firm after warm temps and sun played their part earlier in the week.
Saturday saw the Bridger Gondola and Thunder lift open, and the skiing was epic to say the least. Terrain that usually doesn’t see skiers until mid to late December was open! Runs such as Tower 3, Mushroom Chutes, and Paintbrush saw their fair share tracks laid down. Snow on the north facing aspects was soft and deep (we are talking pow here), and other aspects held well with the higher elevation of the upper mountain.
Mid day Saturday another system started to move through the Tetons bringing storm riding to the resort by the afternoon. The storm brought 6”accompanied with strong winds giving the mountain possibly the best skiing of the day as the lifts closed.
Sunday was Bluebird and the mix of snow and wind overnight gave a nice refresh to the mountain. The lower faces opened mid day giving skiers almost 3000 vert from the top of thunder to get your legs burning. The base coverage at the lower elevation is obviously lower, but the warm temps and rain seemed to have locked the snow in place giving great coverage over rocky terrain.
Snow conditions for this time of the season are epic! That being said it is still early and the sharks are out so be careful!! The forecast for the next week is promising and I’m not a rumor person, but talk of the TRAM by the weekend keeps getting louder!!!