Conditions Report
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, in it’s perch on the eastern slope of the Tetons, has officially clocked 500″ this year and it feels better than a million bucks…it’s priceless. The Tetons have been true to their namesake and have been milking every storm for every flake. 50 of those inches fell in October and basically melted and it still feels like every day has been a powder day. The long term forecasts are ripe and it looks like March has the potential to hit full scale mind-blowing status.
Today, Jackson emerged from the metaphorical oven, in which it has been brewing to perfection since Saturday night. While there was still a South crust on some of the lower faces, especially in-bounds, the upper elevations and areas with less skier compaction hit bottomless/legendary status with the recent snow, wind, and cold temps. The pow today was a wind-buffed in many spots, but also deep and floaty in others. The wind helped bind the snow to the crust layer in some steeper spots, like Spacewalk Couloir. It also helped erase tracks in many other spots. Rendezvous was fresh, wind-buffed pow every turn, all day…if you could stand the 45 mph sustained wind and snow blasting you in the face.
There was still some crust and other gnarly obstacles under the snow, and Rich found them:
Basically we just cruised around the off-piste and scored lots of fresh tracks. It was a storm day, the wind was howling, it was nuking and blowing snow, and it was about 12 degrees, all awesome things for snow conditions. No bluebird in the realm of possibility, no resort – deep pow, but then everybody and their cousin is out. I prefer the vibe on days like this, one or two tram wait and it was ALL locals, hardly any tourists. Powderhound heaven. A few small reports and you’ve got a sleeper pow day.
Snow Numbers:
Here are the not-so-relevant snow numbers, since several inches have fallen since this report.Â
Forecast:
No real end in sight:
