How long would you wait in line to ski powder? - 22/1/2012 21:25

by Josh Cooley

Josh Cooley - our ace Breckenridge blogger for two seasons, now lives in the shadow of the Tetons in Wyoming. After a painfully slow start to winter, the first big storm has hit his favourite resort.

Waiting...

How long are you prepared to stand in line for powder snow?

For me, the answer to that question is "at least five hours". That's how long I waited last Friday for Jackson Hole's Aerial Tram to open, so that I could ski top-to-bottom powder in the midst of an amazing snowstorm.

The storm had blown in two days beforehand, on Wednesday - and it wasn't as if I'd missed out on the snow that had already fallen. I rode the Tram on both Wednesday and Thursday to ski the new snow - which was shin-deep on the first day, and thigh-deep on the second. But as you may have heard, the Rockies have had a relatively snowless start to winter, and I had a deep craving to satisfy. So I had plenty of appetite left for a third day of skiing come Friday.

I joined my friend "Powderchaser Steve," who runs the website Powderchasers.com, in the Tram line around 7 a.m. Our position up front assured us "first box" of the day, but the question was - when would that box leave? After 48 hours of non-stop snow, there was a lot of avalanche-control work to be down by the ski patrollers, and so we waited, and waited...and waited. We even kept our places in the line as the gondola and Apres Vous chair opened. We were convinced it would be worth it for the first top-to-bottom descent in what would surely be sublime powder.

Waiting wasn't so bad. Someone broke out cans of PBR and Rainier for mid-morning mountain refreshment, Teton style. A friendly snowball fight erupted. A pizza was even sent out to the lift line from Nick Wilson's Bar and Grill, next door. For a while, rumours swirled that the Tram wouldn't run at all. But we stayed optimistic. Then I saw some lifties walk around the corner with big grins and nodding heads. The crowd let out a roar, and at last the Tram started spinning.

Powderchaser Steve and I were among the first 15 to drop. We were rewarded for our five-hour wait with a 1,200-metre, heart-pumping descent down Rendezvous Bowl and North Hoback, through creamy, pristine powder. We skied it twice, and then my quads gave in. I had, after all, been ripping Jackson hard for three days in a row - including eight tram laps of the tram.

Powderchaser Steve gets his reward: 1,200 metres of "creamy, pristine powder". January 20.

It has continued snowing since then. We've had 1.5m from the storm in total at the top of Rendezvous Mountain, bringing the season total so far to a fairly respectable 4.5m. The cover, mid-mountain, is about 2m deep. It's been an amazing experience. No other mountain that I've skied in my 28-year skiing career offers the in-bounds big mountain experience that Jackson Hole does. When it gets pounded with snow like it has this past week, it turns into a giant ski fantasy land that you don't ever want to leave, until your legs turn to jelly and you can barely make turns on the groomers at the base.

The forecast calls for more continuing snowfall for the next five days with light to moderate accumulations. Longer-term, it appears this snow-friendly pattern will continue, and Jackson's going to keep getting better and better as the snow deepens.

Click on the link for our Jackson Hole resort report.

Josh's friend Stefan Weissenberg from Sydney, Australia on January 19.