Summer Skiing Jackson Hole 7-1-09

At 6:30am today, there wasn't a cloud in the sky.  By the time Epic member Strike! and I got out of the tram at the top of the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort at 9:15am, it was starting to rain.  Heavy black clouds, hard rain, and WIND.  Lovely.

We started hiking anyway, reasoning that we could see what we THOUGHT was clearing skies to the west.  Our destination was somewhere on Cody Peak.  We weren't sure if we would do Four Shadows couloir or the Powder Eight shoulder or what. 

When we got to the top of Four Shadows, the snow was looking kind of soft and rotten (no overnight freezes for the last several days):



We could see a long snowfield leading north from near the top of Cody Peak and that snowfield looked pretty inviting so we headed off that way.  After a long, low-angle cruise down snowdrifts on a north-running ridgeline, we did a minor hike back up to catch the top of the bowl snowfield.  Here's Strike! booting toward the top of the snow:



Here he is preparing to ski a totally untracked line down into a big bowl:



His second turn.  Grand Teton in the background:



A little further down.  Gettin' into the NICE snow.  This guy can ski:



We skied down a few turns from where we started in the photo above and then traversed skier's left out to the main body of the bowl.  Here's Strike! skiing the bottom part of the bowl:



Tracks:



Hiking out:



My thanks to Strike! for coming along.  It was a pretty crappy-looking beginning that ended up just fine.
Edited by Bob Peters - 7/1/2009 at 10:07 pm GMT

Thanks, Bob.  It is always such a pleasure.  The compliments truly mean a lot coming from you.

My toes are... well, they are still attached anyway.

Enjoy your trip to AK!

(Also, drove by Fall Creek on the way home and it looks close to decent.  Saw one fisherman out on the water, but didnt want to disturb him to check on the action.  Plus, I hope to check for myself sometime soon.  Thanks for the recommendation!  LOTS of cows on that road.)

"Strike!"?  I like it...better than what a certain someone back here tagged you with years ago...good to see you enjoying skiing on July 1....those of us stuck here in PA are jealous!  We need to visit you this upcoming winter, but I think you'll need to take it easy on the flatlanders.  Take care....

Do I have to guess who this is?

There are men, there are Gods and then there is Bob Peters. 

Ahhh, must be B. Little!

There you go taunting again.  I'm gonna try to dodge rain storms and get some smallies again this morning.  Looks like today's MTB ride is getting rained out.

Is that B. Little?  Does Jacey have people checking in on you here?

Good report Bob.  Glad we could send you another ski buddy.

Yeah, I think its Brian.  Jace has a spy on Epicski.

It is cougar cub hunting season :/

Wish I had such a summer! 

I'm not a spy, just jealous and living vicariously through you.  No summer skiing in PA!  At least not on snow.  Glad to see another Seven Springs home grown prove you can learn some pretty good skills on 750' vertical...

Thanks B!

I hope you will come visit this winter - I've got plenty of room.

750' is a bit ambitious isn't it?  Take away the flats and we really have maybe 500' at best.  Our boy is getting twice that in July and with a real pitch.  How sad is that?

We hate you Dave.  Never come home.  Seriously, never come home.  You'll regret it.

 Sweet! Way to get after July turns.

Now for my JONG question, obviously JH runs the tram during the summer, I would presume to believe for tourists to ride and gape at the views and for backpackers to access the area. I would also presume to believe that you guys have season passes, so that affords you a "free" (or more appropriately a pre-paid) lift on the tram, no?


PS
You guys are crazy, getting up at 6am! I guess it depends on how far/long you hiked, but my last 4 summer sojourns we haven't started hiking until after 11 (and in once case we didn't start a 6 hour jaunt until 3!)

"Yes" to the two questions.  The tram runs all summer for sightseeing and summer use of the tram IS included when you get a season pass from the JH Mountain Resort.  The only caveat when it comes to skiing is that the ski corporation asks that you only ride outside the regular boundaries of the ski area.  That's been the understanding for the ten or so years that they've allowed people to bring skis or boards up the tram in the summer.

As to the PS...

I was AWAKE at 6:00am (I wake up then pretty much every day) but didn't go to the ski area until 8:30am.  We hopped on the tram at 9:00.  Going early gives me the option to do other things like bike or fish or climb or, God forbid, work later in the day