Jackson Hole locals: Pointers for a first timer?

I'm bringing a group of 14 skiers of varied ability to JHMR in Feb.  We have mostly solid intermediate skiers in the group, a few advanced intermediate, and 1-2 advanced.  Jackson Hole has been on my personal "to ski" list for a long, long time so I am really excited, the next 3 months can't go fast enough.  I'm one of the two "advanced" skiers if you will, but I'm certainly no pro and Corbett's will probably make me run away with my tail between my legs.

Our group will be staying at a house off of Curtis Dr.  I'm still looking for deals on lift tickets, ski rentals, and rental cars, as well as any general JHMR pointers any of you may have.  Thanks!

Go here, a complete guide by somebody who really know.  

http://www.epicski.com/wiki/jackson-hole-guide-to-skiing-jackson-hole-mountain-resort

Have a great time.

I hadn't seen the current, illustrated version of Bob's guide.  Very cool. 

Wow, that is a lot to digest.  Thanks for the link.  I may have to study this a few times between now and Feb.

"Stay out of our way and humor our inate ability to ski anything."

Or something like that.

Hi, PJS32000.

Welcome in advance to Jackson Hole.  Your group will have a great time.  The house on Curtis will be very convenient to everything in Teton Village.

Since your skiers are mostly intermediate, I would suggest that they start their trip with the complimentary mountain tour that is put on by the Ski Hosts every morning.  The Hosts are the folks in red jackets who are milling about near most of the base lifts in the morning.  I think the tours start at 9:45 each morning but I'm not sure of that.  They'll take you up several of the lifts and get you down a moderate way to the next lift.  Ask around when you get here and you'll find them.  It's a great service.

Another option is a group lesson for some of your skiers.  There are several packages, some of which include lift tickets and even rentals.  Here's the website www.jacksonhole.com/lessons-guides/adults/ski-class-lessons.html and you can call ahead to ask more questions.

The most convenient rental shops are all in Teton Village.  Teton Village Sports (the one I shill for), Jackson Hole Sports (where Skiing-in-Jackson works), Pepi Stiegler Sports, Wildernest Sports, and Jack Dennis Sports all have rentals and offer discount packages.  Most of them post their discount packages on their websites, but a call ahead can't hurt.

Sorry but I can't help on rental car or lift ticket discounts.

Have a great time while you're here and I sure hope you don't run into any of this:

I'd call Bob Peters or tetonpwdrjunkie and schedule a "lesson" and get shown around the mountain- worth every penny.  Our mountain is big and the good stuff only gets hit by locals and those in the know.  Then get a boot fit from me... 

 Or get the bootfit first so you can really get the most from your hill time.

The "innate" ability that took me about ten years to start to acquire?  Yes I am a slow learner.

Of course I have no idea since I haven't touched american powder.

I bet you would like it.....

Do you think I could get by without a rental car based on where I'm staying?  Rental car rates are pretty high and the airport shuttle is much, much cheaper.  Our group usually rents 3-4 cars when we take this trip but given the ski in/out location I'm thinking maybe we can get by with one for grocery store trips, etc.  Then we can take the airport shuttle and get around on foot the rest of the trip.  Thoughts?

 I think you could "get away" with out renting a car.  There are buses into town that run fairly frequently.  You don't "need" to go into town for much....  Restaurants and some shopping mostly.  One car might be convenient as you say for grocery's and such.  With 14 people you could probably save money on town runs using a taxi service that has mini vans, then you won't need a designated driver.

PJS32000:

One thing worth considering is WHERE on Curtis Drive your house is.  That can actually make quite a bit of difference on how "ski-in/ski-out" the house actually is.

If you'd like to pm me with the address, I can give you a good idea exactly how much walking you might have to do to get back and forth to the main part of the Village where the bus stops are.

PJS32000,
Jackson Hole is a great mountain. Bob Peters, TPJ and Skiing in Jackson are people you should try to meet.

I stayed in that section of Teton Village two years ago. Some thoughts.

As part of our rental, we were issued weekly passes for a dedicated shuttle running from the village to this area. This shuttle is really needed by a large group as walking to Teton Village is long, cold and up or down hill. Is the Shuttle service included in your rental package?

Ski out required a several minute walk up a slight slope to the Moose Creek chair. Bob can let you know specifically how long your walk might be. Ski in was do-able as the streets are snow covered. Either use the shuttle each am and pm to get to the village or do the ski-in/ski-out thing. If you shuttle, consider renting a large locker in the base lodge. They are big enough for 3 or 4 skis to stay overnight.

Grocery shopping is a real pain in the a** without a car ( and our group was 5 people). Beer weights a lot! Two different shuttles are needed to get to a full grocery and the best are in the town of Jackson. I would highly recommend renting one vehicle for shopping or eating in the town. The cost is offset somewhat by reduced airport transportation. Well worth the slight extra cost.

Hope this helps.

You can rent a single 7 passenger van and make two trips with luggage between airport and Teton Village.  What you save in shuttle fees will go a long way to pay for the van. A couple in you party may still have to take a shuttle.  Like he said above, beer is heavy to take on the shuttle.  Having a van makes shopping a whole lot easier. 

Two different groups could take turns to break from skiing to go out and see the Elk Refuge.  Take the back road into the Elk Refuge.  This increases your chance of seeing some wolves and longhorn sheep.    Good chance of seeing moose on the town side of the elk refuge fence line right in town.  Them mooses are not stupid.   They know the wovles are on the other side of that fence line.

Don't be stumbling out of Cowboy bar at midnight and try driving.  The driver will get a DWI ticket. Best to be having a designated driver.  Here again you can make two trips into town for all 14 in your group. 

I recommend the Teton Steak House for an $18 steak with awesome salad bar.

Also look for the ready made mini subs in package of 3 at  Albertson's supermarket.   Also make sure you get an Albertson's discount card.  It will save you a lot of money. You will be coming back to JH. 

I see on the JH website that the Gondola is opening tomorrow and that the Casper chair will open on Friday.  Will the Sweetwater chair be opening as well to provide access to the Casper chair?

Will most of the runs be open off of these lifts, such as Ampitheater, Gros Ventre, Sundance, and Easy Does It?  I'm an intermediate skiier and will be at JH Saturday and Sunday.  It looks like most of the terrain that I'd be skiing will be open by then, but was hoping to get a better idea of what will be available.  Have the conditions been pretty good?  Not a lot of ice?  Any areas where we can find some powder?  Thanks in advance.

Sweetwater most likely will not be open. 

I don't have any official information but I can tell you my impressions from having skied the last 16 days on the mountain(and from skiing here part or all of every winter for the last 36 years)...

There is very little snow at the bottom of our mountain.  I would find it hard to believe that they would open ANY lower run unless it's one that they've made snow on.  My guess is that the lower-mountain runs that will be open by this weekend will be Lower Gros Ventre, Lower Werner, Teewinot Gully, and Hanna.  There's nothing off-piste down low that I would ski right now.  Also, I don't believe they've made any snow on lower Sundance, so I sincerely doubt that will be open.

As for the gondola and Casper, I guess we'll find out what's open by tomorrow and Friday.  I saw trail crew or ski patroller tracks yesterday on Sleeping Indian run (off the Casper chair) that looked fantastic.  I just don't know if there's enough snow up there to stand up to traffic once things open up.

The sad truth is that we don't have a lot of snow yet.  There's mild snowfall in the forecast for the next several days, but nothing that looks like a big dump.  I think we need at least two big dumps to make most of the mountain skiable.

Young Padawans the snows come forth.

Below picture and Gondola opening tomorrow = Good Thing

Don't believe anything that has been written above - remember the Jackson Hole Locals are the most condescending!

And don't you forget it!

As for today's report...

I skied the gondola for a little while this morning and it was fair to good.  They've made a lot of snow on Lower Gros Ventre, still working on Amphitheater.  I didn't hit any rocks, but I was making it a point to stick to the areas where the artificial snow was deepest.  Lots of folks (God BLESS them!) were skiing the off-piste fringes.  That'll help identify the routes with better coverage.

The only routes down from the gondola (as I was guessing yesterday) were Amphitheater/Lower Gros Ventre or the South Pass Road over to Apres Vous.  Sundance Gully had nowhere near enough snow to ski down.

The Casper chair opens tomorrow and I may be able to make a run there before I have to do an open house.

Light snow was falling when I left.

Meanwhile, the skiing on Apres Vous is very good.

Thanks Bob!

Was it fairly icy on the gondola runs or just not a lot of snow?  I'd love to hear a report on the Casper Bowl if you get out there tomorrow.

Slick in a few spots but not what I would call "icy". 

Part of the "slickness" comes from the fact that they've been making snow like mad and the temps went up the last few days.  I think the snow they have made for the last 3 or 4 days has a pretty high water content and when that gets scraped around by skiers the top layer feels pretty hard and slick.  By the time the groomers hit it tonight, I'd bet it will just be nice, firm groomers tomorrow.

I'll try to make it to Casper in the morning and report back.

I see the JH website says that the Tram, Thunder, and Sublette lifts will all be open tomorrow too.  It looks like they're making snow around the clock too.

I had first tracks off the Casper chair this morning.  Roughly knee-deep powder down Sleeping Indian.  I stayed on the main runs as I like my skis, but they're letting people ski-pack lots of the terrain.

It's going to be really thin in places, but at least most of the upper terrain will be open as of tomorrow.

Here's the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort photo of the day from yesterday's opening of the gondola:

Resurrecting this thread, thanks for all of the info so far.  I'm anxious to get out there and hit the slopes.

Can any of you tell me of a rental shop that has Blizzard skis?  I've been wanting to try them after hearing good reviews but can never seem to find a shop that has them, even when renting demo equipment.  Last year my rental of choice for an all mountain ski at Alta/Bird was a 172 Mythic Rider.  Based on what I've read, I'm interested in checking out the Magnum 8.7s.

Bob this is a great writeup! Thanks!
End of Februari we will visit JH shortly (after a visit to Utah). We are really looking forward to it. You're picture of Corbetts looks frightening but also appealing :-)

If you ever plan visiting Portes du Soleil (France) let me know. I could give you some tips.

-Dirk

Let me know if you guys come over to Targhee.  We'll see if we can ski a few runs.

HB

Thanks for the invite but I suspect we'll spend all 3 days at JHMR.  Will have to catch you on the return trip which I'm sure isn't too far in the future.

Well the countdown is on, we'll be arriving one week from today and I can't wait!!  The snow gods look like they came just in time for us, with another good storm coming over the next 1-2 days.  We decided to pony up and get a couple of rental cars to play it safe so we should be good there.  I'm a relative noob to this site but I've read quite a bit about the helpful JH locals over the past few months, would love to meet up with you for some turns if you have the chance.  Hopefully I can keep up!