Jackson Hole Ski Resort

After dismal skiing the last couple of years, and not knowing whether the 2015-2016 winter was going to be a “La Nina” or an “El Nino”, we decided to go to Jackson Hole for our ski trip this season. We figured, since Jackson Hole is known to receive an average of 400 inches of annual snow, it was probably as safe a bet as we could get. Fortunately, mother nature did not disappoint us. Jackson Hole received 407 inches of snow during the 2015-2016 winter season and another 40 some inches after the season finished.  We skied during our spring break, the week of March 25^th thru March 30^th. 

The last week in March usually is usually the last week of skiing permitted at Jackson Hole. One of the reasons mentioned was that Wyoming shuts down all skiing at Jackson Hole since animals (Elk, Bison and others) start their migration in the Grand Tetons shortly after. Another reason was that ski resort staff is greatly augmented by seasonal exchange students and workers from Australia, New Zealand and South America. A typical U.S. ski resort hires anywhere from 8000 - 9000 season staff that include ski instructors, ski patrol, lift operators, restaurant servers, and so forth. The visa for most of these seasonal workers is tightly controlled and expires after 4 months. Therefore, most ski resorts usually close by the end of March.

Regardless, while we were at Jackson Hole, the snow could not have been more perfect!! The crowds none. Ski runs wide open and groomed. The only visible lines were people waiting for the aerial tram, but no lines for the gondola nor for any of the other lifts. Skiing could not have been more perfect.

Jackson Hole is known for its challenging terrain and one of the highest vertical drops in North America at approximately 4,140 ft, is on every skier’s bucket list. (Snowmass has the highest vertical drop at just over 4,400 ft.)

Situated in the Teton Mountain Range, Jackson Hole Resort is approximately 12 miles from the town of Jackson in Teton Village, Wyoming. The mountain has 116 ski trails, spread over 2500 acres of inbound skiable area and over 3000 acres of backcountry terrain.  The runs are rated 50% expert, 40% intermediate, and 10% beginner. The resort has 1 -100 passenger aerial tram, 1 gondola, and 11 chairlifts (in addition to the magic carpet and rope tow). The ski resort is home to one of the most well known expert ski runs in the world, Corbet's Couloir.

The mountain goes from easy to difficult as you go from right to left. The right side of the mountain being easier and the left side mostly expert terrain. As mentioned earlier, only approx 10% of the mountain is beginner, so most of the runs were either blues, double diamond blues, blacks or double diamond blacks. The intermediate terrain is primarily on Apres Vous Mountain (middle section of the mountain). The more advanced terrain that includes bowls, glades, and chutes on the Rendezvous Mountain (left section of the mountain). The greens were very few towards the lower right side of the mountain.

Personally, I am an intermediate skier and stick to mostly the blue runs. At Jackson Hole, the blues were fairly challenging and might have been labeled as a black run at other places. My three favorites runs were:

1. Bridger Gondola and ski down Lupine Way and various blues off this run. Bridger gondola and Lupine Way is right in the middle of the mountain (Apres Vous mountain) and have several blue trail options such as Nez Perce Traverse, Solitude Traverse, Sundance and many more.

2. Apres Vous quad chair and ski down Werner or Teewinot. This is towards the right side of the mountain and good blue runs to warm up for the trip.

3. Teton quad chair and ski down Wide Open. Wide Open was a nice wide but a more challenging blue.

Corbet's Couloir
  (A couloir  is a French word meaning "passage" or "corridor",
a narrow gully with a steep gradient in a mountainous terrain.)

My kids who ski expert terrain loved the many bowls and chutes on the Rendezvous side of the mountain. While the lines were long, the Tram is the best and probably the only way to get up Rendezvous Mountain and ski down one of its many black trails. To ski blacks in Apres Vous Mountain, it was best to take the gondola up and ski down any of the black trails off Casper. After 3 days of expert skiing with the ski instructors and training on similar chutes and glades, on the fourth day my son thought he was comfortable enough to try Corbet Couloir. Despite his mental and physical preparations with ski instructors, he felt challenged by the chute. Not sure if he will be able to summon the courage to ski Corbet’s chute again, but he was thrilled and completely pumped up by the time he skied down to the base.  According to him, it was THE highlight of his trip and the biggest thrill he ever had thus far.

While the mountain is not as wide and spread out as some of the other U.S. ski resorts, Jackson Hole was probably the most challenging (I thought Aspen was challenging too). The elevation, and the steepness is very exhausting. The first two days were critical to stay hydrated to keep the headache at bay. The lodge bartender offered a concoction of water and cranberry juice, and it worked like a charm for me. For our family, mornings around 9 am was the best time for us to head out and by 2 pm we were completely beat. The mountain closes by 4pm and there is no night skiing (even if there was, there is no way we would have the energy to ski nights after a full day of skiing).

As for lodging, we stayed at Snake Riverlodge, a comfortable and cozy hotel without the price tag of a Four Seasons. The lodge was centrally located. Close to the tram, close to the gondola and close to the ski school. Compared to some of the other ski resorts such as Steamboat, Snowmass, Park City, Jackson Hole is a small resort. You could walk from one end of the base area to another in 10 minutes or less. While we were primarily interested in a ski in ski out property, Snake River Lodge was only a ski in. There is no ski out. The inconvenience was that you had to walk up 2 flights of stairs carrying your equipment to get to the Tram and Gondola and another flight of steps to get to the ski school and Apres Vous chair.

We had the double queen room which was nice for a hotel room but lacked any real space to store bags, lay out clothing to dry and relax in the room besides the bed. The presence of the ski rental shop & valet service was very convenient. We could leave our skis and boots with the valet at the end of our skiing, and the staff would store the equipment at the end of the day and bring it out first thing in the morning. Upon request, they also tuned and waxed our skis. While we were carrying our own skies, we did rent snowboard from the ski rental shop. One of the nicer amenities was the spa and pool. The snaking indoor-outdoor heated swimming pool with two hot tubs was very popular at the end of the day. Other spa amenities included bathroom facilities, showers, Jacuzzi tub, lounge area, the sauna and others.

Corbet's Cabin

In terms of food, the lodge, served tea, coffee and hot cocoa every morning, and every day apres ski appetizers from 4-5 pm. The cost of these was included in the daily lodge fee. There was a daily breakfast buffet for an additional $25 per person per day. For lunch and dinner, there was a bar in the lobby with a limited menu. We generally ate lunch on the mountain either at Rendezvous or Casper restaurants. Corbet's cabin (at the top of the Tram) serves fresh made waffles. While the waffles were nothing special (well, they are freshly made and warm), but a trip the top of the Tram is totally worth it. And if you are not skiing down the many black trails on that side of the mountain, might as well grab some warm waffles. The scenery at the top of Rendezvous is very striking though the wind makes it hard to stand out there for more than a few minutes. The only way to come down if you are not skiing is to take the Tram down. Once the Tram starts closing its doors, the operator cannot stop the process and if you miss squeezing through the closing Tram doors, well, you just have to wait another 10 minutes until the next Tram trip. The only way to see Corbet Couloir if you are not skiing Rendezvous Mountain is from the Tram itself. You will have to ask the locals or the operator to point it out.

Some of the other popular restaurants at Jackson Hole resort are Spur Restaurant, Il Villaggio restaurant, Teton Thai, Westbank Grill and the Handle bar. It is best to make advance reservations at any of these places but especially at the Thai restaurant. Thai restaurant is very small and a popular hangout, so there is always a long wait. I love Thai food, and particularly in the cold winters the spiciness of Thai food is always very welcome, but my kids felt that their food was a little too heavy on the ginger. So, if you are not a ginger root fan, you may want to reconsider. As for me I love ginger and we loved skiing Jackson Hole.  The coziness of this ski resort unlike the other other large ski resorts is a great treat. Jackson Hole rightfully belongs on every skier's bucket list.

Ski Resorts: Steamboat vs. Park City vs. Whistler vs. Snowmass

My Ranking: Based on the resorts I have skied

1 Whistler/Blackcomb (British Columbia)
 2 Snowmass (Colorado)
 3 Steamboat (Colorado)
 4 Park City (Utah)
 5 Aspen (Colorado)
 6 Heavenly (California)
 7 Snowshoe (W. Virginia)

Criteria	Steamboat	Park City	Whistler	Snowmass	Aspen Mountain	Heavenly
My Overall Rating	4	4	5	4.5	4	3
Skiable Area	2,965	3,300	8,171	3,362	675	4,800
Vertical	3,668	3,100	5,280	4,406	4,406	3,500
Summit elevation	10,568	10,000	8,000	12,510	11,212	10,067
Base elevation	6,900	6,900	2,215	8,104	7,945	6,565
# of lifts	16	16	37	21	8	30
# of trails	165	116	200	94	76	97
Easy Trails	23	20	30	6%	0	19
Intermediate trails	69	58	110	47%	36	44
Advanced Trails	73	38	30	17%	20	29
Expert Trails	0	0	30	30%	20	5
Half Pipe	2	2	2	2	NA	1
Terrain Park	4	3	2	3	NA	5
Kids Ski School Ratings	5	4.5	4.5	4.5	0
Access to resort	4	5	4	4.5	4.5	3
Need for car	Not needed, easy shuttle access into town	Not needed, easy shuttle access into town	Car needed - taxis convinient $5-$10/trip. Public transportation poor	good public transport	good public transport	Car needed
Apres-Ski rating	3	4.5	4.5	3	5	3
ski in/ski out rating	4.5	4	5	5	0	4
On-mountain dining	4	4.5	4	5	5	3

Whistler Blackcomb Ski Resort - Peak to Peak

Dazzling, Drizzling, Daunting, Gigantic, Cloudy and Incredible and is how I would describe skiing the Whistler Blackcomb Mountains. Whistler Blackcomb is the largest ski resort of North America and it means valley drizzles, cloudy mountains, high alpine fresh snows and breathtaking views.

IIanaaq" (also Inuksuk), the mascot logo of the winter olympics at Whistler along Harmony Ridge

A clear blue sky at Blackcomb

Of the five days in December 2013 that we skied, we got three days of sunny blue skies, cold temperatures and the astounding glacial landscape views, the other two were cloudy and overcast. 

Accommodations

Whistler on Dwellable

There seemed to be plenty of ski in/ski out options between Whistler and Blackcomb and plenty of upscale hotels. We were a group of 4 families and chose to rent a 5 bedroom home in the Pinnacle Ridge community on the Blackcomb Mountain. Pinnacle Ridge homes are considered ski in/ski out, but most of the homes in this area require a brief walk to the run. The yellow brick road run is right under the Magic chair and the Wizard Express lifts, an easy green run primarily for the beginners. The location is perfect for families and groups that have may have beginner skiers. If you are not used to skiing down at all, you can even walk down to the ski school (it might get icy or slushy but it is a short walk). We used to start our day by skiing down the Yellow brick run. The ski school is right at the bottom of this run. If you are in snowboarding or advanced ski school lessons, chances are you will need to go to the ski school on the whistler side. From the base of Blackcomb Mountain there are a couple of choices. If you are not a skier, you can walk to the Whistler base (a short walk). If you are a skier/boarder and need to get to whistler ski school, then you can also take the magic chair and ski down to the whistler side. A short and easy run, but again, it can get icy and slushy. If you are not in ski school, then I recommend you take the Wizard express followed by Solar Coaster Express right to the top to the Rendezvous lodge to get to the alpine area. From Rendezvous lodge you can take Peak 2 Peak gondola to get to the whistler side (an 11 min ride with gorgeous views), or ski on the Blackcomb side. We found that it was nicer to ski the whistler side in the mornings and to ski the Blackcomb side in the afternoons. It is faster and more convenient to take the Peak to Peak gondola from Blackcomb to Whistler Mountain.

Whistler Mountain

Ego bowl is a good family ski area with mostly intermediate and beginner runs. This area was wide and groomed. There were a lot of people in this area but it did not feel crowded. Off to the west (left) of the mountain, is the Harmony area with a brand new express chairlift. This is an incredibly beautiful scenic area with several intermediate and advanced runs. One of my favorites was the Harmony ridge, a very scenic intermediate run, that in places became fairly steep, narrow and bumpy due to heavy traffic. In our case, by the time we got to Harmony Ridge, most of the fresh snow was gone (and since natural snow was not abundant), the heavy traffic exposed the underlying stones and pebbles making the run quite treacherous (One of my family members suffered a major injury here). The advanced runs in the Harmony area are beautiful and not heavily trafficked. This area has one beginner run. Off to the north east is the whistler summit with several advanced runs and bowls. While we were there, several sections of this area were closed. My son did the glacier and whistler bowls that were open and really loved it (he did almost all the bowls in this area but his favorite were the sun bowl, back bowl). A bit to the south is the Franz's and Big Red express area. The greens along Franz's area are learner areas with a lot of ski school folks and kids. If you are not learning how to ski, it is best to avoid the greens here. The blues were fine but relatively narrower. The day we skied this area, it was very cloudy and we never saw anything beyond five feet in front of us.

An overcast day at Blackcomb

Blackcomb Mountain

Between the two mountains, I think, I liked Blackcomb a bit more. The two sides of the Blackcomb Mountain were drastically different from each other. On the east side of the mountain, the 7^th Heaven area was dazzling. We happened to ski here when it was sunny with clear blue skies, fresh blanket of snow and completely un-groomed. It was a love at first sight. Cloud Nine was one of my favorite runs and probably one of the few that I skied twice. To the west is the Glacier Express and Crystal Hut area. While the east was dazzling, the west was daunting. When they talk about glacial landscape, I guess it is this area they must be referring to. There were no trees, no greens, simply large rocks, cliffs and the glaciers. The landscape was stark and incredible. The advanced runs looked too daunting for me, so I stayed with the intermediates which were narrow in places with hardly a crowd. Road Runner and Twist and Shout seemed to be the favorite runs in this area. My son covered most of the advanced terrain in this area, and this area runs were his second favorite (after the Harmony runs). In the middle of the mountain, Springboard is a really long, nice and wide intermediate run that got bumpy in places as the day wore on. We found this area to be quite crowded. It got more icy and crowded as you get closer to the village, but up top, it was great. Easiest route (a green run) is a really nice long beginner run, but like all greens it gets pretty flat in some sections. I did not like Cruiser (an intermediate run) at all. Cruiser is great for people looking for large moguls, but I found it tough on my knees and for someone who is not very fond of moguls very difficult to navigate. The bumps were more like mini hills than moguls. Cruiser was not groomed while we were there. In the five days we skied Whistler Blackcomb, we covered a lot of the mountain but there was a lot left of the high alpine area still to be discovered for our next time.

Overall, Whistler Blackcomb ski resort had everything my family wanted, however the snow conditions were less than stellar. At the alpine level we got postcard worthy breathtaking views, endless stretches of ski runs and great snow. At the mid-mountain and village level, we got the clouds, the mild temperatures, the lack of natural snow, drizzly rain, periodically slushy snow that turned icy when the temperature dropped below freezing. Comparing Whistler vs Aspen vs Snowmass, I would pick Whistler for its incredible terrain and Snowmass for its convenience and all roundedness.

Recommended Areas of Improvement: First, the resort needs to mark their trails better. The mountain is enormous and it is easy for visitors to get lost. We had to stop quite often while skiing to get our bearings where multiple trails intersected because we had no idea where the trail we were on went. This is especially critical in the high-alpine areas where intermediate and advanced trails interspersed. This is also important as the resort allows backcountry skiing (which is awesome), but it was often confusing where the trail ended and backcountry started. If you are comfortable skiing all terrains, then unmarked trails is not a big issue, but if you are a beginner or intermediate skier then having well marked trails and easy access to grooming report makes a huge difference. The grooming report was available only online. The boards next to chair lifts mostly indicated the lifts that were open or closed, but not indicate which trails were open or which trails were groomed. Second, the resort can improve the quality of its mountain dining. There was sufficient variety in the menu but the food preparation could definitely use improvements. The restaurant scene and the cultural vibe was fantastic in the Whistler village. Third, making ski school changes more flexible. We had seven kids enrolled in ski school months in advance and one of the kids wanted to extend his enrollment in the program. It was quite a headache making the necessary changes. The ski school staff had to get a manager approval to switch lessons, but it seems there were not enough managers who had the authority to approve exchanges and refunds. We lost several hours and money because the manager was not available and took too long to call back. The manager is only located at the Whistler location, however the ski school is located at both Whistler and Backcomb. So if you need to make changes, better to make them at Whistler even though Blackcomb may be more convenient. We were trying to exchange a 2 day lift ticket pass into two additional days of ski school and were willing to pay the additional balance for the lessons. The ski school made us return our two day lift ticket for a 50% refund and buy 2 days of lessons at full price. This left a bad taste, instead of giving us 100% credit towards the lessons, they gave us only a 50% refund and made us buy lessons for non-discounted cost (other ski-lessons were discounted as we had bought the lessons months earlier).  

1. Village/Town Feel:  Whistler village has a great resort town vibe. It had a range of upscale hotels, a great selection of restaurants, diversity of shops and a great après ski vibe.

2. Ski School for Kids:  The ski school was great.  We had 7 kids in ski school and all the kids had fun. The two advanced skier kids skied mostly the alpine bowls and the glacier areas with an experienced instructor. We had three kids in the snowboarding lessons and they advanced through their lessons fairly well even though the conditions at village level were icy. On rainy and cloudy days, the ski school took the kids higher up to the mid mountain level. The youngest kid (aged six) got to learn mogul skiing, jumping of 6 foot cliffs, ski through the enchanted forest and raved about her daily excursions. Because of our dates, we had to enroll our kids in ski school from Sunday to Thursday, but if you are able to enroll from Monday to Friday, the ski school offers better discounted rates.

3. Number of Beginner Runs: The resort has 200 runs. Approx 30% were marked as greens. Since Dec of 2013 was not a good snow month at Whistler, a lot of these runs had the manmade snow. Almost all the beginner runs were groomed daily but the snow got slushy and icy towards the end of the day the closer you got to the village.

4. Non Skiing Activities: Like all big ski resorts, Whistler had the usual tubing, snowshoeing, x-country skiing, snow mobile tours, and many other activities.

5. Crowds: Even in the middle of peak holiday season, the resort did not feel crowded, especially since we stayed on the Blackcomb Mountain. We saw the Gondola lines on Whistler side were long, but never had line issues on the Blackcomb base. Generally they say, if you are west of the Continental Divide.  Don't worry about it.

6. Airport Access: Whistler is about 3 hours drive from Vancouver. Unlike Colorado, the drive along the Sea to Sky Highway is pretty flat and easy.

7. Groceries: The best place to shop for groceries is in Squamish, a town approximately 45 mins south of Whistler. There is a grocery store and a convenience store in Whistler, but it is much smaller and more expensive. We did our primary grocery shopping in Vancouver (but it would have been just as convenient to stop in Squamish which is on the way to Whistler).

Note: We used WhistlerWired to make all arrangements for our ski trip except the airline portion. They were the listing agent for the home we reserved, they helped arrange our ski school lessons, purchase lift tickets and equipment rentals. We found them to be pretty responsive were quite happy with their service. We still needed to do our own research to identify which ski-lesson/lift tickets options and discounts worked best for us. But once we told them what we wanted, they were able to make appropriate reservations. It would have been great, if their staff was better versed in the various discount packages available (though I am sure we would still have done independent research).