Grand Targhee 1/27-29; Big Sky 1/30-2/1

I could not have asked for better weather for this trip. It has snowed everyday with nearly 60" of powder distributed over the six days of skiing in Wyoming and Montana. As I head out for one more day of fresh snow, the only longing I have is for a view other than snow and clouds. I might not get it, but that's okay. I'll take the advice that someone at Targhee gave me: "That's what postcards are for".

I'm off to the slopes. More to come...

pictures please....

TH46r is handling the business at hand, schralping. There will be time for pics soon. :)

Love GT. Driggs has been on our short list of retirement communities.

With United now offering a direct flight out of Newark to Bozeman, I thought this would be a good opportunity to check out Big Sky. I decided to add Grand Targhee to the mix to increase the likelihood of having a powder day. I rented a car and drove to the 3 1/2 hours to my accommodations in Driggs, Idaho.

For two weeks preceding the trip, high pressure sat over much of the west preventing any snow from falling. That all changed the Saturday night that I arrived in Driggs. The snow started falling and would continue with varying intensity up until mid-day of my last day in Big Sky.

My trip went something like this...

Day one/Grand Targhee:


Day Two/Grand Targhee:


Day Three/Grand Targhee:


Day Four/Big Sky:


Day Five/Big Sky:


Day Six/Big Sky:

And in the end, the clouds lifted and I got the view that I wanted-- no postcard needed.

Nice!  Looks like I will be heading to BS for a few days at the end of the month.  Hope you left me some snow to work with!

Hope you get some fresh snow while you're there! But not too much...

Unfortunately for me, the summit was socked in every day. I only took two runs off the tram: Dictator Chutes 2B and Liberty Bowl. Visibility was crap even if the snow was great. I would have enjoyed my runs more if I were able to see where I was going-- especially in Dictators.

Cool!  Lookes awesome!  Love big sky country!

Great report.   Thanks.  I'll be heading to Targhee with my son for four days over Feb break.   Any gems we should search out?  Good restaurants in Driggs?

We will be there for the Big Mtn Telemark Competition.  (Watching.)

Thanks!

If you get fresh snow overnight, make sure you are at the mountain early (lifts start turning at 9). Start with several laps on the Dreamcatcher lift. The chutes off if the Happy Hunting Ground are fun runs, as are the Good/Bad/Ugly. Once things start tracking out, the Blackfoot lift is a nice place to hit next. Traverse skiers right to get some fresh turns. Generally, I had less luck off of the Sacajawea lift outside of some of the short steeps heading back to the main base area.

My best meal was at Forage. Drove to Victor for some pizza and craft brew (forget the name...it was decent), and had some Thai at Teton Thai (good).

Have fun!

While everyone was out skiing powder, I was editing footage of it from last week.

Six Consecutive Days of Powder from Colin Gara on Vimeo.