Day Seven - Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Not all ski areas are created equal. Jackson Hole is a cut above almost anywhere else I have skied in terms of terrain and variety. First of all, they are not content with the standard green, blue, black and double black designations. No, they have inserted a double blue in there. Secondly, the mountain is steep. What many resorts call a black, Jackson Hole labels a double blue. Their blacks are some other place's double blacks. The difference between double blue and black? From what I can tell it is mainly whether they are groomed or not. I talked to an instructor on the chair today and remarked at the steepness and compared the terrain to Big Sky. He shared that locally they refer to Big Sky as "Big Lie." I can see his point; this mountain pretty much blows Big Sky away by most measures.

As this was my first day, I did a survey of the mountain taking various chairs and runs to see what was what. They haven't had any new snow in several days which has made most of the snow pretty scritchy-scratchy (my term for runs that are not icy but kind of crusty). It was a glorious day here with the sun beating down from a cloudless sky and temperatures well into the upper thirties. This was good as by late morning it helped soften the snow and make it more easily skiable. I ended up skiing until 2pm with a quick sandwich break around noon. After a beer in the sun slope-side, I retired to my hotel where I took a sauna and a jacuzzi which definitely took any edge off. Tomorrow, I have a late afternoon massage scheduled.

I do hope for new snow in the next couple of days, but will settle for another sunny and warm day like today.