Targhee

Welcome indeed.

Incredible day today at Grand Targhee. No new snow but tons left over from the storm yesterday. Met up with Brooke and Brian Logan, who'd skied deep freshies the day before at Jackson Hole, for lap after lap in the soft stuff, all in bright high country sunshine.

Brian shot some video, which I'll see if I can figure out how to post tomorrow. After one of the better days of skiing I've had in a while, we made the quick drive to Jackson. Went out for a fast burger for dinner and found ourselves in the midst of 'Mustache Monday.' Whole posse of lifties from Jackson Hole strutting the mustaches they've spent the season growing. The ladies had the advantage of using a sharpie to rock out their extreme 'staches.

After feasting, the three of us walked out into a night alive with snow falling steadily. Fingers crossed, we made our plans for an early morning start.

Sorry for the lack of interesting verbiage tonight. Full, exhausted, and happy after a great day on the boards. Tomorrow Jackson Hole.

Big Sky Day 2

Another incredible day at Big Sky. A few more inches last night, but basically a dusting in most spots down low. The higher terrain, however, got a fair bit. The sun came out intermittently and provided fleeting glimpses of the absolutely extraordinary views.

Met up with the Stalliings for the last hour of skiing before hitting the road for the sunlit drive through a small corner of Yellowstone.

A couple more pictures:

View to the summit from the base of the tram. Big and Little Couloirs clearly visible.

The Yellowstone Club. So exclusive I probably shouldnt be taking pictures without permission.

More tomorrow.

Cheers!

And, in case you were wondering, that is a buffalo coming down the road.

Big Sky

Woke up this morning to snow showers moving into the area. After a quick coffee and bagel, I headed for the slopes. Another day, another new mountain, except this isn't any old mountain. This is Big Sky Montana, the self-proclaimed biggest skiing in America. Seeking out the stealth runs, tree shots, and local knowledge somewhere this large and legendary is, in and of itself, a daunting task. More so that I only have two days to do it.

Enter Tom and Leslie Roberts, Ed and Laurie Stalling and their son Shane, who's a sponsored snowboarder with multiple magazine and film credits to his name. Why they offered to show a random guy from Boston around Big Sky, I'll never know. What I do know, however, is that the five of them are incredibly generous both of spirit and with their local knowledge. More importantly, they are all rippers imbued with a life long love of skiing, the outdoors, and the mountains of the west. Thank you all for a great day of tree skiing in light dry Montana fluff! They also introduced me to the Lotus Pad, a great Thai restaurant in Big Sky. Shane works his other job there whipping up some amazing feasts.

Not many pictures today, we skied from the time I met them, around 9:30 or so straight through til four o clock.

Amazing mountain, great people, and a stellar day all around.

More tomorrow!

Bromancing the Pebble

Downtown Lava Hot Springs. I'm told summer is their busy season.

Started out with a gargantuan breakfast "skillet." For reference, the coffee cup is oversized. Needless to say, I was vanquished by this monster but fueled up for the day.

Me: "How's the breakfast skillet?"

Folksy Waitress: "Oh, it's really good!"

(Upon delivery) Me: "OMG?!?"

Folksy Waitress: "Oh yeah, forgot to mention it's kinda big."

Talk about understatement. For anyone who doubts me, the picture doesn't do this mountainous creation justice as it fails to capture the absurd heights of the breakfasty crags, aeries, and summits. A veritable Mount Olympus of tasty goodness.

Shamed by my defeat at breakfast, I retreated, regrouped, and pointed the rig north for the quick half hour drive to the next ski mission.

Think I've got a burgeoning Bromance brewing with Pebble Creek Idaho. Amazing smaller ski area! 2000' of vertical, steep tree skiing, and excellent terrain with some freshness left over from the snow yesterday. I'd think any of our ski mountains at home in the east would gladly trade in their high speed quads, skier amenities, and huge marketing budgets just to have access to terrain like this. All for $39 dollars a day!

Met some of the friendliest, most down to earth people I've ever met skiing, and to a tee, they were all in love with their "hill." Of course, I would be too, if lived twenty minutes from my own little slice of paradise.

The day started out cooler with patchy fog, which finally burned off mid-day. Skied til about 2:00, and then hit the road heading north in brilliant sunshine.

The views arent bad either.

Tomorrow, Big Sky.

Pow Mow? Pow Wow! Great day of skiing today. Powder Mtn got 8 inches overnight and it was dumping til about noon. The snow got a little heavy in the afternoon, but I had a ball. Laps in the fluff with the mountain basically to my self. Doesn't get much better than that.  This is how they open the mountain in the morning. 

The way the mountain is laid out, you start at the middle rather than the bottom. As soon as the nice lady on the left takes down the "Trail Closed" banner, it's game on!

One of the tracks on the far ridge in the above picture (probably a little hard to see) is mine. Good Stuff! It's truly amazing to start feeling like a skier again.

After a great day, hopped in the trusty rig and headed north to Lava Hot Springs, Idaho. There is just something about the wide open spaces and views in the west that gives me an incomparable sense of freedom and makes me want to keep driving and exploring.


The hot water for the tub and shower in the my hotel room actually comes from the hot springs. Probably worth mentioning that the hotel is geared toward couples and spa type activities, of which I was unaware. Your humble correspondent will have to make do with the company of a few local brews!   


On the trivia challenge, the Toyota FJ Cruiser has three front windshield wipers, which certainly came in handy today.



Cheers!

Alta... Does a body good. 

Very early morning this a.m. Left the house around five in order to get to the scareport in time for my nude photoshoot, courtesy of El TSA. Five in the morning really isn't so bad, it's more my uber paranoid brain worrying about sleeping through my alarm and subsequently waking me up every hour from midnight-4 a.m. 

Also, worth noting that the early morning flight to Salt Lake is not your standard crowd. Instead of the usual mix of business travelers and families, this bad boy's about 70% skiers. Gore Tex, Patagonia, North Face, etc. They're all also in a huge rush to get to whichever mountain they're heading. Being able to ski is, after all, the reason we got up before dawn. Unfortunately for the antsy, gore-Tex swaddled masses, the best laid plans run afoul of inevitable delays at the baggage carousel and the shuffle to the long lines at the car rental desks, all magnified by a seemingly endless stream of more of our ski addled brethren. 

And then... Alta, blissfully empty on a Wednesday morning. Have to admit my 1st run was pretty surreal. "Am I really here, skiing at one if my favorite places on earth?" Then it sinks in. "I am." Or maybe, "I ski, therefore I am." Either way. 

Fairly flat light, no new snow, but I found some soft stuff off the High T, so all was right with the world. 

Trivia Challenge: Ever driven a car with three front windshield wipers? I have, as of today. More on that tomorrow.

Also, my apologies for any typos and general poor editing. I'm doing these updates on my phone. 

Cheers!

Early morning at the airport.