Thread: 2011-2012 Jackson/Targhee/Tetons/Togwotee Weather, Conditions & Stoke Thread

looked fun PoR, nice with the tram widow shot, creative

Targhee sounds identical to this date in 97', IMO (IIRC). Ended up being a pretty good year...

Get ready rideit and northern friends. We just got a pretty good one here in Flagstaff, still not enough snow for a solid opening but skiing has been good all weekend but the extended 10 day looks dry. I bet we are about to go dry for several weeks and you guys are going to get the goods! Have fun! I wish I was about to be skiing deep powder but I think the bike will have to do.

Taylor skied good yesterday. (SE Face). Missed the light and "skinning" the S Ridge with skins cut for other skis (too skinny) forcing me to boot proved to be *quite* the effort. Still, fun skiing. Thin at the bottom.

I just looked at the ten day for Jackson, doesn't look that great up that way either. WTF! Where is winter? I guess this in reality is pretty normal. Hang tight, we sure are here down in AZ!

Skied the West Hourglass today. Gusty up high with chalky and firm snow in the couloir. Varible snow depth made it hard to be certain how the facets at the base are doing. Took the summer route into Garnet but someone put a track in up from Bradley that we saw on the ski out that didnt look to bad. Other than isolated windslab we did not see any instabilitys of note.

Targhee skied well on Saturday. Trees were skiing well, especially around the bad and ugly, although I snagged a few things and a pair I lent out came back with a nasty core shot. The ridge was scraped down well by afternoon leaving quite a few rocks showing. I wouldn't take my nice skis but everything was skiable and I noticed in the afternoon that Mary's was being skied although we didn't make it up.

Variable condtions in the Park with a lot of wind affect. We did find some great skiing in the upper bowl on Wimpys.

There's a sweet jib picnic table down low

Ugh. Ouch.
http://teton.outerlocal.com/skiing/o...-top-condition

"Ongoing cold temps have rotted our snowpack, bottom to top. What was weak (facets on crust on ground) is now larger and weaker. One-finger slab above has begun to facet, now 4-fingers. New snow surface, 6 inches of light fluff from early Dec, is recycled into small near-surface facets. Avalanche danger is low, but look out when snow begins again."

When the snow begins again...sigh, looking more and more like a christmas miracle season. Such a drag when Ullr waits for the crowds to show up before he goes onstage.


http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/product...10prcp.new.gif

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/product...14prcp.new.gif

Originally Posted by rideit

Ugh. Ouch.
http://teton.outerlocal.com/skiing/o...-top-condition

"Ongoing cold temps have rotted our snowpack, bottom to top. What was weak (facets on crust on ground) is now larger and weaker. One-finger slab above has begun to facet, now 4-fingers. New snow surface, 6 inches of light fluff from early Dec, is recycled into small near-surface facets. Avalanche danger is low, but look out when snow begins again."

Hey that's my post, Rideit.

Anyway, the warm temps today might slow some of the faceting. All of you who think you understand snow metamorphism and temperature, think on what it would take (temps, snowfall amounts, etc) to defuse this half-meter of sugar at the ground. Hmm?

My plans for a January Jackson trip may be changing. Bummer.

I bet the Yellowstone Caldera Eruption would take care of it. HMS, great work out there.

warm temps? -8F at bradley/taggart this morning.

i think danger will lurk in only the higher elevations (>11k") and steeper terrain in the short term. but i shoot from the hip...so take it for what it's worth.

seems like the last few years, A LOT of folks have started pushing it into the higher elevations during the early season. BUT, high avy danger around christmas time seems pretty standard in the tetons, IMO. nothing new, really. but, my advice is to be patient and lay off the extreme terrain (>40-45 degrees...above cliffs) until after it dumps another 6'.

saw 3" sun crust on s-facing slopes today...faceted below. lots of strong wind-pack on many aspects ~10k'.

looks dry for another week or so...then WETish for Jan/Feb.

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/product...14prcp.new.gif
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/product...off02_prcp.gif

Originally Posted by dawnRwright

hope to experience good winter skiing vacation. I dont want to miss it this time.

Now don't go cancelling your vacation here. We are mostly talking about early season backcountry stability. Once it snows again (which should be by xmas) the sugar will flush out. If you are going to the ski areas, their "avalanche hazard reduction programs" will minimize your problem (but don't forget your beacon for inbounds).

In the short term, we backcountry geeks are gonna pay attention to the sugar at the bottom, however. Worth remembering when we are on the way to the 2meters that will make us breathe easy again.

Talk, talk, talk... time will tell.

Skiied East hourglass today, good snow up top and a short down climb at the bottom. Pretty sweet!

what a morning show!!!

Skied one of the South Couloirs on Teewinot yesterday (not the main one). Skiing was great. We topped out around noon and Im guessing 1 or 130 would have been to late as the snow was getting moist. Getting in and out of Glacier Gutch was not fun even though Rando's track was only partially covered until Delta lake. (Thanks!)

Sick Eclipse picture!!!

Good to hear you found good snow Aaron. I guess the higher up you go, the better it gets these days. I had an interesting experience on Wimpys yesterday. Extremely variable is probabaly the nicest way to describe it. And there is nothing better then a two week old, refrozen, windpacked skin track! I've never seen so much sidestepping up a mountain. We did find 800' vert of good pow, in the middle of 3000' of breakable crust and bulletproof windbuff. But fuck it, its always nice to get out in the park. We saw a beautiful sunrise, and checked in on the Phelps Lake wolf pack. They are well...

skiskating up Teton Canyon was quite nice today; going to hit it again tomorrow on the way up the hill...

Originally Posted by powder_prophet

Sick Eclipse picture!!!

Good to hear you found good snow Aaron. I guess the higher up you go, the better it gets these days. I had an interesting experience on Wimpys yesterday. Extremely variable is probabaly the nicest way to describe it. And there is nothing better then a two week old, refrozen, windpacked skin track! I've never seen so much sidestepping up a mountain. We did find 800' vert of good pow, in the middle of 3000' of breakable crust and bulletproof windbuff. But fuck it, its always nice to get out in the park. We saw a beautiful sunrise, and checked in on the Phelps Lake wolf pack. They are well...

this picture is incredible

Originally Posted by powder_prophet

Sick Eclipse picture!!!

Good to hear you found good snow Aaron. I guess the higher up you go, the better it gets these days. I had an interesting experience on Wimpys yesterday. Extremely variable is probabaly the nicest way to describe it. And there is nothing better then a two week old, refrozen, windpacked skin track! I've never seen so much sidestepping up a mountain. We did find 800' vert of good pow, in the middle of 3000' of breakable crust and bulletproof windbuff. But fuck it, its always nice to get out in the park. We saw a beautiful sunrise, and checked in on the Phelps Lake wolf pack. They are well...

Thanks for the stoke. I like yours too. And after hearing your story, I'm glad we opted for something other than wimpy's the other day. North facing mid elevation is still skiing very well for the moment. Here is another close up of the eclipse for ya'll...

From Targhee's FB page, figure this was a good enough place to post it:

"Hello Targhee folks,

Every year the snow and weather is a bit different. This year has started off slowly as far as snowfall goes, but it is still early and the snow will come.

As part of our control work, one of the ways that we can get more terrain ready for the season is by boot packing and skiing up some weak layers of snow. We are hoping to get 30 people, expert skiers and riders only, to help boot pack Das Boat on Wednesday, December 14. We are offering a voucher for a free day of skiing, good for this season at Targhee for anyone who helps out on this project. Anyone who is an expert skier or rider can volunteer and join us. We will be meeting at the Activity Center this Wednesday, December 14, at 9am and will boot pack until roughly 1pm. You must be physically fit to stomp around in snow for 3 hrs or so.

Sign-up and Meeting Time:
· Activities Center at 9:00AM Wednesday, December 14.

Items to bring:
· skis or a snowboard
· Bring ski poles (even if you are a snowboarder)
· Bring layers of warm clothing
· food and water
· Gators and extra socks are recommended

This will be a good workout and will help reduce a potential hazard in the future and can improve the skiing in Das Boat when we get more snow.

Hope to see you there!!

Grand Targhee Ski Patrol"

http://www.facebook.com/grandtarghee