The Official Jackson/Targhee/Teton Conditions Thread.

[Tye 1on]

This year is a whole 'nother level of serious-ass JuJu.

word. Really want to hit the b/c tomorrow but am a bit sketched. May just do a ridge only tour south from le pass...Would love to head up mail cabin, but don't feel really happy about being below all those aspects...

[randosteve]

I ended up skiing Snow King today because I couldn't stop thinking of avalanches last night and slept like shit. My head is so screwed up right now in relation of BC skiing...but at least I'm alive. F**k.

[rideit]

Normally I would say that this is seriously the time to stay inbounds...but what the fuck.

[thaddeusmt]

man, bad news at J-Hole today - inbounds avi death. Thanks for the info on your blog, Randosteve: Link

keep playing it safe everyone! even inbounds!

[Julie_W]

That fucking blows. Sadly, it seemed like only a matter of time before this would happen. To think I was bitching about having to work today instead of ski.

[homemadesalsa]

Tye the small cabin isn't too bad. Anywhere that got the wind and the wind slab/ loading on Tuesday/ Wed/ Thurs has a nasty hard slab under all the cm of new. Lower down and in the trees it isn't as energetic or cracky, but almost too deep to stay in the low-angle terrain without going straight down.

Been wearing beacons/ shovels in bounds, avoiding going up high, but we had hoped to get a view during today's lull, check out the carnage.

[coolstine]

I skied a ridgeline off of glory today and needless to say, anything 30 degrees and over is looks really scary. witnessed a fracture due to my weight on one of the rollovers of the glory bootpack that was at least 25 feet long and clean, nowhere to run, but scary nonetheless. there were also wind lips and cornices that i have never seen up there. be careful out there and choose your terrain wisely. beacons/shovel/probes and avalung if you have it inbounds is not a bad idea....

[homemadesalsa]

Two runs at Targhee this morning and I gave it up. Rime crust about 4mm thick on top of 10-12 cm of nice new powder. Snowing (if you can call it that) heavily rimed crystals, some graupel. Made the goggles impossible and it hurt as you careened down the cat tracks.

Also, we're looking at some potential thaw instability issues- remember the criteria? The FIRST time that a cold snowpack warms up 12-15 degrees F in 12 hours. Well that's us. Some of those hard slabs that haven't moved yet are starting to settle, causing some major shear stresses and creep forces. Not to mention yet another crust to remember buried in the pack, acting as a stress concentrator.

And I have been trying to use the www.jhsnowobs.org site- it seems to be working. C'mon you guys- it's actuallly pretty easy.

[rideit]

Sac. was the place to be today. I took ~10 runs, DC was abysmal (visibility/rime on goggles wise) but Sac. was pretty damn good. For a mild zipper crust, the snow quality was quite good...stay bundled up! Vitucci said breaking trail in the BC was near impossible...blech.

[randosteve]

Seemed like it was lightly raining in Victor today. Doing wonders to the snowpack I'm sure.

[Tye 1on]

Sac. was the place to be today. I took ~10 runs, DC was abysmal (visibility/rime on goggles wise) but Sac. was pretty damn good. For a mild zipper crust, the snow quality was quite good...stay bundled up! Vitucci said breaking trail in the BC was near impossible...blech.

sounds like a great day to be on a board!

[bluespark]

my roof is sliding right now at the rate of about 1/2" every 30-40 seconds with a big overhanging cornice thats about to drop off at any second........

[kush1]

Village was sick today, the patrol killed it had everything open by about 10:30! Caught the rope drop for the south faces and it twas deeep, they tried to get the hobacks going but couldn't all the rope run I guess.

Tomorrow should be really good!

[ImSearchingforPowder]

any beta on how much snow has fallen? Looks like they are predicting 12"+

[tkm5337]

hobacks should be open tomorrow...

2nd that patrol did a fantastic job today (as every day)...but i was seriously astonished with how rapidly everything was open....upper mountain going before 11.....

please please still obey ALL closed signs. definitely had some words for some of the holiday crowd peering into closed terrain today.

faces were $$$$ and even casper was gold. a buddy somehow managed a casper bowl lap and was nipp-deep.

....just 'cause its open doesnt mean we should be any less careful

[kathleenturneroverdrive]

Did Casper bowl open? It's gotta be retarded deep in there.

Today was a blast. I didn't make it out until 1 but still managed to find a lot of untracked all afternoon. I can't believe Patrol got things open so fast today, they deserve a huge thanks for all the work they've been doing this week.

[Julie_W]

Village was super, particularly the south faces. Definitely was not expecting to ride the upper mtn, and certainly not before noon. Great job, patrol! But, was there freezing rain and hail in the early afternoon, or was that my imagination...?

[tkm5337]

yeah, casper bowl was retarded deep ben. in all honestly, all who rode it, in my opinion should not have been in there.

everyone's petrified of the headwall, but theres some big shit to be had in there, too.

agreed that patrol has been doing an astounding job. i actually couldn't believe the upper mountain opened at all today in wake of yesterday. talk about perserverance.

....and yeah julie, it was definitely sleeting/gropel-ing like hell up high late this afternoon!!

[ono]

props to patrol. definitely sounded like they were hard at work this morning- several days running now. can't imagine what its like to be working on x-mas with a family in waist deep snow while having one of you're coworkers buried. and then going back for the same thing for the next 3 days.

[coolstine]

wonder what's going on up there right now...

22 is closed as of 1030ish due to an avalanche

[Lost in AK]

"everyone's petrified of the headwall, but theres some big shit to be had in there, too."

does that mean possibility of opening soon? going back to the village tomorrow with all my gear. the helplessness of of the first five on scene yesterday has me with gear the rest of my life for sure, but would probably follow patrol's lead if they opened headwall. I'd be surprised though.

a bit confused though, hobacks opened or not today?

[AfroMullet]

vil was not so bad on 12/23

[ono]

yeah... they're saying 1-2ft by friday night... a lot of wind with this one, too... maybe looking at another round of waiting. patrol may have a lotta work- they've blasted like crazy already- but more on the way... can't wait to see the hobacks open up.

[beer30]

Its starting again, lets ring in 09.

[panchosdad]

Posted this in slide zone, but figured it might get more traffic here. Summary from skiing the pass yesterday. Everyone was nice.



Homemadesalsa and I hiked up Mt. Glory today and skied a conservative line into Coal Creek. Decent skiing in the sheltered trees, but calling it powder would be a stretch. Anything open was fully nuked by the winds two nights ago. A fair number of down trees and lots of small branches littering the surface. In a few places up high the winds had scoured down to the ground or the November rain crust.

We observed slides on the following:

- In Mail Cabin, Casino and Cave bowls slid substantially. Small slabs pulled out in the Third Option. The Big Do It also slid, as did the steep rollover on skiers right of the Little Do it. Skeeters' Run, behind Moose Brush slid as well.

- Several bowls in upper Mosquito Creek slid as well. All were NE to E exposures. There looked to be a substantial slide on the East face of Palisades peak in the distance. The bowl at the end of Burbank had a slide in the middle third below the rollover, also a NE face.

- South of the Pass Avalanche bowl had a small slide from the rollover below the upper bowl. Didn't see any activity in the Bear Claw area, Thanksgiving or Edelweiss.

- Glory Bowl slid from just below the Gas Ex. Little Tuckermans slid wall to wall. Couldn't really make out a crown on Twin Slides.

- The East Face of Taylor had slid early in the cycle. The crown was still visible just below the uppermost cliff bands. Debris ran not quite full path. There were several newer crowns on the lower SE ridge and on the lower apron of the ridge south of the summer trail bowl. Debris from these reached the main gully. The South Face had no discernible crown, but we crossed a considerable debris pile on the out track. My guess is something came off the south ridge. There were also considerable debris piles just down stream from the South face path, coming off the lower south ridge of Taylor. The first created an 8' high pile in a spot I don't remember ever seeing substantial debris before. The second filled in the creek right at the summer log bridge, conveniently making the exit much easier.

In sum, many frequent fliers went. There is still considerable hangfire, particularly in the area south of the pass and in Mail Cabin. With further loading due the next few days, we could see more releases.

Glad someone started this thread. I'd love to hear what's gone in the Park.
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