This past weekend I did my annual, very informal and totally unscientific parking lot survey of what kinds of vehicles people are driving up to Grand Targhee. Usually I’m pretty dismayed by the preponderance of pickup trucks and burly SUV’s  in the lots, but this year I parked in a row of five side by [...]

It seems there are a lot of people cursing the gorgeous white snow (and rain and ice) that Mother Nature bestowed upon them yesterday. When I saw yesterday morning’s national radar image showing a wide blue band running from the Ozarks to the New York-Canada border, I was impressed by it, and thought, “How’d they [...]

The winter of 2008-2009 started off in the Western U.S. and Canade with a miserable and dangerous snowpack which resulted in a cluster of avalanche deaths once heavy snows started falling. The recent heavy snowfalls in the Alps ratched up the danger there and  a total of seven people have been reported as avalanche fatalities [...]

Yesterday Teton skiers rejoiced to awake to a few inches of new snow covering their favorite slopes. The almost two week long snow draught brought lots of sun, so the snow under yesterday’s new layer was pretty firm.
Yesterday I embarrassed myself thoroughly. Eager to get to Targhee to enjoy a couple of runs before acting [...]

With the Tetons still in the grip of bright sun and high pressure, powder skiing is not an option. But why whine when the skate ski track is fast and the calm sunny weather feels like late spring in January?
We went to Alta, WY. where Teton Trails and Pathways grooms a few miles of gorgeous [...]

I read about Bill Heath’s gorgeous film “Nine Winters Old” when it won an award at the Banff Film Festival a couple of years ago. I finally ordered a copy last week and I’ve watched it twice since, both times with a big smile permanently a affixed to my face for the whole hour and [...]

With the exception of the historic powder dump of 60″ up in Pony, MT a couple of weeks ago, winter is hardly teasing us at all here on the Idaho and Wyoming border. The Tetons have been blanketed with snow once or twice, but only remnants remain above 10,000′ now. I guess this weather pattern [...]