Isn’t Targhee Grand!’
April 1st, 2009Posted in Skiing in the Tetons
The snow keeps falling! Just a whisker less than 500″ so far this year.
But that’s not why I’m thinking Targhee is grand at the moment. I’ve said and written things in past years that have really displeased former owners and managers at the resort, so I’m not shy about pointing out the resort’s mistakes and short comings. When they do good, I’m also pleased to give them credit. This season is drawing to a close and the party Grand Targhee Resort threw for its season pass holders this past Sunday led me to reflect on my overall experience skiing at the resort this winter.
I don’t intend this post to be a report card on the new management, just some thoughts based only on my frequent visits.
First, as a season passholder, I appreciate the resort holding its first ever season passholder party. I think it was generous and smart of them to thank passholders for their patronage. Thank yous are always appreciated. Yeah, I know they want us to fork over money for next year’s passes real early this year and that couldn’t possibly have been a motivating factor, right? No matter, everyone had a good time and I think they gained a lot of goodwill from the event. They also distributed a lot of Targhee decals. I’ll be curious to see how many more of those I see around the region as a result.
At the party I finally got to meet John Urdi, the new marketing director. I know quiet a number of business people who have remarked on the significantly higher level of advertising and marketing activity they have noticed from Grand Targhee this winter. I have no clue how successful his efforts have been, but there is no doubt he has worked hard to stimulate business at the resort in new ways, many of which have saved skiers money, a very good thing in these times. Thanks John!
I can be oblivious to things that don’t directly concern me, but it seems there were more competitions and fund raising events than ever going on at Targhee this winter. Some of these may not have a big impact on the resort’s revenues, but they add to the fun and ambiance of a ski resort and help out worthwhile charities. I was pleased to learn that Andy Williams has secured Targhee’s Ski Mountaineering Classic race next January as aqualifier event for racers trying to get on the USSMA’s team to compete at the world championships in Andorra next winter. World class racers competeing at a Targhee event! Cool. Nice work Andy!
Perhaps I’m blind or I was just having too much fun while skiing, but I didn’t really notice many obvious changes in the skiing this winter. I did think the early season grooming was the best I’d ever experienced when early snow cover was thin. The usual places where small rocks surface seemed to have disappeared by early December in spite of the shallow snow cover.
One obvious plus this winter was the extra effort the resort put into maintaining the access road. Snow removal was always timely and the crews scraped the road down to near the pavement aggressively so the washboard surface that used to be a frequent surface to navigate across was missing. Frequent sanding seemed to have made the surface safer to drive on so I saw fewer vehicles divoting the snowbanks.
The resort’s Carpool Sundays was a new innovation this winter which I applaud and hope they expand upon in the future. Two snowy winter’s in a row is not the end of the threat to skiing’s future posed by global warming. It’s cool the resort is powering its lifts with electricity from windpower and doing other things to offset its carbon footprint, but there is a lot more that needs to be done by ski resorts and skiers in this area. It would be cool if they became a real leader in this area.*(see important update at end of this post)
I was very glad to see he new management continue the resort’s traditional commitment to affordable skiing for local youngsters with the school district’s Winter Sports program and the Ski School’s Go with a Pro program, two good deals for local kids to get instruction and time on the snow. Kudos to Mark Hanson and his ski school for helping the local kids! Even though the resort’s limited base lodge strains to accommodate everyone on busy holidays and weekends, the resort continued to support the local kid’s ski team as was evident by the crowd of happy kids and parents in the lodges upstairs loft. Maybe one of these kids will be the next Sage Cattabriga or Resi Stiegler.
It’s a little thing, but it made small interruptions in the skiing more pleasant- the staffing of the main public restrooms with full time attendants was new this year (I think). Constantly cleaned and fresher smelling restrooms shows a higher level of respect for the resort’s customers. Nice. (But why couldn’t the resort assign an employee to unfold and lower the big and ungainly cafeteria tables every morning? The cafeteria area was frequently a chaos of misalligned and unfolded tables even by lunch time when customers with trays were trying to find seating.)
Speaking of the cafeteria, resort eateries are rarely thought of as economical places to eat, but this year Targhee started offering some very reasonably priced deals on basic burger meals. I’ve outgrown hamburgers, but I know a lot of people appreciated this change and I’m always a fan of resorts offer skiers ways to save money.
A nice new benefit for season passholders this year was free access to Targhee’s great nordic trails. I’ve been told the resort saw about a 25% increase in use of those trails. I didn’t avail myself of this as often as I might in the future because the x-c skiing in the valley this winter was always so good thanks to the frequent snows, but I hope this policy continues.
It never hurts to have a snowy winter to make skiers happy, but the attitude of a resort’s managers and employees can drive skiers away in spite of good skiing. Targhee is known for friendly employees and this winter was no different. I think even the parking lot crew was great in this regard this year.
So, looking back at this winter of great fun, count me as a happy camper skier at the Ghee. There were a lot of places tempting me to locate to for good skiing many years ago, but I ended up in the Teton Valley. Targhee’s “grand” skiing is a big reason I’m still here. The resort’s actions don’t always please me, but this winter it came through very well. Thanks Targhee.
*4/2/09 Update: I see I am a few days behind in my awareness- last week Targhee became the “first organization in North America” to have its greenhouse gas emissions inventory registered in the Climate Registry’s online reporting tool, the Climate Registry Information System (CRIS), and achieve the status of Climate Registered™. Grand Targhee Resort is the first organization in North America to officially establish a Registry-recognized baseline for its carbon footprint, which it can use to accurately and comprehensively manage its emissions. Way to go Targhee! Grab the lead and hold on to it!
Mark commented:
Well spoken. I enjoyed all the efforts Targhee made this season and I bought my pass for next year. Let’s hope the good times keep rolling.
snowman commented:
Thanks Mark. My wife hopes that everyone who enjoyed Targhee this past winter will let Targhee know and suggest to their friends to do the same.