Thursday, February 22, 2007

Jackson Hole 2007 - Wednesday, 2/21/07

We were in line 50 minutes before the lifts opened this morning because it snowed all night and we wanted to be among the first to get to Rendevous Bowl. This is the third straight day that we have skied freshies in the morning. But today it just kept snowing all day. The wind was howling and the snow was flying at the top of the mountain, but the skiing was great. According to the locals, this was the best ski day of the year at Jackson Hole.

We started with some laps down Rendevous Bowl with the snow about knee deep, then back up the new East Ridge chair and do it again. The kids were freezing in the blizzard so they had hot cocoa in Corbet's Cabin while we skied. When we all came back out, they wanted to ski on their own, so they took off with JH friends Gus, Charlotte, and Henry to play in the trees and jumps in Casper Bowl and Moran Woods. The adults (and Alexa) wanted to ski faster and in the wide open powder runs. We had three super runs through Ten Sleep and down Cirque; it was pretty close to bottomless with the snow boiling up to the waist on the turns. After early lunches the last two days, we just couldn't bear to go in today and skied until almost 2 o'clock. The last run was down the Hobacks and we again found some deep and untracked powder.

Lunch at the Teton Club was excellent. We made our own Sodbusters, like the ones we've enjoyed for so many years at the Rocky Mountain Oyster. I baked pita breads, Julie roasted chicken breasts and sliced up tomatoes and lettuce, and Mimi made an excellent Penzey's vinagrette sauce that we drizzled over the piled up goodies. Then you just fold the bread over like a taco and eat it up. Yum!

After an awesome day of skiing, we went into the town of Jackson for some shopping. The kids again went off on their own and bought some fetishes. Julie and Mimi hit the grocery store for supplies for our Yellowstone trip, while Frank and I went to Teton Mountaineering for new AT equipment: Boots for me to go with the AT skis and skins Frank gave me; and new AT bindings mounted on his awesome new Bro skis that replaced the Inspired's that are now in my ski locker. We all met at the Koshu Wine Bar for an excellent dinner, which was the perfect end to a perfect ski day.

The attached photos show Julie hiking the last few steps up the Headwall yesterday and me and the boys riding up the chair today in a blizzard. Tomorrow is supposed to be another powder day.

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