Grand Targhee Ski Trip
A description and images from our 2013 Grand Targhee Ski Trip.
by Celeste Lipford and Terry Lipford
We decided to make our annual skip trip trek to the Grand Tetons area of Wyoming, mostly because the snow in Colorado had been increasingly sparse the past several years. Besides which, we had not been in this area previously.
The secondary "nicety" was that we would not have altitude issues, and that the crowds would be considerably less than Colorado ski areas or Jackson Hole either. Located in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest, the abundance of light powder snow (more than 500 inches annually) and lack of lift lines in the winter made this travel decision easy.
Jackson Hole Arrival
We flew into the Jackson Hole, WY airport, and the drive from there to our rental house in Idaho gave us an opportunity to check out the area, etc. It is a very scenic ride through the Teton Pass on Wyoming route 22/33 which brings you into Driggs Idaho, approximately 42 miles.
Driggs is a small village (population of less than 2,000) with an altitude of 6,109 above sea level. No industry, however it is a popular destination in the summer for mountain biking and for easy access to Grand Targhee in the wintertime. In addition, Driggs is only 95 miles from Yellowstone National Park, more about that later on this page.
Hike to Ticket Office
I had pre-purchased our lift tickets online, but we had to go to the Grand Targhee Ticket Office and show our identification in order to pickup the tickets. They take your picture for your lift ticket, so that "sharing" is not possible.
Shoshone Lift
These lifts may not look exactly "modern" but they get the job done. Since the lift ticket prices are much more reasonable here than elsewhere in the USA, you can smile every time you ride these lifts! With a summit height of 9,920 feet and a vertical rise of 2,270 feet, you can breathe easier here than in Colorado.
Trail Map
Grand Targhee is not a large ski area, but it seems to always have good snow, crowds are considerably less than other ski areas we have visited, and there are enough lifts to service the hills.
You can find all of Grand Targhee's statistics at the bottom of this page.
Resort Base Area
Small but it has everything one might require; few shops, couple of eateries, locker area, bathrooms, etc. If there is going to be a crowd, you will most of the people here; shopping, resting, eating or drinking.
Last Check before Riding the Lift
Lift Tickets? Check. Bindings Tight? Check. Children Ready? Check. Seems as though we are ready to ride.
Bindings Tight?
Jeremy and I getting our snowboards strapped on and ready to go up the lift. This might just be the only down-side to snowboarding, you have to get buckled in to ride!
Skiers are ready Faster
Chelsea is indicating that she is ready to ski! She is really waiting on all of us to get our snowboard bindings tight and ready to ride. Skiers have a much simpler time of it getting ready to go!!
Our House Rental
This is the house we rented in Driggs,ID - good size, nice & warm and our rental Suburban fit into the garage. Yeah, it was a 12 mile drive to Grand Targhee, but the drive was spectacular and the house was very nice.
We brought Jeremy's cousin Stephen with us, so having the second floor bedrooms gave everyone their own space and as the master bedroom was on the first floor, we had our own privacy as well.
For your information - this was a VRBO rental and it was top notch in every possible way.
Early Arrival at the Lift
Get to the lift early, and there is no line, and you go right up the hill. Or did I neglect to mention that the crowds were always kind of small at this resort?
Fred's Mountain view from the Base Area
Looking up the hill from the Grand Targhee base area. The "Dreamcatcher lift" is on the left, which is the way you can get to the summit of Fred's Mountain (9,862 feet) - which is a good ride down to the base area. We would suggest that the "Crazy Horse" or "Sitting Bull Ridge" trails are the best routes.
Morning View of the Tetons
This was our view of the Teton Mountains (Grand Targhee is in the background) every morning as we drove up from Driggs. It was only 12.2 miles up Ski Hill Road from our rental house, but the road brings you out of Idaho and back into Wyoming as it climbs up into the Grand Teton Mountains.
Up the Hill on the Shoshone Lift
The Shoshone lift is a "fixed grip" quad, and this is the view you get as your chair proceeds up the hill!
Ski Hill Road to the Resort
And as the drive from Driggs continues to the ski area, the road gets steeper & steeper. It is only a 12.2 mile drive, but as the last 2/3 of the drive are uphill with a number of curves, it seems much more distant.
Quick Pose before riding the lift again
Jeremy & Steven stopped for a quick pose in the Grand Targhee base area. Or maybe they are trying to ask "why aren't we headed to the lifts?".
Back down Ski Hill Road
The drive back down the mountain to Driggs, gives everyone a chance to warm up. Steven is smiling because I had a chance to warm up the car while everyone put their gear into the back of the Suburban.
Thawing out after Snowboarding all Day!
After being on the slopes all day, everyone takes time to warm up! Your fingers and toes get a chance to thaw out, and you get to have your snow clothing and gear de-ice and warm up for tomorrow's run.
Relaxing after Snowboarding all Day!
Catching up on some reading before dinner! Or maybe just still thawing out ?
Lets Visit Yellowstone Park
Lets go visit Yellowstone Park
We decided to take everyone up to Yellowstone, and because we wanted to take a sno-cat tour, we got a motel for one night. The next morning, it was minus 27 degrees! I cannot put into words how cold it felt!
Even though it is only 104 miles from Driggs, ID to Yellowstone Village, we thought that it would be more fun to drive up the day before, because all of the Snowcat Tours all get an early start.
Yellowstone Snowcat Tour
Everyone is enjoying the Snocat tour, and by now, it had "warmed up" to zero degrees. Fascinating how good zero degrees felt after we had experienced -27 degrees! If you have never experienced winter temperatures in the -27 degree zone, let me reassure you that it is not only uncomforable, it is oddly difficult to breathe because of the effect on your lungs.
The snocat would stop at various places, and we would all get to go out and explore that area. Chelsea is explaining that it is really cold. The inside of the snocat would warm up in between stops, but the would get very cold inside while everyone went outside to explore.
Yellowstone Geography
Yellowstone is full of geysers, bubbling hot springs, bubbling mud pools, and everywhere you look is steam rising from ponds or streams. Click here to read more about the Yellowstone Caldera and find out about the gigantic volcano that lies beneath the park.
Yellowstone Steam Sources
Like I just said, everywhere you look is steam rising from the ground or the water. The entire Yellowstone area sits atop an ancient caldera referred to as the Yellowstone Super Volcano.
Quick Facts: The Yellowstone caldera formed during the last of three super eruptions over the past 2.1 million years: the Huckleberry Ridge eruption 2.1 million years ago (which created the Island Park Caldera and the Huckleberry Ridge Tuff); the Mesa Falls eruption 1.3 million years ago (which created the Henry's Fork Caldera and the Mesa Falls Tuff); and the Lava Creek eruption approximately 630,000 years ago (which created the Yellowstone Caldera and the Lava Creek Tuff).
The above information was extracted from Wikipedia, click here to view their page.
Old Faithful
Eventually the snocat tour brought us to the Yellowstone Visitor Center, where you need to be to see the most famous geyser of them all.
Here we are walking over to the Old Faithful viewing area, waiting for it to put on a show. This area is directly in front of the Yellowstone Park facilities, including; Old Faithful Lodge, Old Faithful Cafeteria and Visitor's Center. Gave us a chance to use the restrooms and grab a snack.
The Geyser is working up to generate the "full blast", so there are frequently some initial smaller displays until the full display starts.
Is the Snowcat Okay?
I thought that I better check the Snocat hardware, to make sure it is ready to take us again. For the record, the park does not allow automobiles to traverse the roads in the winter, only these snocats and snow-mobiles are allowed to use the roads.
Quick Facts: Old Faithful is a cone geyser located in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, United States. It was named in 1870 during the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition and was the first geyser in the park to receive a name. It is a highly predictable geothermal feature, and has erupted every 44 to 125 minutes since 2000. The geyser and the nearby Old Faithful Inn are part of the Old Faithful Historic District.
The above information came from Wikipedia, click here to view their page.
Waiting for the Old Faithful Show
Not sure whether we are discussing how cool Old Faithful is, or maybe how much warmer it feels at 3 degrees than it did at -27 degrees. The real answer is that you have to get in position prior to the geyser eruption in order to get a decent spot, because the crowd gets larger prior to the show.
Yellowstone Bison Herds
There were a number of Bison herds in Yellowstone, and none of these guys seemed to feel the cold like we did! The bison pretty much wandered where ever they wanted to, including sometimes marching down the center of the road. The snocat driver told us that they were required to pull over and park on the side until the bisons would finish walking by, or the bison would take offence and attempt to put a horn into the snocat!
Quick Facts: An estimated 20 to 30 million bison once dominated the North American landscape from the Appalachians to the Rockies, from the Gulf Coast to Alaska. Habitat loss and unregulated shooting reduced the population to just 1,091 by 1889. Today, approximately 500,000 bison live across North America, including approximately 5,000 in Yellowstone Park.
The above information was extracted from Wikipedia, click here to view their page.
Our Evening Recreation Methods
Our rental house was large & had a very efficient heating system, which gave us the ability to keep comfortable inside even though it was snowing and below zero outside. This of course led to where we invented recreation methods that could be considered as unorthodox. We called this game "House Pong".
Pong Win!
Chelsea has just won a round of "whole house ping pong". This was the result of the house rental having ping pong equipment, but no ping pong table! So we invented this game !
Pong Penalty?
Jeremy seems to have gotten a penalty, which is what Chelsea is explaining to him. The rules are flexible, so someone is always ready to calibrate them...
Pong Warmup?
Celeste is either warming up in front of the fireplace, or she is waiting for the ping pong ball to richochet off the wall? This kind of activity gave us all an opportunity to warm up after a day at the ski area.
Back up the Hill
Me driving up the Hill to the Grand Targhee parking lot. The road was two lane, and when you add in the snow & ice and other vehicles, it could occasionally create some amount of tenseness! The distance between our house rental in Driggs, Idaho to the Grand Targhee parking lot was about 12.2 miles, the last 6 or so miles was all uphill with numerous switchbacks.
Teens Evening Entertainment 1
If there wasn't a family ping pong contest, these two could be found here. I am certain that a lot of "Minecraft" got played by these two during the evenings!
Teens Evening Entertainment 2
The house we rented had a seriously good heating system, which is exactly what we all needed after a full day up on the hill! Also allowed us to walk about in t-shirts and be comfortable until the next morning.
Trip Summary
Grand Targhee's peak elevation is 10,121 feet and the base elevation is 7,851 feet above sea level. This yields a vertical drop of 2,270 feet on 2,602 skiable acres. 4 lifts and 99 trails with an average annual snowfall of 500 inches. Point being there is a lot of mountain to ski and board on!
The overall "feel" is that it is much smaller than any of the Colorado ski areas we have frequented over the years. However, the air does not feel as "thin" as you will find at the Colorado Resorts either. With 2,602 skiable acres, this is not really a small resort, but it does feel that way.
Lift tickets can be acquired at a lower price than Colorado as well, and there are a number of corporate entities that can provide them. Even a "list price" ticket at the resort is less expensive. Grand Targhee offers an online "pre-book" ticket service that will save you some money, however, Grand Targhee is not on the Ikon Pass or Epic Pass.
Celeste and I both felt that Grand Targhee was good, maybe not "better" than our favorite Colorado Resorts, but enjoyable due to the less crowded lift lines, etc.
Grand Targhee Statistics
The following are the resort mountain statistics, as provided by their website.
Grand Targhee Statistics
| Total Acreage: | 2,602 feet |
| Avg Snowfall: | 500+ inches/41+ feet |
| Vertical Drop: | 2,270 feet |
| Base: | 7,851 feet |
| # of Lifts: | 5 |
Fred's Mountain
| Vertical Drop: | 2,176 foot vertical drop |
| # of Lifts: | 3 quad chairs (1 high-speed) and 1 Magic Carpet Conveyor Lift |
| Trails: | 10% Easier; 70% More Difficult; 20% Most Difficult |
| Summit: | 9,862 feet |
| Longest Run: | 2.7 miles (Teton Vista Traverse) |
Peaked Mountain
| Vertical Drop: | 2,180 feet |
| # of Lifts: | 1 high speed quad chair |
| Trails: | 85% More Difficult; 15% Most Difficult |
| Summit: | 9,830 feet |
| Total Acreage: | 602 acres reserved exclusively for Snowcat Adventures |
Some Useful Links for Grand Targhee
- Just Traveling Thru Travel Planning Tips
- Grand Targhee Resort Website
- Grand Targhee Resort Overview on the "On The Snow" site
- Food & Nightlife Grand Targhee on the "Powder Hounds" site
- Google Search Results list for "accommodations near Grand Targhee Resort"
- Google Search Result for "Accommodations in Driggs, Idaho"
- Visit our Youtube Channel
- Grand Targhee Wikipedia Article
- Grand Targhee Google Images Set
- Google Search Results list for "Restaurants in Driggs Idaho"
- Google Search Result for "restaurants in or near Grand Targhee"
- Amazon Search Results list for "Grand Targhee"
- Youtube Search Results list for "Grand Targhee Skiing"
- Skier deals & discounts on the "Skier Deals" site
- Our Grand Targhee Image Gallery
- Powder Hounds website article on Grand Targhee (good info)
- Our Grand Targhee Image Gallery
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