An hour’s drive or van ride from Jackson there is a smaller, family-oriented ski area—Grand Targhee. The drive over Teton Pass is beautiful. Snow wasn’t a problem while we were there, but the 10% grade could be tricky when the road is slick. Vans go each morning from Jackson for a $12 fare, returning at the end of the day.Grand Targhee guarantees their snow. If you are not happy within an hour, you can trade your ticket in for a pass to be used on another day. Normally they have the most snow in the area. On this day, conditions were not the best. You could actually see grass and rocks in a few places. However, the snow was better at Targhee than at Snow King or Teton, and the crowds proved it. It had been a very dry winter so far. Naturally, the day after we left, it snowed 12 inches and continued to snow.
There are two mountains to ski with four lifts (two are high-speed quads), plus a magic carpet for beginners. There is a great children’s area with giant ants and bats, etc., emphasizing different skills. Targhee is an intermediate skier’s paradise—70% of the runs are blue. Only 10% are beginner and 20% advanced. Snowcat skiing is also available. Snowboarders will find a terrain park with rail slides, table tops, and lots of other features.
We have mostly skied in Red Lodge, MT, and Breckenridge, CO, and Grand Targhee is different. At the top there aren’t many trees, and that spooked me a little. Of course, I’ve never been to the top in Red Lodge because the runs from there are black, except for one. Targhee has one green trail from the top, but I found it difficult to distinguish between the green and the blue runs since everything was so wide-open.
I can vouch for the kindness and gentleness of the ski patrol, though, as for the first time, and to my great embarrassment, I had to use their services. I managed to catch a clump of snow with the back of my ski that threw me off balance, and I couldn’t recover. I went down with a twist and a pop to my knee that has probably ended my fun on the ski slopes. (I’m getting too old to take those chances.) They even brought a cardiologist off the mountain to check on me.
The silver lining was driving back to Jackson over Teton Pass as the clouds parted briefly for a spectacular view of those jagged Teton peaks in the late afternoon sunshine.
The resort has a good website, Grand Targhee Resort.