A Great Ski Area for Most

Jackson Hole is famous as one the world’s toughest ski mountains, but it is more than that. It is also one of the continent’s great intermediate mountains. (See journal "Ski Jackson Hole for Intermediates".) Beginners, on the other hand, may feel slighted. There is a Beginner area– two little lifts serving the first 150 vertical feet of Jackson’s awesome 4,000 vertical.

Having been a Beginner once, I think that the best places for Beginners are those mountains where they can ski from the top, just like real skiers. Jackson falls way short of that. On the other hand, the Beginner area is gentle and very wide. If anything, it is too gentle, for the next step up– Intermediate Apres Voss– is a big one in steepness.

The best thing for Beginners is to skip Jackson Hole and go across the valley to Snow King where it will cost a lot less, be less crowded, and the scenery is better.

For Intermediate, Advanced, and Expert skiers, Jackson Hole is almost perfect. Its strengths are its immense size, uncrowded runs despite the lift lines, variety of terrain, good snow, lots of sunshine, and scenery. The negative, and it is a big one, is that the runs face south. Crusty or crud surfaces are the norm from early February on. The best conditions are in December and January, but often there is not enough snow until Christmas. When it is cold enough to combat the sun, Jackson’s snow quality is a close second to Utah’s famed ‘Greatest Snow on Earth’- they share weather systems, but Utah, 250 miles south, has better geography for making great snow.

Solid Advanced Intermediates and up should check out Jackson’s most famous run– Corbet’s (not pronounced Corbut, but Cor bet) Couloir. To see Corbet’s from the top, go to the top of the mountain and follow the ridge line on skier’s left down to the sign. To see it from the bottom, go up the Sublette chair, go right and follow the flat track around the mountain toward The Cirque.

If you are contemplating skiing Corbet’s consider this. Jackson runs week long Extreme Ski Camps, culminating with a run down Corbet’s. Only 1/3 of the participants, who pay big bucks for this, make the attempt, and of those who try it, only 1/3 make it down standing up. The death toll is not reported.

Quick Tips:

Staying in town is cheaper than staying at the mountain with more to do apres ski and more dinning choices. Staying at the mountain is more convenient...

If you stay at the mountain, rooms facing the parking lot get snow plow noise at night and rooms facing the mountain get groomer noise. The Best Western Inn at Jackson Hole (This name is critical, so you don’t end up at the BW in town) is the best bet for quiet, but it is not as handy to the lifts.

Best food for lunch: Alpenhof Bistro, upstairs at the Alpenhof Lodge near the Clock Tower. On the mountain, there is a standard ski area cafeteria half way down the Casper Triple Chair. Yes, you can ski all 4,000 vertical feet in one run, but until the new tram opens in a couple years, you have to ride four lifts to do it. If you want big vertical, go up the Gondola and back down, about 3,000 ft.

This is very important for skiers not accustomed to skiing the west– it takes a mid-mountain base of about 50" to make for decent conditions. Less than that, and there will be rocks and closed areas.

The first overlook on the right hand side of the year round road through Grand Teton National Park is plowed in the winter. Even if it means a taxi, this is a must see sight on a clear day, a good spot for apres ski experiences. If you are an early bird, morning views are best. When to come: best condition are mid December, if there is enough snow, through January, and/or when the Cowboy Poetry Gathering is on. While not an annual event it is not to missed.
The ultimate in apres ski is a visit to the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar for beer, western music, and cowboy poetry. Stay for a good steak diner.

Go around the corner from the ticket windows and through the door to buy your lift ticket inside and sign up for the Vertical Feet Club. Ski 100,000 vertical, and get a special ski pin. Ski 250,000 vertical and get a pewter belt buckle– so ugly it’s fantastic. 500,000 ft., a silver belt buckle. 1,000,000 vertical, and they give you a gold plated belt buckle, which reminds me that I must go back to Jackson. I’m at 970,000. One more day.

Best Way To Get Around:

You don’t need a car, and renting one is expensive. From the Jackson airport, multi-passenger vans or taxis are available to your hotel, either in town or at the mountain. Singles save money taking the van. Two or more usually save money in a taxi. Check the fares to your destination, and don’t sign up in advance unless it gets you a steep discount.

The mountain is 12 miles out of town. The town bus directly connects most of the motels in town to the mountain for a very low fare. Most motels in town are within walking distance of the Town Square, the center of action, and
there is the town bus for the rest.

Flying into Jackson on a clear day gives spectacular views of the Grand Teton ("the Grand" to the locals). Check on winds when you check in for your flight to Jackson and ask for a seat on the west facing side of the plane on landing for the best view.

After our first few ski weeks flying into Jackson, we changed and started flying into Salt Lake City, renting a car and driving to Jackson. The advantages are [1] lower air fares, [2] way lower rental car fares, [3] pretty scenery on the way, and [4] more skiing variety. We would drive to Park City the first day to ski there for a day or two, then drive to Jackson, about 4 ½- 5 hours, apres ski, ski Jackson for a few days, drive back to Park City for a day or two, and go home.
A great ski week, visiting some the finest resorts– Deer valley, Park City, The Canyons, and Jackson Hole. Most of the time on the return, we stopped in Evanston WY for the night (See Journal).

Our preferred route is I-80 to WY 89 to Jackson, US 189 to I-80 for the return. This route is or will be detailed in the Journal on Evanston, WY. In case of bad weather, take US 189, which crosses the high dessert and gets much less snow than the alternatives.

The Teton Steak House used to be a Sizzler, and it retains some of strengths and weaknesses of Sizzlers, but as time passes, the Sizzler heritage is fading. The menu includes 8 steaks, 4 chicken dishes, ribs, and 3 sea food, all served with a Sizzler like salad bar.

Prices are moderate for Jackson, and give good value. We’ve tried a couple steaks and chicken meals. Quality is excellent for the money. However, most of the time when we eat here, we opt for a Buffalo Burger and salad bar because Buffalo Burgers are hard to come by. Just off hand, I can only think of 8-10 places (in 4 states) where we have found Buffalo Burgers, but we almost always order them when we do because they are a treat as an alternative to a Beef Burger.

Some say Buffalo tastes like beef only sweeter. I don’t get that. To me, buffalo tastes like beef, only better. There are two more reasons to order buffalo. Buffalo is better for you, even more healthy than skinless chicken. This does not fully apply to ground buffalo where, as with ground beef, the butcher adds fat to the meat. A Buffalo Burger has about 5% fat instead of the 1% of the raw meat. Still, a hamburger is almost never that low in fat, or anything close to it.

The Teton Steak house also offers Buffalo steak. After our first experience with buffalo steak (not here), we have avoided it except at home because it is difficult to cook properly. Buffalo steak does have 1% fat, which means it very quickly cooks up tough. If you must try it in a restaurant with less than three Michelin stars, you must order it rare or, even better, very rare. Go beyond rare, and you will be eating shoes leather. The little bit of added fat in a buffalo burger saves it from this fate.

Among our buffalo burgers, there were only two better than the Teton Steak House serves. The Buffalo Burger and salad bar run about $13, not bad for a good diner in a resort town.

Don’t overlook the buffet breakfast - ham, sausage, bacon, French toast, pancakes, hash browns, biscuits & gravy, scrambled eggs, and fresh fruit for $6.

The dimly lit interior looks like– guess what– a Sizzler, a long narrow dining room crowded with tables and booths along the walls. The decor won’t offend, but won’t make Architectural Digest either. All entrées include the salad bar and top out at $30.

Service is OK.

Location: one block east and one block south of the south end of the town square.

The Alpenhof Bistro, formerly Pierre’s Bistro, is our favorite place for lunch at Jackson Hole, now that the Alpenhof’s main dining room no longer serves lunch. Ski down to the Clock Tower. The ticket office/tram building is on skier’s right, the Alpenhof on skier’s left. Go up the outside stairs at the Alpenhof to the Bistro and Bar.

The Alpenrose, the best restaurant in Wyoming, is directly below the Bistro. Alpenrose only serves diner, so the Bistro is where its talented chef’s fix lunch. I can’t recommend any particular items on the menu, because we have munched our way through most of the menu, and quality here is remarkably consistent, and consistently good. So order what strikes your fancy. You won’t be disappointed.

The Alpenhof is or was owned and operated by a couple from Austria. She runs the hotel, he is head chef, and knows what’s what in the kitchen. Over the years, the menu has changed from a Continental emphasis toward California Yuppie cuisine, a big mistake in my opinion, but there are still some hints of the Old World on the menu. Go for them first, especially anything looking Austrian.

We have a favorite table at the Bistro, but I’m not sharing. I don’t want to have to battle a bunch of tourists for it next time. Suffice it to say, the Bistro has some very comfortable arraignments, where you can watch Warren Miller Ski Films on the numerous TV screens around the dining room. Some of these movies include what my be the only verifiable descent of Corbet’s Couloir ever made, but the crashes are more fun to watch.

Servings are large, so think twice before adding a salad and/or dessert if you plan to back out and ski.

If you are staying at the Alpenhof, go to room first and take off your ski boots. We pack moccasins just for this. Then go eat, and, then back to the room for a shuteye, the prefect ski trip lunch interlude. The Bistro’s inside entrance is on floor two, at the top of the lobby stairs.

If you are staying in town and riding the local bus, a little apres ski at the bar here or at the Mangy Moose will clear out the crowd waiting to get back to town.

We have visited 62 ski areas. I ski about 90 days a year. So, speaking with some experience to back it up, I want to say that one of the greatest discoveries we ever made in skiing was apres ski at McDonald's. There is nothing that tops off a good day skiing like a McDonald’s chocolate shake. Don’t try to understand it, just go try it.

On the down side, a few years ago McD’s started messing around with the menu and really degraded the quality of their chocolate shakes. They turned the hands down King of the Hill among fast food shakes into an also ran– boo, hiss! But still, give it a try and see what you think.

If you are staying in town while skiing Jackson Hole, the McDonald's is really handy. Returning from the mountain, you turn left onto Broadway (WY 89), the main drag through town, and McDonald's is shortly on the right.

As for the rest, McDonald's is McDonald's is McDonald's. You know what it is, and so it is.

Bubba’s is the busiest restaurant in Jackson Hole Territory. Everybody eats at Bubba’s except Arnold Schwartzenegger and Maria Shriver. Arnold & Maria came to Bubba’s one day. The hostess told them what everyone hears between 5:30pm and... ?- "Sign in. The wait is about 45 minutes." Arnold-Maria said, "We don’t wait for tables." Bubba's said, "Then you don’t eat at Bubba’s". Here’s what they missed:

Bubba’s decor redefines rustic, either up or down, depending on your point of view. Charm is not Bubba’s strength. Wall are bare wood. Floors are bare wood. Tables, both picnic and otherwise, are bare wood. Booths, more bare wood. Still, in a perverse way, it works.

What brings the crowds to Bubba’s is superb wood smoked meat and the lowest prices in this pricey resort. Since your meal was put in the smoke ovens to cook 12 hours ago, food service is just a little slower than a fast food joint, so the long list of names ahead of yours clears out remarkably fast.

For diner, you have smoked beef, smoked pork, smoked chicken, smoked sausage, and smoked ham. We’ve had them all, and would, and have, ordered all of them again. I figure we’ve spent 10-12 weeks in Jackson over the years, and taken more than half of our evening meals at Bubba’s.

Servings are large and include two sides and excellent Texas toast. We’re partial to Curly Fries, Cowboy Beans and slaw among the sides. Menu explorers can order the combo plate, choice of two or three meats and two sides. Folks with smaller appetites should consider a sandwich of sliced pork or beef and to make a real meal of it, add salad bar. This is just as filling and just as good as a full diner, but it costs less.

Curly Fries are the high point of the side dishes, but not always available. If not listed on the menu, we had occasional success in asking for them.

The salad bar is limited to the basic American salad bar stuff along with a surprising selection of cheeses.

One of Bubba’s brilliant touches, and something all BBQ joints should copy, is to not put any BBQ sauce on the meat. Instead, three different bottles of Bubba’s excellent home made BBQ sauce are on the table– mild, medium, and HOT. This way, you can match both the hotness and quantity of sauce used to your personal tastes. But before you drown everything in sauce, try a bite of meat without, for the smoke flavor is best revealed in naked meat. Then experiment to find the best combo of sauce and meat. This is the way BBQ should always be served.

Service is down home friendly, fast, and efficient.

The pot bellied stove just inside the dining room provides welcome warmth during ski season.

On arrival, don’t stand there in the mob in the lobby. Make your way to the hostess station and get your name on the waiting list.