Jackson Hole Ski Area — Attraction in Jackson

Its been a decade and my son and I finally hit Jackson hole. We are boarders who travel to multiple places each year to board not resort. This year the end of our trip was at Jackson Hole and well I think our expectations where a bit too high.

In Short: Definitely a place to put on your bucket list, but if your cost minded your not missing much as more challenging great places exist for less.

Weather: Late March, 9" of snow while on slope, Could not see.

First the Gondola is cool and a must ride bringing up 100 people at a time. For the first run of the day this was not an issue, however the second run was not fun as visibility was terrible and summit was pretty much carved out. My opinion make your first run the summit and unless a beautiful day leave the hill by noonish.

Jackson Hole is some challenging terrain and not for the faint of heart even in blue areas. The area is marked, but I found myself at times near cliffs that I had to walk out of to avoid while traversing some blues. Granted visibility was an issue this day. You have to be mindful and know where you are going.

Staff was great and the restaurants served us some great food.

We had minimal issues with other skiers and boarders and found that we could generally trust those around us to avoid us if necessary. I personally prefer Wyoming and Montana skiing as their seems to be less unskilled touristy skiers and boarders on the slopes. I think they all go to Colorado and one of the reasons I think Jackson Hole is a great alternative to Colorado.

So to sum it all up the place is beautiful. Lots of Gondolas and plenty of quality restaurants that were quite pricey. For us it just cost us to much to really enjoy our stay. For two days our costs exceeded $2k between hotel, tickets, dining, and two sweatshirts. For what we paid for hotels you think we could at least let the kid ski for free. Oh well lesson learned. Still a great place but for us only a four star.

In the future we'll spend our time on some of the hidden gems we're we can get a ticket for a finger, a burger for a knuckle, and a free smile at...

Good but in my opinion not great.

Pros: Steep as ever I thought revelstoke snowbird and big sky were steep this place is narrow and steep. It’s pretty intense. There’s a good handful of runs here I would never do so if you want a challenge I think this is the best place I have a seen in North America.

Decent snowfall. It’s kind of dry and they get a good amount vs say colorado.

A nice village with a ton of a dining and lodging options. There’s also a bunch of no name motels that are even cheaper but most likely aren’t on the major travel sites.

Good public transportation shuttling people around.

Downsides: the FOG IS RELENTLESS when it’s snows. Literally less than the bottom 1/3 of the mountain you had good visibility and anything else unless you are in the trees at times you are skiing by feel and not able to see the ground not a vibe.

There isn’t much intermediate runs or Easy terrain. A good portion of the blues are catwalks which aren’t interesting to ski and each lift has 2-3 blue runs to the bottom. They get super busy so these runs get bumpy and have moguls around 11:30am it’s worse than any other mountain I have seen. Part of the issue is the amount of traffic they have on a weekend due to their legendary status but if you can’t do some of the harder terrain there isn’t much for you so it gets bumpy quick.

The parking js rough it’s about a 15 minute shuttle unless you get there super early for the paid parking which is about $50+ for the day but that...

We took a break from skiing at home on the Wasatch and ventured over to let my kids ski Jackson Hole. We got one of each, a low vis, cold (-8f windchill at start) almost-whiteout day and a sun peaking out, 20s f degree day following the storm. Traffic at open is a PITA, just like other resorts, particularly on powder weekends. I don't know why more people aren't utilizing the shuttles and buses with JH's steep parking fees, but they're not. If you wait an hour or so after open, it's a completely different drive over to the resort. Of course, parking is full at that point...but a shuttle will get you there QUICK once those roads empty from the mad dash! Have another cup of coffee, eat some more breakfast. The powder stashes will still be there! ;)

This ski area has one of the longest descents in the West. That means if you're going top to bottom, prepare for the big burn in those quads! The big lines form around the gondolas and tram, particularly on a storm day, but they move quick and even on the far flung chairs, they seem to be managing their crowds well and despite filled parking lots, there were no lines that resembled Colorado waits (or Snowbird's tram/Mineral).

Overall we had a great time and hopefully will spend a few more...