Alta v. Jackson Hole

EthanH*

EthanH*

Member
I've got a quick question about these mountains. I'm lucky enough to have relatives living in SLC- visited Alta last december and loved it, had a great time. I'm heading back down there to visit them again (Dec 11th) and was thinking of skiing there for a couple days (4), and then heading up to Jackson hole for 2-3 days via the bus that connects SLC and Jackson. Does JH have a lot of snow during early december? I've heard the skiing is much better in later on, and am just wondering if its worth making the trek from SLC to JH. I stay for free in SLC, would have to pay for the bus ($70) to get to JH, the plane ticket is ~$50 more to fly out of JH, and we have to find somewhere cheap to stay.

Worth it?

Thanks.
 
It's an honest question.. I'm just curious if its worth it to head over to JH. I've heard such good things about it and I finally have the chance to see it. But i'll probably end up staying in SLC, more cost effective. Figured i'd ask though.
 
My friends and I are trying to plan a ski trip this winter, and can't decide on either Snowbird/Alta or Grand Targhee. Living in Steamboat, they're pretty similar in distances, so we just want to know where the best snow will be and which will be cheaper as far as tickets/lodging. Not trying to thread jack, but I figure my question relates enough to OP's that this is a good place to ask.
 
alta already is getting some good coverage now. so i can only imagine what its gonna look like in december. jhole is just gonna be cold as tits but with snow
 
It tends to snow a bit more at Alta, but that's not saying that Grand Targhee doesn't get dumped on! If you can, wait until it's closer to the date to see who has a better base going and if you can wait even longer, decide the night before you leave based on snow. This is what we usually do when we're going on road trips in Western Canada looking for snow.

As for the OP, both Alta and Jackson are great hills. Alta gets a ton of snow and has interesting terrain but I think the terrain at Jackson definitely has it beat. The town of Jackson beats the hell out of SLC in terms of having fun.
 
Awesome thank you, also I've heard that Alta's lines are pretty consistently ridiculously long, compared to where at Targhee you don't have to struggle with lines nearly as much. That being said, I haven't been to either of these places, so anyone feel free to prove me wrong.
 
WTF is going on in here.

First off be glad to be skiing 2 top 5 resorts in the US.

2ndly do you get out of bounds? Jackson has probably some of the easiest lift accessed BC stuff in the US. literally like right off the lift. Alta has good stuff too but jacksons is soooooooo easy.

Don't ask snow condition questions, that's like a what if question. Nobody fucking knows.

TYPICALLY it could be good or bad snow.
 
I am glad. I'm really privledged to have the money this year to take a trip like this, and to have relatives in one of the best ski cities in the world.

And yes, I do go out of bounds. Thank you for the info! I think we are going to try and go to Jackson for 2-3 days before heading home.

And yeah that makes sense. I was asking more like general snow trends of early december but I guess that is kind of up in the air too.

Thanks
 
Targhee is going to be way cheaper than Alta and its less crowded. I took a day off from Jackson to ski there and even 2 days after a storm there was powder. Under the lift.
 
it's a crap shoot for snow.

Bring your avi gear for jackson though, you'll have a great time, spending 2 weeks there in march.
 
This is completely false. It sucks at targhee, nobody should ever go there. When it does snow there it rains because of elevation.

Real talk though, you can find pow at targhee DAYS after stroms, let alone if you have bc shit, MY GOD.

 
At the end of the day, it really doesn't matter. They're both some of the best places to ski in the world, so just go with what you feel like.
 
Jackson is so much more than Corbets.

It depends on snow conditions to say if it will be worth it or not. If this December is anything like last years, when it snowed every day until Christmas, it will be awesome again
 
targee is really mellow, but does get a lot of snow and would be fun to check out for the day. Regardless is Jackson has snow or not, its huge and super fun to ski. You certainly won't get bored there regardless of conditions!

The hostel is right in the village in Jackson, 200ft from the Tram. Affordable too.
http://www.thehostel.us/id2.html
 
Just about to say this... read about it in feeskiier mag hear it was very nice definitely look into this if you go there
 
It's a win win really. Alta has rad terrain and a solid amount of slackcountry access. With that said on a pow day your fighting everyone from SLC to get up there and you usually are delayed by avalanche conditions which exacerbates the crowd issue. Jackson still has crowds, but there is so much more terrain.The inbounds is the best I've seen outside of Revelstoke, and the slackcountry is absolutely ridiculous. And not too far away is Teton Pass which offers 4000 vert of backcountry terrain that you can lap via hitchhiking.

I'd pick Jackson any day over Alta.
 
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