Jackson Hole Ski Resort Review & Information

April 2, 2019 The Virtual Sherpa Comments 0 Comment

Jackson Hole Ski Resort Review

Jackson Hole Ski Resort Website:https://www.jacksonhole.com/

Jackson Hole Ski Resort Trail Map

Jackson Hole Ski Resort Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5 Stars)

Summary: Jackson Hole Ski Resort is a world famous mountain located in Jackson, Wyoming. Home of some of the gnarliest in-bounds lines in North America, Jackson Hole is a tough place to ski or snowboard with only 10% of its terrain designated as “easy”. Quite possibly the most famous run at Jackson Hole is Corbet’s Couloir – a double black run named after the mountaineer Barry Corbet. Jackson Hole is a high end resort that provides a complete mountain experience for those looking to dine in nice restaurants or rip the scariest lines one could dream up. Jackson Hole offers access to a variety of backcountry terrain including the Cody Bowl as well.

Parking: Jackson Hole Ski Resort offers 4 paid lots ranging from $10-$20 per day and a free lot via the Jackson public bus system. Village Road Transit lot is free but is about a 10 minute shuttle ride from the base of the resort. As we learned, bus drivers do need to know where you are going when boarding the bus as other destinations in the town require a fee. View the parking map here. For more information about the bus schedule, visit this page.

Season Pass: As of the 2018-2019 Season, Jackson Hole Ski Resort offers limited days (5/7) on the Ikon Pass. Don’t mention this to locals though, as it turns out, most are not fans of this pass at all.

Strengths:

Let’s start with terrain, because Jackson Hole offers some of my favorite. Groomers, trees, bowls, cliffs, natural features – Jackson Hole Ski Resort has it all. Even with no fresh snow, Jackson Hole was one of my favorite snowboarding experiences I have had in a long time.
If you are looking to have huge vert days, Jackson Hole is a great place to go. Most runs have 1,000 – 3,000 feet of gain, while a run from the tram to the base is over 4,000 feet of vertical.

Jackson Hole Ski Resort seems to embrace its challenging terrain. Unlike other mountains, Jackson Hole has some crazy lines inbounds that include cliffs, massive drops, steep trees and of course Corbet’s. All of these areas are dependent on the snow base and snow conditions, but expect some challenging lines if you are looking for them.
Over the course of our trip at Jackson Hole Ski Resort, the crowds always seemed very minimal. Granted, we never had a powder day, but I can’t remember waiting in a lift line once, even on weekend days. We rode JH towards the end of the season, so maybe that was a factor.
Jackson Hole has A TON of tree runs and wide open bowls with a variety of both evergreen and non-evergreen trees for your glade skiing/riding pleasure.

Jackson Hole has updated much of their infrastructure in terms of lifts. 80% of the mountain is high speed gondolas/lifts. You will be hard pressed to find a “slow” lift on the mountain which is nice.
If you are looking to ride backcountry, Jackson Hole Ski Resort offers guided and non-guided access to a variety of terrain while saving your legs some skinning/hiking.

Weaknesses:

Jackson Hole has A LOT of catwalks on the mountain. Most are fairly easy to keep your speed, but if you are not familiar with the mountain or a beginner skier/rider – you could find yourself skating/pushing yourself through the flat sections.
- To add on to this, the (mountain) left side of the trail map has a ton of awesome terrain and is untouched in many areas. However, in order to get back to the lifts, you do need to take a long traverse (Union Pass).
The top of Jackson Hole, like many exposed high elevation peaks, can get quite windblown, even with fresh snow. If you like skiing/riding ice – you can take the tram early in the day, but I recommend waiting until the sun has softened up the upper terrain (IE Rendezvous Bowl).

Jackson Hole Ski Resort has a ton of steep runs and is not the best place for someone who is a beginner or intermediate snowboarder or skier. In fact, only 10% of its terrain is green (easy).
It’s great to have a free shuttle, but the ride back to the parking lot is long, so any kind of lunch break at your car, letting out your dog etc. is not an option at Jackson Hole.
Jackson Hole Ski Resort does not have a ton of park features – they have a few, but nothing like Keystone, Copper, Park City etc. In my opinion, JH encourages its expert riders to ski natural features vs the park.

The culture at Jackson Hole is one that clearly has a chip on its shoulder in recent years. Whether you are in town or on the mountain, odds are you will encounter folks who have a disdain towards tourists/seasonal visitors. This didn’t have a negative experience on our trip overall and certainly is not every person, but it was quite noticeable during our week on the mountain. Look, I get it – Colorado drives me nuts in so many ways, especially during peak tourism seasons, but acting like every single person who lives in Jackson has been there for their whole life is a bit laughable to me.

Mick’s Tip: Based on my experience at Jackson Hole Ski Resort, here are some tips:

Take the tram up to Corbet’s cabin to enjoy a waffle and the views. The waffle here is probably the most hyped thing on the mountain, but it is worth it. Even if you can’t ski down, the tram offers free trips back down the mountain for those who can’t handle the terrain.

On a powder day, the line for the Tram will probably be pretty long. Without giving out secrets, I recommend looking at the trail map and accessing terrain essentially in the same area as the tram without the long lines. In reality, the tram only provides an additional 500-700 feet of skiing vs some of the lifts.
If you are interested in dropping into Corbet’s Couloir, I would recommend visiting earlier in the season (Jan – beginning of March) as it has been known to close early due to conditions. In my opinion, in order to drop in Corbet’s you should be very comfortable riding double blacks or above and make sure the conditions in the couloir are soft. Not sure what they are like? Watch a couple of others drop in and listen to what the snow are. No sense in being the guinea pig if others are willing to!
If you are not riding/skiing on a powder day – wait to take the Tram up until the sun softens conditions up a bit. On a dry day, the Rendezvous Bowl and other high terrain are very icy.

On the Ikon Pass? Avoid mentioning it, many locals are not fans of it.

Best Views: You can’t really go wrong with views at Jackson Hole Ski Resort as they are basically bananas all over the place. To the north and south you have great views of the Teton Mountains. To the east you have fantastic views of the valley below. Some of the best views are on top of Rendezvous Mountain, but really there are a ton all over the resort.