Jackson Hole 6,
Feb. 4, 2023
Hi Everyone,

It was a grey bird day today with the occasional sunny period between the clouds. I rather enjoy skiing in the sun as opposed to the shade which makes it difficult to differentiate the bumps. In ski terms we call this a white out. I spent the greater part of the day chasing the sunny periods which miraculously appeared to always be where I was not. For the most part I followed the crowd and stayed away from the steeps, the trees and the bumps. The freezing and unfreezing made certain runs undoable.

I used my carving skis today and practiced carving turns on groomers which are a prerequisite for a level 2 instructor. I will probably enrol in a level 2 course in the near future having done a pro day at Orford earlier in the season. The temperature averaged from -5C to +3C which brought out the Saturday crowds. Nevertheless there was never more that a 2 to 5 minute wait and often no wait at all on the upper mountain slopes. At the end of the day the sun had warmed up a bump run, softening the snow and allowing me to try out my Rossi skis on something more interesting than a groomer. As you might recall from my previous classification, their blues are really what we call blacks in the Laurentians.

I have a dinner tonight at the designated conference hotel and I will fly out tomorrow. I have met many urologists from all across the States but there is only 1 other Canadian here.

Love,
Brian

Jackson Hole 4,
Feb.1, 2023,
Hi Everyone,

I went to my conference this morning and checked out for skiing at 10:00. The conference started this morning with breakfast at 6:00 and a lecture at 6:30. The Americans are a little crazy with their hours. It was about -15C with no wind and blue, blue skies and warmed up to -5C. The snow is getting hard packed and although there is no ice, the groomers are slippery and the tree runs are becoming more difficult. The moguls in between the trees are huge, 3-4 feet high or deep which ever you prefer and it is not easy to link your turns. Nevertheless, there is no grass or rocks showing as they have had 350” of snow so far this winter.

I met my ski pal, Sebastian, who grew up in France at the base of a ski centre. He had never skied here so I was able to show him the mountain. As expected he skis like Jean Paul – Barry – Glen combined. I tried to ski fast enough so as not to have him wait for me. I have been using my Salomon, QSTs, semi powder skis, 92 under foot. They slide a little on the groomers but are well suited for the bumps on the mogul runs. Tomorrow I am going to try my Rossignol, Elite, multi turns, 74 under foot to see how they are on the groomers and on the bumps.

I have a head cold that is rather annoying and have been loading up with Sudafed which makes me somewhat excitable. I got home after skiing, lay down for 15 minutes and awoke 1.5 hours later. I must be getting old as I don’t remember being this tired after a day of skiing. I am now sitting in the hotel bar, eating onion rings and drinking a local amber beer on tap. I am going to try an Italian restaurant this evening.

Love,
Brian

Jackson Hole 5,
Feb. 3 2023,
Hi Everyone,

More of the same except that the temperature ranged from -5C to +5C with a bluebird sky and sunny all day. I went to the conference which went until 10:00 and then headed off to the ski hill. I have a 5 minute walk back to my Hostel and then a 5 minute walk up to the base area with all the lifts. There was a small line up at the aerial tram so I elected to take one of the 8 person gondolas that go almost up to the summit. I tried my Rossi carving skis and was really impressed with their performance. I could go faster with good control and could easily carve my turns. The ski has some titanium underfoot for stability but carbon in the tip which allows for flexibility in the bumps. They are also good in the well spaced trees but I didn’t venture into the steep tight tree areas as the snow was getting hard due to the freezing and unfreezing caused by the sun and changing temperatures.

I met Sebastian at the base of the aerial tram at 11:45 as planned and we took the tram to the very top of the mountain. They cram 100 people into the tram and I found myself in the middle, squished in between a couple of 6 footers. Thank goodness the ride is only 12 minutes long. We arrived at the top and took some great pictures. There was a 50k wind at the top which was wind swepted so we skied into the bowl and then into a bump run.

We skied mostly on the western part of the mountain as we had done most of the eastern part yesterday. The place is so big that you can not do the whole mountain in a single day. At some point we arrived at a place called ‘expert chute’. I forgot that when they say ‘expert chute’ that it really means expert chute. We arrived at the top and there was no way out except down. I was not going to climb 100 feet to get out of there. The chute was 75 meters long, 3 meters wide and had a pitch of 40-45 degrees. The snow was hard packed but not icy. Sebastian had no trouble going through but I must say that I did. I jumped my first turn, caught an edge and lost a ski. I didn’t really fall but the ski was 10 feet above me on the slope. A nice young expert skier, skied down, picked up my ski, jump turned around me, placed the ski on my downhill side (which is the more difficult side to put a ski on, and supported the ski while I jumped into it. I hope that he was not wondering what I was doing here. Anyway there was no way that I was going to attempt a jump turn again, so I safely side slipped the last 20 feet. I think that I had reached the summit of my abilities on this mountain and will read the signs more carefully in the future.

I had a quick capuchino and chocolate bar for lunch while my friend devoured a slice of pizza. We then worked our way back to an area just below and took the Howbacks out. The moguls have grown bigger, SUV’s rather than Volkswagens, but the sun beats down on the hill and the snow was soft with no ice what so ever. Again my skis performed really well.

I had a lasagna at an Italian restaurant and will have Swiss food tonight. The food is delicious but the prices are outrageous!

Love,
Brian

Jackson Hole 2, 
Jan. 31, 2023,
Hi Everyone,

Today was a bluebird day. I woke up to blue skies and -25C with a 10k wind. It warmed up to -20C by the end of the day and the wind died down. They have had 350 inches of snow to date with the last snow fall 2 days ago. The trails are mostly packed down on the open slopes but there is still some broken powder in the trees and steep slopes.

My hostel is located 50M from the gondola, an easy walk. I had forgotten how steep Jackson Hole really is. There are a few green trails at the bottom of the mountain for beginners. Otherwise, the blues are blacks and the blacks are double blacks. Double blacks are not marked except for a caution sign which I would classify as elevator chutes. The tree skiing is endless with moguls like Volkswagens. You have to jump each turn to get down. I did a few chutes which are about 20 feet wide and 45-50 degrees steep. I had to stop along the way to take pictures and to catch my breath. I can do about 10 jump turns in row and then take a minute to rest. 

Sometimes I think that I am an expert skier. Watching certain skiers here changes my perception of what an expert western skier really is. The view from anywhere on the mountain is nothing less than spectacular. The mountain is huge. There is 4500 feet of vertical. If you venture onto a black-double black, unlike other ski centres, there is virtually no way out. Your must ski the whole way down. One poor fellow lost his ski on a fall. As a good patroller, I asked him if he needed help, but he had already radioed the ski patrol his where abouts and they were bringing him a ski so that he could get down.

I used to say to my kids that ‘we would warm up with some double blacks and then try something more difficult’. I skied alone for most of the day as I find it rather difficult to ski with people here other than my kids. With my kids we can usually ski at the same speed and on the trails with the same difficulty. When I try to ski with people that I don’t know, they usually want to take blue trails and don’t ski bumps or trees. 

Everyone here skis on powder skis. I didn’t see anyone with the type of narrow carving skis that we use out east. Everyone slides their turns rather than carving them even on the groomers. The hill is empty. There are no line ups at all, I ski down the hill and take the next gondola or chair right up without waiting at all. That makes for a lot of skiing at the end of the day.

The prices here have become outrageous which may explain the lack of people. It is difficult to find a condo for $1 million but properties of $10 to $20 million are a dime a dozen. But then again, what do you want. I would classify the skiing here as my number 1 place to go. Whistler is great, but the weather and the crowds since Vail bought the mountain are a little disappointing. 

My conference starts tomorrow morning with a breakfast at 6:30. I am trying to master the website and will try to add some photos tomorrow.

Love,
Brian

Sent from my iPad