Bringing in the New Year in the Tetons

This is neglected blog post #2


So, if you spend Christmas in the middle of the desert, where do you spend New Year's? Where else but in one of the coldest and snowiest places in the country, Grand Teton National Park.

This trip actually had a little additional utility packed into it. Rosey and I both got new cross country skis for Christmas and this trip was to be our maiden voyage on our new skis. According to the National Park Service website, cross country skis are a great way to explore the park in the winter. It sounded like a good idea to us.

I really lucked out finding a place to stay. I wanted to find a little cabin actually inside the park. A quick web search came up with the Triangle X ranch. They seemed a little pricey but they were smack dab in the middle of the park, the cabins looked really nice, and the price included all of your meals while you were there. The meals were supposedly prepared by a four star chef. I guess we would see about that.

Our Near Death Experience
I took Friday off of work to give us an even longer weekend. We left Spanish Fork early in the morning and headed up Hwy 89 to the Jackson Hole. This route was much more scenic than going up I-15 or out I-80 and took about the same amount of time. The only downside was that if we were to encounter snow these roads might be more difficult to traverse. But, there was no more snow in the forecast.

It had actually snowed pretty heavily the night before we left, but there had been plenty of time for the roads to clear... or so we thought :) We were driving through Logan canyon on our way to Bear Lake when we first had some trouble. The roads actually looked totally clear in the canyon. There was no snow buildup whatsoever and the roads even looked dry. We weren't going particularly fast; at least no faster than the traffic in front of us.

We came upon a turn going through the canyon that didn't look any different than the dozen other turns that we had traversed. But I remember, as if in slow motion, the car slowly drifting forward in a straight line even through the road was turning away from us. Holy shit, we just hit a patch of ice. I let off the gas and tried to correct my steering to regain control. I was in control for a second before the car started sliding the other direction, this time into what would be oncoming traffic (thank God no one was coming).

After three or four more iterations of correction and sliding, I was finally able to re-stabilize the car. Wow, that get's the adrenaline pumping :) I wondered how it was that we lost control and that none of the other cars in front of us seemed to have any trouble going the same speed over the same spot. I pulled over to check the car and make sure that everything was alright. It also gave my nerves a chance to settle. That whole experience gave me a whole new perspective on driving through canyons in the winter. I will never again just assume that the road is dry and safe just because it looks that way.

Will There Be Snow?
We did actually hit some snow near Bear Lake, but we managed fairly well and didn't have any more near-death experiences. Instead we dealt with an emotional roller coaster as we drove through areas of varying depths of snow. I really wanted to be able to ski in the Tetons and we kept passing through areas where there was barely any snow on the ground and I would freak out. Then we would pass through areas with 3 feet of snow built up and I would feel better again. The closer we got to Jackson, the higher the emotional peaks got and the lower the valleys got.

As we pulled into Jackson itself I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. There was only an inch or two of snow on the ground in town and the park was only 20 miles away. It was beginning to look like our cross-country ski vacation might turn into a hiking vacation. I guess that it wouldn't have been the end of the world to spend the weekend hiking instead of skiing, but I had really been looking forward to skiing and had spent a good deal of money making the perfect accommodations for the weekend.

I was kind of sad as I pulled out of Jackson and headed North into the park. I just couldn't imagine that the snow conditions could be that different 20 miles away. Fortunately they were were. As we left town we gradually gained elevation as we drove into the park. The couple of inches in town, turned to six inches just outside of town and then a foot and then two feet, and then three feet of snow beside the road. All of the sudden we were staring out over a beautiful snow blanketed winter landscape. Who'da thunk it?

Living the Good Life at the Ranch


Our accommodations at the ranch were spectacular. The cabin itself was rustic; it was a far cry from luxury, it was quite cozy. It was the lodge on the ranch that really made the ranch an incredible experience. The lodge was where we ate all of our meals and just came to relax after a day out and mingle with the other guests. There was a huge fireplace and a pool table and a piano and even an outdoor jacuzzi. It was wonderful.

I really had my doubts about the food at the ranch. Sure, the website said that they had a four star chef, but lots of places stretch the truth just to get you there. I was imagining that we were going to be eating lots of country cookin': deep fried food smothered in gravy. I was kind bummed out about it, because I was still trying to watch my weight and I didn't want to have this weekend set my progress back any.

You can imagine my surprise then when we sat down to dinner on the first night and were served a pumpkin lobster soup with ginger cream that rivaled, if not surpassed anything that I've ever eaten in a fancy restaurant in my life. The menu was small but it was all gourmet food. Over the course of three days we got to try just about everything and it was all fantastic. The New Year's Eve party really took the cake though. They served a "Surf and Turf" (Lobster tail and beef tenderloin) that was unlike anything I've ever eaten in my life. Wow, this place was such an incredible find. I would recommend it to anyone.

The only thing that was a little uncomfortable for me about our stay at the ranch was that I felt like I was surrounded by truly wealthy people. Even though they were all (well, mostly) very nice, I felt like I was being measured up. I think that this is something that guys tend to worry about more than girls.

There were several couples from Georgia (I think that Rosey actually enjoyed connecting with some compratiots from the south). One of them was retired and was dropping twenty dollar bills from his wad of cash like they were going out of style. Another of them was talking about their passion for sailing and all of their expensive toys and vacations.

There was a retired test pilot for Lockheed Martin that was making comments about how people that aren't truly wealthy shouldn't bother flying because they can't afford to properly maintain their equipment and will likely just end up killing themselves. And then there was a guy from Missouri that at one point in his life owned several dozen car dealerships (that he would not shut up about). Oh and there was another group of two younger couples that were on vacation. They knew each from school... Princeton :)

All of that aside, we still had a really good time. I think that the people at the ranch thought we were a little crazy for all of the skiing that we did. I guess most people who stay with them tend to do a little more relaxing and are a little less active. Over the course of our three days we did 23 miles of skiing around the ranch and in the park.

Deep Snow Skiing
On our first afternoon, we did a quick loop around the ranch on a groomed trail to get our ski legs back. Not wanting to waste any time, we packed up the car and headed into the park to get a short ski in before dinner time. We ended up going just down the road a couple of miles and pulling into the Dead Man's Bar turnout. The road was closed for the winter and made for a perfect ski in the deep snow.

I think that we figured out at some point that the road was actually supposed to be closed to all forms of travel and not just vehicles. That would explain why we were the first ones to lay tracks in the snow. The road that descended down to the snake river was actually really steep; a 19% decline. This would have been a real problem for two novice skiers were it not for the fact that the powder was so deep that it really kept you from gaining any momentum at all. In fact, the whole experience was less like skiing and more like snow shoeing. With each step your skis would sink about a foot into the snow.

It was about 2 miles down to the river. It was really neat to be in total isolation in the park as the sun was setting over Teton peak. It was gorgeous.

But then we discovered how quickly gorgeous can turn into dangerous. As we turned back to the car, the sun was setting and the temperature was quickly dropping below zero. I hadn't thought to bring my heavy jacket since I normally keep so warm just by the motion of skiing. The water that we brought along in Rosey's hydropack had actually frozen solid in the hose preventing us from having anything to drink. All of this and we still had to climb back up that 19% incline on skis. Climbing up on skis is definitely not like snowshoeing. Although most modern skis have fish scales on them to prevent you from sliding backwards, they only work up to about a 10% incline. Any more than that you really should have climbing skins (which we didn't).

The Jenny Lake Loop
The next morning, we had a huge breakfast at the lodge and then headed back into the park for a full day of skiing. The ranch was even nice enough to pack sack lunches for us since we wouldn't be coming back for lunch. We decided to ski from the Taggart Lake trailhead (just past the Moose Visitors center) to Jenny Lake and then back. The trail actually followed a road through the park that is closed over the winter and groomed for skiing. It wasn't actually grooved like a trail would be at a Nordic center, but the snow was hard packed and several grooves had been worn by other cross country skiers.


I think that this was where we really found our stride on the skis. It was relatively flat and we were getting really good glide riding in the tracks of other skiers. And you just couldn't beat the scenery. The Teton peaks were looming over us for the entire ski.


I spent the morning taking off and putting back on layers of clothing. I get so hot once I get going that I sweat uncontrollably. I'm not even sure how it's possible to sweat when temperature is below zero, but somehow I'm able. As long as I was moving everything was OK, but slow down even for a second and all of the moisture in my shirt would freeze solid like I was wearing chest armor. It was rather uncomfortable. My beard was most amusing. It frosted over and made me look like father Christmas :)


At some point near the lake we lost the trail and just started going off on our own in the deep snow. We lunched on the boat dock at Jenny Lake. We were totally isolated. It was strange because we actually started the trail with dozens of other skiers, but everyone else must have taken a different route or decided not to go as far as we did. Either way, it was nice to have the lake all to ourselves.

The ski back to the trailhead proved to be a little more challenging. We were already a little worn down from skiing all morning, we were both dealing with blistered heals, and the terrain was much more challenging. We took a trail that winded alongside a little creek. The trail was icy and had lots of sharp ups and downs that were difficult (for novices) to traverse on skis. I did more than my share of cursing through this area, even though secretly I was having a lot of fun :)

Taggart Lake and Colter Bay
By Sunday we were bruised, beaten, sore and blistered and yet neither one of us wanted to waste any our time in the park not skiing. So we bandaged up and headed back out. This time we took a shorter trail out to Taggart Lake. It didn't take long to realize that we were on a trail that was probably meant to be for more advance skiers. We were essentially climbing up switchbacks. This were fairly trivial to negotiate on the way up, but we were both concerned about navigating them on the way down.

I figured that the worst case scenario would be that we could take our skis off and walk down if things go too bad. But, as it turns out neither of us needed to walk back down. Rosey, who had started off being more skeptical than I was, was taking the turns like a pro. I, on the other hand, had a little rougher go of things :) I discovered quickly that the best technique for guaranteeing your safety when you are getting out of control is to just fall on purpose. I tried this several times just to make sure that I could do it and then used the technique several more times on the way down to keep from plowing into people and things. There were no major wrecks, but even two weeks later, I'm still recovering from some of the bruises.

In the afternoon we did another short 4 mile loop near Colter Bay on Jackson Lake. Although this trail probably had the worst conditions, it was pretty chewed by snowshoers, it was my favorite trail that we did. We weaved in and out of the trees, went up and down hills, skied out to two smaller lakes before making our way back to the car. Awesome!

All in all I would say that the whole trip was an incredible experience. The Tetons are beautiful, skiing was a ton of fun, and the ranch was so relaxing. This could easily turn into a new New Year's tradition :)


The rest of our pictures are here.