Jackson Hole

Toward the end of January, a few friends and I had multiple days off in a row, so we headed north to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  There wasn't any fresh snow, but the terrain was rugged and awesome.

View from inside the gondola

Top of the gondola looking up at the top of the tram on the summit of the far mountain

The Jackson Hole crew at the top of the tram

The Grand Teton (center) barely crests above the ridge across from the tram

Corbet's Couloir

Contemplating dropping into Corbet's Couloir

We decided to live to ski another day--too icy today

The tram from Corbet's Couloir

Grand Teton National Park

The Tetons as seen from Grand Teton National Park

We decided to hike to access some new terrain.  Have you seen that scene from Aspen Extreme where the guy skis down a frozen waterfall?  It felt kind of like that.

Town Square

Skiing Brighton and Snowshoeing at Night

A group of instructors trekked over to Brighton in Big Cottonwood Canyon to ski on a couple of our days off.  We found powder!

I didn't filter the color out of this picture--it was just that grey of a day.  But there was plenty of powder to make up for it.

Brighton side-country / backcountry access

Big Cottonwood Canyon

Brighton crew

Blake searches for another missing ski in deep powder outside of Brighton Resort

Buddy sent it off a cliff and ended up buried to his waist

After another day off, a group gathered for a snowshoe hike by the light of a full moon.  Above, Park City by moonlight

The bright lights in the top right are Park City Mountain Resort lit up for night skiing

Deer Valley World Cup

Deer Valley hosted World Cup freestyle events (moguls and aerials) this January.  After skiing some powder at Brighton in Big Cottonwood Canyon, we took in the opening-night concert in downtown Park City.

Big Head Todd and the Monsters played on Main Street in Park City.  Last year it was the Cold War Kids.

The height of skiing fashion

After the concert, we were greeted by fireworks as everyone walked up Main Street to the bars 

The next day was a light powder day

At some point I found a pile of powder that claimed one of my skis.  I launched downhill onto my face but was able to walk away more or less in one piece.

As I skied back to my locker, I watched some skiers practice on the mogul course

We enjoyed watching the finals of the mogul competition.  Hannah Kearney dominated.

A skier rockets down the middle of the course, about 1/4 down from the top

The next night we watched the aerials finals (the red speck in the sky is a high-flying skier)

Video of an American competitor sticking a big jump: