Day 2 at Grand Targhee (Monday 26-Feb)

We woke up today to sunshine and 19" of snow in the last 2-1/2 days, so Dan and I decided to leave our helmets in the room in favor of bare heads, headbands, and suntan lotion. It was still kind of cold, so, after the first run, Dan went back to get his helmet. I stood with the headband for a while, hoping for more sun. The powder was great. Dan compared it to knee-deep talcum powder. The sound of spruce branches brushing across a headband is different from being deflected by a helmet - and Aspen branches don't make any sound when they comb thru one's hair. Also, the clouds rolled back in and out, sometimes reducing visibility to almost nothing. So by noon, I decided to go back to get my helmet and rent some demo powder skis. My 162cm Atomic Metron Beta 5s are wide enough at the ends, but have a pretty narrow side cut, so they were running a little low in the light powder. I got a pair of 172cm Solomon X-Wing powder boards. They floated higher and required less effort to ride in this snow than my Atomics. I could get used to that.

On one of the powder days Dan and I skied in VT in December, I commented to Dan that our then-upcoming western skiing could only equal, not top the skiing that day. Dan said then that we would likely see at least four days in the west that would be better. He was right. Today was probably the fifth.

Since there're no cell phone signals at the base lodge here, when the lifts closed today, Dan and I each found a comfortable spot with a view, high up on the mountain, to make a few calls. Then, a totally private last run down through the trees, and a large latte on the plaza at the base.

Dan skied the whole day today, so I think he's recovered. Glad I didn't catch it.

Tomorrow we get up early, check out of the resort here, and drive around the Grand Tetons to the other side to ski Jackson Hole. They report 10" last night and 26" in the last 72 hours. We don't have a place to stay therelined up yet. We're going to wing it. The Adventure has skied 14 days of the last 17, at 11 different resorts. Three more ski days at two more resorts to go.

As always, look at the botttom of this page for larger sized slide shows.