Published November 1, 2010 06:03PM
Best Winter Trips: Teton Range, Wyoming
Towering 7,000-plus feet above Jackson Hole, the Tetons wrest more than 30 feet of snow from passing storms and pile it thick on road-accessible slopes.
'Going Posthole: Snag an A.T or tele setup for descent down Teton's 25 Short.'
» Snowshoe/XC Ski Hit Grand Teton National Park’s four-mile Taggart Lake-Beaver Creek Loop for a rolling jaunt across glacial moraines surrounding the icy lake. More? Pass through snow-shushed, conifer forests on the Phelps Lake Overlook Trail, a 5.2-mile out-and-back departing from the Granite Canyon trailhead near Teton Village.
» Ski Park, click in, go. WY 22, at 8,431-foot Teton Pass, offers some of the country’s best easy-access backcountry skiing. Bootpack north to 10,086-foot Mt. Glory and descend Glory Bowl, squeezing from an open snowfield to a skinny chute. Tamer: Skin south .5 mile to 800-vertical-foot Titty Mouse Ridge, or the open, 500-foot drop down Olympic Bowl. In the national park, skin up the southwest ridge near Taggart Lake, traverse the rocky ridge to 9,775 feet elevation, and hit a 3,000-foot local favorite called 25 Short. You’ll carve through wide open glades, and finish the run by shooting into some sweet tree skiing.
» Resources For park trips, get wilderness permits (required, free) at the visitor center. nps.gov/grte; (307) 739-3399 Gear up Wilson Backcountry Sports in Wilson, WY; wilsonbackcountry.com