The part about Sublette and Thunder going detachable is at 33:10

Unpopular opinion, but I agree with Benny on this one. Jackson (in bounds) is highly over-rated. When Jackson is on, its incredible for sure, but it is one of the most inconsistent mountains I have ever skied. When is is bad, it is the worst snow I have ever skied, and there isn't much in the way or north facing terrain to cling to on those days. Give me high elevation cold chalk and empty slopes at A-Basin all season over feast/famine melt freeze at Jackson with a million of your closest friends.

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Originally Posted by Djongo Unchained

Plug, that picture is sweeeeet!

Izzat from '91?
Talk about a low snow year...either 90-91 or 91-92 was the least I ever saw, 252". Fucking bony as hell.
That looks like the bottom of TB, so many bumps, and that kicker rock is launching you good mang.

Calling it the quad really dates a guy. If I say it now, no one knows what I'm talking about. Remember when Thunder was a 2 seater and the towers looked like old oil derricks?
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My biggest issue with putting a lift on the lower faces is that I'd bet it would promptly lead to them cutting in a groomer or two in there, soon after. The faces seem like kind of a signature of JH, only to be fucked up...

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Yes to all this, except the picture is in the 80’s, I have to go look at some other shots to date it, but of course analog doesn’t leave a date stamp.
Part of the beauty of the place is it really sucks for people who don’t get it.

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Originally Posted by plugboots

Part of the beauty of the place is it really sucks for people who can't ski.

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fify

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Originally Posted by skiracer88_00

Unpopular opinion, but I agree with Benny on this one. Jackson (in bounds) is highly over-rated. When Jackson is on, its incredible for sure, but it is one of the most inconsistent mountains I have ever skied. When is is bad, it is the worst snow I have ever skied, and there isn't much in the way or north facing terrain to cling to on those days. Give me high elevation cold chalk and empty slopes at A-Basin all season over feast/famine melt freeze at Jackson with a million of your closest friends.

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https://media.giphy.com/media/G8xwi3ghEd02c/giphy.gif

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Originally Posted by plugboots

Hard for me to hate on the quad chair, (sublette), since I met Mrs. Plug on it in ‘91.

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Well that's fucking awesome!

We dubbed it the "couch" because it had a padded seat. That was epic for back then! [emoji41]

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Originally Posted by skiracer88_00

Unpopular opinion, but I agree with Benny on this one. Jackson (in bounds) is highly over-rated. When Jackson is on, its incredible for sure, but it is one of the most inconsistent mountains I have ever skied. When is is bad, it is the worst snow I have ever skied, and there isn't much in the way or north facing terrain to cling to on those days. Give me high elevation cold chalk and empty slopes at A-Basin all season over feast/famine melt freeze at Jackson with a million of your closest friends.

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Interesting perspective...all opinions are welcome here.
FFS, we're The Equality State...

I wouldn't call it over rated or inconsistent but that all depends on the skiing you got when you were on the village.
Some days are so gotdam brutal, I would agree with you that it blows big Donks.

I have told folks before buying their daily tickets how severely poor the skiing would be that day. Have warned peeps on the dock that the frozen ocean at the summit is deadly. Brutalissimo is the word for it.

Some days I'll do one tram lap just to endure the crazy conditions. It's both genuinely scary and comical at the same time.

When ya run out of N. facing, get to the Dark side, it's almost completely northerly and quiet.

I googled some snow info about A basin as it's not on my been there list.
Apparently it doesn't snow there much. Or maybe not as much as it used to.

Annual snowfall for the past 10 years is under 300", with 18-19 at 173". OOF.
And you have multiple ski areas to disperse the 2.8 million Denver locals and the multitudes who fly in.

JH averages 410" over the past 42 years
The last 10 years:370,380,500,320,410,570,490,500,530,500.

I hope the basin gets 600" this year. Keep everyone home.:fmicon:

Djongo - You should ride ABasin. It’s a special place

I always find it interesting how people prioritize different things about a mountain and rate accordingly. You see some odd “underrated” and “overrated” places brought up. I’ve heard a lot of things about Jackson, but overrated is a pretty rare descriptor!

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Originally Posted by Djongo Unchained

Interesting perspective...all opinions are welcome here.
FFS, we're The Equality State...

I wouldn't call it over rated or inconsistent but that all depends on the skiing you got when you were on the village.
Some days are so gotdam brutal, I would agree with you that it blows big Donks.

I have told folks before buying their daily tickets how severely poor the skiing would be that day. Have warned peeps on the dock that the frozen ocean at the summit is deadly. Brutalissimo is the word for it.

Some days I'll do one tram lap just to endure the crazy conditions. It's both genuinely scary and comical at the same time.

When ya run out of N. facing, get to the Dark side, it's almost completely northerly and quiet.

I googled some snow info about A basin as it's not on my been there list.
Apparently it doesn't snow there much. Or maybe not as much as it used to.

Annual snowfall for the past 10 years is under 300", with 18-19 at 173". OOF.
And you have multiple ski areas to disperse the 2.8 million Denver locals and the multitudes who fly in.

JH averages 410" over the past 42 years
The last 10 years:370,380,500,320,410,570,490,500,530,500.

I hope the basin gets 600" this year. Keep everyone home.:fmicon:

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Don't get me wrong, when the place is good, it can be really fucking good. The thing is, the very worst snow conditions at places high in the Rockies (A-Basin and Loveland, Aspen Highlands, Crested Butte, Silverton, Telluride, etc.) are never even close to as bad as those bad days at Jackson. The worst you ever get is hardpack, edgable chalk. What we don't get in snow quantity we do get in consistent cold that keeps the snow that does fall in good shape all season long.

Those numbers for ABasin are probably a little off, seeing as the snowstake is low on the mountain, in the trees. The alpine is where ABasin truly shines (except for the below treeline Steep Gullies).

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Originally Posted by skiracer88_00

The thing is, the very worst snow conditions at places high in the Rockies (... Silverton, Telluride, etc.) are never even close to as bad as those bad days at Jackson. The worst you ever get is hardpack, edgable chalk. What we don't get in snow quantity we do get in consistent cold that keeps the snow that does fall in good shape all season long.

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Not true.

I've skied unimaginably bad frozen chickenheads and protosastrugi at Silverton and Telluride a number of times. It happens, everyone gets a slice of the ugly once in a while.

But this is all ridiculous and bound to go down the time honored stupid hole.

It's like someone criticizing your wife or religion. Time to get some perspective.

Jackson will be flooded by CO this winter if shit doesn’t turn around. So there’s that.
But no fear…pattern change in 3 weeks.

Jfc you kooks!

Try skiing the ice coast.

Never had a bad day at the Village. If spring firmed up we'd rip a couple dh grooms and then hang at the wall of voodoo getting a tan until it was time to harvest the corn.

Shit snow is shit snow. I'd say that ski areas around the 4 Corners region get that MF coral reef a lot more often then Jackson but I don't really know.

Arizona Snowbowl takes the win over all y'all on the mid winter sunbaked refrozen shit crunch. It's all about timing down here.

A-Basin doesn't get really big years but it's got a pretty sick wind machine when it's turned on. I'm a big fan of that Continental Divide wind buffed.

I gotta add,

300 inches is plenty of snow to ski cool stuff and have lots of good days in a season at a high elevation, cold ski area. Besides, you won't get to ski many sick bump lines at a place that gets 400+ inches every year. That's :(

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Originally Posted by raisingarizona13

Arizona Snowbowl takes the win over all y'all on the mid winter sunbaked refrozen shit crunch. It's all about timing down here.
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You've never skied Alpental, have you? Nothing quite like 4 inches of Pineapple Express followed by high pressure. Ask Norseman about the frozen debris piles.

And uh, bumps with 400+ inches? Oh yeah.

For those just coming into this conversation who are longtime TRGs and those who found this on the googles, abasin sucks just about as much as Jackson sucks. Please plan your ski trips accordingly and go elsewhere.

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Originally Posted by Buster Highmen

You've never skied Alpental, have you? Nothing quite like 4 inches of Pineapple Express followed by high pressure. Ask Norseman about the frozen debris piles.

And uh, bumps with 400+ inches? Oh yeah.

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Can confirm... frozen chunder doesn't have to be double-overhead to fuck you up. Though it occasionally grows that large.

The jh sucks mantra is comical.

The upper chairs have the advantage of north and south facing.
Been stuck for days doing north facing chalk chutes inbounds. It can get boring but it’s amazing terrain.
And then the south corns up and you get both.

Finally listened to the whole podcast. Interesting

A. I always detested her background of Disney and Nike. Turns out she’s a real skier. Only missed a few winters in jh in decades. Many 100 day clubs since she moved there.

B. Five year plan has both upper lifts going detachable. It’s a done deal.

C. Sublette top going to dog face entrance. That’s fucked.
Should leave as is. Blowdowns are a good thing. Should also leave as fixed grip imho.
Dropping the top makes it harder to get to the lower gate. Also makes it unpossible to get the goods on far tensleep

D. Right angle thunder chair? Like Teton lift?
They actually like that shit?
“Contour unloading and loading”

My advice is make thunder detachable.
Put in lower sublette lift. Yes there will be groomers and snowmaking. But the lower faces are hit or miss in mid to late season.

But think about tram pressure for OB laps. Lower sublette to upper sublette to lower gate? FKNA
No more need to wait an hour to get back out. Or do the Gondi thunder sublette insanity.

Downside is moguls in lower RS. Oh wait. That already happens.

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Originally Posted by Djongo Unchained

Talk about a low snow year...either 90-91 or 91-92 was the least I ever saw, 252". Fucking bony as hell.
That looks like the bottom of TB, so many bumps, and that kicker rock is launching you good mang.

Calling it the quad really dates a guy. If I say it now, no one knows what I'm talking about. Remember when Thunder was a 2 seater and the towers looked like old oil derricks?
.

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'90-'95 was my era, does that mean I can still call it the quad?

Wow, lots going on here.
Thanks for the synopsis so I don’t have to listen
to the whole thing.
A lot has changed since I was first here in ‘78 - ‘79.
Nothing stays the same forever. Even though we would
like it to. Including me 😊.
5 year plan? Hope I’m still skiing it to see. On that
southbound train already.

Still the best place to spend the winter in the US. IMHO.

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Originally Posted by Core Shot

But think about tram pressure for OB laps. Lower sublette to upper sublette to lower gate? FKNA
No more need to wait an hour to get back out. Or do the Gondi thunder sublette insanity.

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This was exactly my first thought!

While I’ve never lived a winter up there, I make it a priority to get 10+ days in the area almost every year. It truly is my favorite place to ski.

Fuck, a lot has changed since I stumbled out there as a green kid from NJ back in 2001, and the past 3-4 winters have been brutally crowded. Even when you execute the chess match perfectly the experience has changed for sure. I don’t see it ever going back to what I consider the “old days” aka open gates and walk on trams.

Barring the village completely dumping the mega pass, I think some of these changes are not only inevitable but will improve the overall flow of the increased skiing pressure.

They should shave down the cornice on the skiers left side of Corbet’s so more people can experience it. Maybe even blow some snow in there so it’s open sooner.

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Originally Posted by The SnowShow

They should shave down the cornice on the skiers left side of Corbet’s so more people can experience it. Maybe even blow some snow in there so it’s open sooner.

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Maybe bring in some fill dirt and regrade it?

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Originally Posted by The Artist Formerly Known as Leavenworth Skier

Maybe bring in some fill dirt and regrade it?

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Even better. Is it really skiing if you have to leap?

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Originally Posted by The SnowShow

Even better. Is it really skiing if you have to leap?

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With a regrade they could add a pick point for a winch cat as well.