Powder Skiing on the Gentle Giant

When looking for a great place to polish your powder skiing, this is a likely candidate.

It’s a ski resort that gets lots of the light fluffy snow that skiers cherish but often find difficult to master. One with miles of intermediate runs ideal for learning powder technique without having to resort to terrifying avalanche chutes. And uncrowded enough to practically guarantee unbroken snow after lunch.

No lift lines, either. On an average day, Targhee has more chairlift seats than skiers.

Targhee is Valhalla for the recreational skier in search of powder on a pitch not too difficult to handle. Fully 70% of the mountain is rated intermediate, with 1,000 acres of mostly moderate difficulty left ungroomed for powder seekers.

Ideal for intermediate and advanced intermediate skiers, for families looking for great skiing for a relative bargain, for anyone wanting to concentrate on learning powder without the distractions of discos.

Impressively Craggy

Grand Targhee is tucked away below Yellowstone National Park at the Idaho border on the western side of the same impressively craggy Teton Range as Wyoming’s more famous ski resort, Jackson Hole.

Targhee, which opened the day after Christmas in 1969, is so unknown it is almost anonymous. It’s in Wyoming, but you have to go through Idaho to get here, either flying into Idaho Falls 87 miles away or driving the 42 miles from Jackson’s airport over 8,429-foot Teton Pass and through Driggs, Ida.

Apart from the superb skiing, there’s almost nothing else but the limited diversions offered by the tiny cow town of Driggs, nine miles from the mountain. Locals drive into Idaho Falls to catch first-run movies.

It’s so quiet at this ski mecca that the loudest noise is of skis crunching through new powder, or maybe the breaking of the delicious home-baked pastries served in the Pioneer Cafeteria at the base of the mountain.

Several Similarities

Yet Targhee’s credentials virtually duplicate those of Utah’s Alta, known as the prime destination of skiers in search of certain powder. The two resorts have several similarities. Alta annually averages 500 inches of snow, much of it light powder. So does Targhee.

Alta has a vertical drop of 2,050 feet, ranges in elevation from a base of 8,500 feet to a summit of 10,550 feet, and counts 2 1/2 miles as its longest run. Targhee counters with a vertical drop of 2,200 feet, elevation between 8,000 and 10,200 feet and a longest run of 2 1/2 miles.

About the only ways Alta and Targhee differ substantially is in number of lifts (Alta’s eight compares to three and a rope tow at Targhee) and price of lift tickets. Alta’s $13 adult ticket, the world’s best bargain for a top resort, comes in $5 below Targhee’s reasonable $18.

Alta is often tough to ski, too difficult for many recreational types who may manage to squeeze in a couple of weekends and maybe another week each season. Targhee is challenging without being daunting. It is big without being bad, which is why it’s called the “Gentle Giant.”

This singular ski resort has more going for it than a statistical similarity to Alta. For one thing, there’s the calendar art scenery that bears comparison to the loveliest in the West. From Crazy Horse Ridge at the top of the long Bannock double chairlift, the bold spires of the Tetons rise like shark’s teeth above the lush carpet of Targhee National Forest. Few vistas in skiing can match this magnificent one overlooked by Teton Peaks soaring 13,766 feet above the valley.

More Skiable Terrain

Then there is Targhee’s sheer size. At 1,500 acres it offers more skiable terrain than such well-known resorts as Steamboat and Sun Valley. An entire third of the mountain is set aside for open tree and bowl skiing, and that’s where powder can almost always be found below Blackfoot Ridge.

Little in a recreational skier’s life can beat the exhilaration of pushing off into the gentle powder of Chief Joseph Bowl and whooping down Targhee’s open face. Except perhaps the apple turnovers awaiting down at the bottom.

Two more advanced intermediate runs have been cut this year. The addition of two cats for a total fleet of seven, means that 500 acres (up from last season’s 300) is carefully groomed each night.

Targhee makes a special effort to compensate for its fairly remote location and lack of press clippings by catering to families and making it as painless as possible getting there. Children 12 and under stay and ski free (one child per adult) on package plans when they occupy the same unit as their parents. Small children 3 to 7 years old also get free lessons, rental equipment and nursery care.

Airport Shuttle Service

A shuttle service run by the resort with 48 hours advance notice will pick up at either the Idaho Falls or Jackson airports. It’s about two hours from Idaho Falls, 1 hours from Jackson. Cost is $20 per person one way, kids under 13 free.

For skiers already at Jackson Hole, 42 miles east, there’s the Targhee Express, which for $22 offers a round-trip ride (average 1 hours each way) to Targhee and a lift ticket. The bus picks up at several places in the Jackson Hole area and is at Targhee by about 9:45 a.m.; departure back to Jackson Hole is at 4:30 p.m.

Targhee also will make arrangements to take skiers staying here to Jackson Hole for the day.

Targhee, named for an Indian chief, has 94 units in two lodges and one condominium building right at the mountain, all within 75 yards of a lift. Grand Targhee central reservations handles them all: (800) 443-8146. Targhee Lodge has 15 rooms, all with two queen beds and color TV, $546 for two for a six-night package that includes lift passes for six days and a half-day ski lesson. Teeinot Lodge, with 48 rooms equipped with queen beds and TV, costs $596 for the same week package.

Family of Five

Sioux Lodge has lofts, studios and two-bedroom apartment units that accommodate up to eight persons. A family of five can stay here on the week package for $1,083; the parents pay $375 each, two children stay free and the third pays a reduced rate of $333.

Targhee maintains a sports and rental shop a few feet from the lifts. There’s also a top-flight ski school with instructors eager to show skiers powder technique. Teton Mountain Touring, in Driggs, offers a full program of Nordic instruction, tours and back-country treks. Phone (208) 354-2768.

Restaurants at Targhee include the cafeteria, a taco bar and Targhee Steak House. There’s also a sleigh-ride dinner ($17.50), which includes a Dutch-oven steak dinner served in a yurt (round Mongolian hut).

Five miles from the resort are Teton Teepee Lodge, which serves family-style dinners, and Lost Horizons, which has Chinese and Japanese food and is the area’s most sophisticated restaurant. The Tree (pizza) and Machos (Mexican) in Driggs are both popular and good. Victor Steak Bank, 20 miles away in Victor, is the place to head for substantial home-style meals.