Jackson Hole
snow-free day, I decided to try the beginner area with a snowboard lesson.
“Jackson Hole is the kind of mountain that needs snow,” said one instructor, riding the lift. “It’s a challenging mountain, and the more snow there is, the more forgiving it is.”
On paper, Jackson Hole has little to offer beginners, with just 10 percent of terrain devoted to them. I joined the tots learning pizza-wedge stops on the magic carpet, strapped my board on goofy (or left foot forward) and proceeded to have my most satisfying and quad-taxing day. By the afternoon, I was able to navigate the Teewinot chairlift to higher green runs and make it down to report that Jackson Hole, despite its expert reputation, treats beginners just fine.
Postscript: When the ski season opens Nov. 24, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort will debut Solitude Station, a new onmountain learning center with dining and retail that’s poised to make the resort more beginner-friendly. for a sleigh ride to see them. The western safari rewarded us for sitting still with mostly playful displays of dominance, as the bulls locked their majestic racks and began mock fighting (things get serious during rut season).
Overlooking the refuge, the National Museum of Wildlife Art captures the wilds in realist, impressionist and modernist moods. It also illustrates humanity’s inherent love of nature from Native American stone sculptures of birds that date to 2500 B.C. to the grand landscapes painted by Thomas Moran — works of art that helped persuade Congress in 1872 to establish the first national park in Yellowstone.
Arguably the park’s most magical season, winter cloaks Yellowstone in downy snow, and its geyser eruptions frost the trees. Getting there and back is an all-day affair; check out the nonprofit Wildlife Expeditions of Teton Science School. In the closer Grand Teton National Park, Hole Hiking Experience guides snowshoe tours.
In the end, we didn’t have to choose between the slopes and the surroundings. Mother Nature delivered, socking in Jackson with a two-day storm, granting us a final powder day and a crack at some black runs.
We also endured another ski-country staple: the flight delay on departure, a small and welcome price to pay.