{"id":1830425,"date":"2026-03-16T23:18:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T20:18:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1830425"},"modified":"2026-03-16T23:18:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T20:18:34","slug":"jackson-hole-wy-report-sunny-powder-day-on-a-94-of-average-snowpack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1830425","title":{"rendered":"Jackson Hole, WY, Report: Sunny Powder Day on a 94% of Average Snowpack"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Brought to you by\u00a0Snake River Brewing<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Report from March 15, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n

The light board on the shack at the top of the tram read 00F when I stepped off just before 9 am yesterday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The wind was blowing 23 mph from the west.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The combination of 0\u00b0F and 23 mph was keenly felt as we lumbered up the shoulder of Cody Peak.<\/strong><\/p>\n

94% of average snowpack to date at Jackson Hole, WY. Image: NSDA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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I\u2019d run into two legends on the tram, Jason Strong and Tim Durtchi, and was following their lead.<\/strong><\/p>\n

After 30 minutes or so, we arrived atop Pucker Face in a stiff breeze and flat light.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The \u201cmostly sunny\u201d forecast clearly didn\u2019t include that morning on Cody.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cody Bowl and ants. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I passed quickly on Pucker and continued on to 4 Shadows in Cody Bowl.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I hoped the north-facing aspect there would provide some wind protection and softer snow.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was wrong.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cody Peak. Cody Townsend was named after this peak. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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4 Shadows skied rough, and my confidence to stay high dwindled.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I traversed, sidestepped, and bootpacked to a fun mid-mountain tree run I knew would be protected from the ferocious Teton winds.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was lucky, and the run provided shallow, bottomless turns in terrific terrain with a spattering of sunlight.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dawn on S&S Couloir. This was my goal this day but it didn\u2019t quite snow enough\u2026 Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I was happy coming out the bottom and chalked it up to a win.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I trickled down the mountain back to my car with a smile, a sense of satisfaction, and an urgency to start the drive home to Park City, UT.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The heater in the car delivered pure bliss after the frigid, wind-blasted morning in the clouds.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Strong texted me as I drove off, saying I blew it and should\u2019ve stayed with him into the next alpine zone, which skied great.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The crux. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cDamn,\u201d I thought.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You just can\u2019t win \u2019em all, and it\u2019s been even harder this season.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just then, I realized that this little 3\u2033 powder day was the only true powder day I\u2019ve had in the Lower 48 this season.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some of the things I skied this day. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Whoa\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rough year, huh?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I feel very grateful to have hit BC and France so well this year because outside of that, it\u2019s been zilch.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve got my fingers crossed that my three weeks in Alaska later this month and next deliver, because as I write this, a \u201cwinter killer\u201d high pressure is building in the West and is forecast to last into April\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fortunately, Jackson Hole is sitting on a 94% of average to date snowpack up high and their spring skiing is gonna be good.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thanks, Wyoming!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Photos in Chronological Order<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n
Pre-dawn Jackson Hole. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Big map on a wall. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Sublette Chair. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Corbet\u2019s Cabin. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Scoping lines in Corbet\u2019s Cabin. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Strong & Durtschi grinding up. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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George and Strong. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Durtschi and George on the edge. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Climbing to Cody Bowl. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Cody Bow. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
My view waiting for light. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Cody Peak. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Big terrain. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Hoback Canyon. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Hoback Canyon cliff. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The burn at the east end of Hoback Canyon. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The burn. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The Wind River Range. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Wind River Range and cows. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
A mountain range near the Tetons. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The Unita Mountains of Utah. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Officially, I got married in this town\u2026 Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Park City, UT. Image: SnowBrains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Brought to you by\u00a0Snake River Brewing Report from March 15, 2025 The light board on the shack at the top of the tram read 00F when I stepped off just before 9 am yesterday. The wind was blowing 23 mph from the west. The combination of 0\u00b0F and 23 mph was keenly felt as we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,267],"class_list":["post-1830425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-snowbrains-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1830425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1830425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1830425\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1830425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1830425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1830425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}