Northern Rockies/Alberta Rob & Tom's Excellent Ski Adventure (aka: Welcome to Retirement!)

[teejaywhy]

That much traffic on a Tuesday? Wow!

And Monday, and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday. Probably Saturday and Sunday...

https://buckrail.com/snapped-bridge-repairs-snarl-traffic-between-wilson-and-jackson/

https://buckrail.com/construction-crews-ask-for-patience-as-traffic-congestion-persists-on-wy22/

 

[teejaywhy]

Sunday March 17 - Travel Day - Back Home

All good things must end. We ate our final delicious free hotel breakfast and packed up the truck for the 692 mile slog back to Phoenix. And wouldn't you know, we ran into some snow storms! Came down good in the middle of the Navajo reservation and again as we passed through Heber AZ. Luckily, the highway was warm enough that it wasn't sticking. But it seemed appropriate for our final travel day. Resisted the temptation to detour off to the Arizona Snowbowl...

All in all, it was a great trip. It was an ambitious plan but we accomplished our goal of 17 ski days. No fights, nobody got hurt. Rob says I yelled at him a few times. Oh well, I'm the older brother, that's what I do! Would I do a trip like this again? Probably not. I'm glad we did it and it was exactly what we wanted to do, but next time I would opt for less driving and longer stays at fewer places. In any case, the Mountain Collective pass was the ticket to this journey. Averaged out to $34 per day for lift access!

For sure, two days at each place, especially huge places like Big Sky, Jackson Hole and Aspen/Snowmass, is only enough time to barely scratch the surface of all they have to offer. All of those deserve return visits. We had the best snow at Big Sky, seconded by Aspen/Snowmass. The real sleeper was Grand Targhee - man I would love to visit on a powder day! And Driggs is a great little town.

Thanks for reading!

Had to get Rob a tissue:

 

[AltaSkier]

I have no words, other than; simply awesome! This is the reason to save for retirement.

 

[AlanR]

Sounds like a trip to remember! Thanks for the report - great information as I look out to the coming years and all the options that less time working will open up!

 

[crosscountry]

Did you have any time limitation for your trip? (I know you said your brother retired, maybe you haven't?).

Reads like you guys ended up with snow on your traveling days but dry/firm skiing days. Couldn't you delay your travel day to avoid driving in snow? Or even reschedule so you get to ski on those snowing days? Or did you prefer it that way, that you prefer to carve on groomers without fresh snow?

 

[Bad Bob]

That sounds like it was a great trip. Thank you for sharing it with us.

The I-90 run is another great one with a lot less driving. Pick your section and only hit places within 75 miles of I-90. My tastes run Spokane to Billings.

 

[teejaywhy]

Did you have any time limitation for your trip? (I know you said your brother retired, maybe you haven't?).

Reads like you guys ended up with snow on your traveling days but dry/firm skiing days. Couldn't you delay your travel day to avoid driving in snow? Or even reschedule so you get to ski on those snowing days? Or did you prefer it that way, that you prefer to carve on groomers without fresh snow?

Well, we are both retired, but neither of us are single.

We were working on advance reservations at every stop, so any delay would create a ripple in the matrix.

Maybe someday when I have a van to sleep in I can chase the pow.

 

[VickieH]

I mean I'm willing to be surprised here but I highly doubt the end result of this trip is going to be that it's out of his system.

He spent 4 years working to build an outdoor kitchen before taking off for these 17 ski days. It's either out of his system or he needs to work on his negotiating skills!

 

[teejaywhy]

Perhaps, I haven't got it out of my system just yet...

 

[freeskier1961]

GT is great with pow, they added terrain/lift where cat skiing used to be
had knee deep there a couple seasons back!!

 

[raisingarizona]

Nice!