The mountains are calling: You must go!
Posted by Zach Johns on Wednesday, December 19, 2012 Under: skiing
“How in the world are we going be able to ski that thing?!”
My high school friend Matt Bolang and I were standing at the base of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort staring at over 4,000 vertical feet of the rowdiest skiing on the continent. We were two Midwestern boys who had never skied anything bigger than Lutsen on our first trip west.
For years we had seen the photos in magazines featuring the legendary Doug Coombs and crazy skiers ripping terrain that looked impossible. Terrain labeled, “Jackson Hole, Wyoming.” We would practice our hop-turns at small hills - Spirit Mountain, MN, Trollhaugen, WI, Indianhead, MI, and dream that we were in the big mountains, conquering fabled runs such as Corbet’s Couloir, The Cirque and the Hobacks - places on the Jackson Hole trail map that we had committed to memory.
But there we were. In Jackson Hole - JACKSON FLIPPING HOLE!!!! It was time to see if we were, in fact, real skiers.
One of the greatest things about skiing, in my opinion, is exploring new mountains. There are so many places to ski in this world, and although it’s a great thing to be a “local” at a ski hill and know a place intimately, the real fun is taking those skills you hone all winter someplace different. New mountains where you can challenge yourself. To encounter new terrain, new views, new people. And this is the time of year that we as skiers start to lay plans for the winter - we plan a ski trip, or two, or seven…
Over there past 28 years I have been fortunate to be able to ski all around North America. So if you are still mulling over ski destinations for this winter, I have compiled the following list: my personal rankings of every mountain I have ever skied.
Keep in mind, they are ranked based on the conditions I found when I went there. Some places I have skied many times and have a good sample base - a few I have only skied once and might not have the greatest feel for. I judge high on challenging terrain and snow conditions. Scoring low are crowds, price and cheesey base areas. Regardless, here’s how I rank the thirty mountains I have known:
1. Jackson Hole, WY Big, bad, gnarly! Steep and Deep! Come on, it’s Jackson Hole! I named my son after this place for crying out loud! Enough said!
2. Whistler-Blackcomb, BC Probably could be number one. It’s like two Jackson Holes with an extra thousand vert and just unbelievable HUGENESS! It’s the closest thing to European-style backcountry experience you can get at a North American ski area. W-B has a cool foreign vibe even though it’s just Canada - you’ll hear everything from German to Japanese in the lift lines. And at the end of the day you’ll skid to a stop with your legs completely fried and some Australian will hand you a beer before you even click out of your skis. Crazy!
3. Montana Snowbowl, MT Holy cow! How can I have a place you’ve never heard of listed at number three!? Because even though there are just two chairlifts and the only lodging is a hostel above the rental shop, it’s mega steep - like a mini Jackson Hole. And cheap - the last time I stayed there the room was 30 bucks and included the lift ticket! And we had it all to ourselves!!!! Been there three times - great, soulful place!!!!
4. Snowbird, UT It seems like it’s always sunny at the ‘Bird! The snow is perfect, smiles all around, tons of steeps - I’ve never had anything but a stellar day at Snowbird!
5. Big Sky, MT How can you not get stoked by the sight of Lone Peak? It’s big, it’s steep, and there’s nobody there. Only drawback - it’s darn expensive! But then again, so are most of these places nowadays!
6. Solitude, UT Honeycomb Canyon. Parachutes. Headwall Forest. I’ve had some epic days at Solitude. Such a special place! Great snow and, if you’re lucky, you’ll see the “naked Indian” on the sun deck!
7. Brighton, UT Solitude’s neighbor in Big Cottonwood Canyon. Great snow, great steeps, I just have a bad memory of being sick and sleeping in the chalet after only three runs one time I was there! Otherwise, Brighton is “sick” in a good way!
8. Alta, UT Probably should be rated higher on this list but it seems like every time I’ve skied there it has been super cold! Then the next day I’ll go to Snowbird and it’s sunny and warm! But Alta has legendary snow and great steeps and trees - and it’s a throwback - still now snowboarders allowed! Normally I don’t like segregation, but at Alta it’s kinda cool!
9. Bridger Bowl, MT As core as it comes! Bridger is a fantastic little local area just outside of Bozeman. Make sure you have a buddy, beacon and shovel and hike the Ridge for the greatest turns of your life!
10. Alyeska, AK It’s the Chugach Mountains of Alaska - ALASKA!!! What more do I need to say? Mega snow - the most snow I have ever encountered, in fact! Great steeps on the north face, and the base is at sea level so there is no acclimatizing!!! (Except for the time zone difference) Best views you’ll see anywhere!
11. Mammoth, CA “A Man’s Mountain!” according to the old Glen Plake film. I’ve only skied Mammoth once - in May. It was 80 degrees and I fell-in with an Iranian dude from Orange County who was amazed that I skied “Hangman’s” and “Climax” on my first ever visit to Mammoth. In fact, he bragged about it to everyone we rode the lift with! AMAZING terrain in the heart of the Sierra. Mammoth is a place I would love to return to.
12. Squaw Valley, CA The light was kind of flat the day I visited Squaw but I could tell there was tons of rowdy terrain that inspired the 80s extreme movement. Another place that would probably rank higher if I had more days there.
13. Kirkwood, CA Yet another place I have only skied once- in May! But it was fantastic. Amazing Sierra views and great steeps! Tons of fun!
14. The Canyons, UT Again, should probably be rated higher - the terrain is great, the snow is usually perfect, but the development at the base hurts it a ton. Remember, I like tiny core areas like Montana Snowbowl. But the last time I skied The Canyons I was recovering from the flu and was dead tired by two o’clock. So I went to the bottom to rest while my buddies skied another hour or so. There I encountered not only a GAS FIREPIT (woodsmoke fires are mandatory parts of the western skiing experience) but a JUGGLING COWBOY CLOWN ON STILTS!!!! It’s not Disney World! It’s SKIING! I’ve never been back.
15. Alpine Meadows, CA I only skied ¾ of a day there as a snowstorm was brewing and we had to catch a redeye flight out of San Francisco. What we found was great - just wish I would have had more time to explore Squaw Valley’s neighbor.
16. Grand Targhee, WY It’s legendary for pow skiing and I did get tons of that my only time there, but it was so foggy we couldn’t see the chair in front of us and had to follow these green dots to the bottom of every run. Really need to return so I can see the Grand Teton lean the “wrong way” on a sunny day! (We did catch the goods of that same storm the next day at Bridger!)
17. Lutsen, MN Best in Minnesota. Without a doubt. Nothing else comes close. Big, long runs, steep runs, tree runs, views of Lake Superior, it’s a western vibe in the Midwest. Just too darn expensive for a Midwestern ski area!
18. Whitecap, WI Steep! And TONS of pow as it’s just on the Wisconsin side of Michigan’s big snow country. Plus, the scariest lift ride in the world is going between the two peaks at Whitecap - trust me - get a chair with a safety bar!
19. Giants Ridge, MN My current home mountain. Amazing terrain park, no lift lines and even though I would rather have them leave the fresh pow, the grooming is amazing - it can sometimes feel like pow when it hasn’t snowed for weeks!
20. Spirit Mountain, MN Great terrain park like the Ridge and the view is amazing - especially at night. But the crowds - feels like rush hour traffic half the time and the lift lines can be horrendous!
21. Big Powderhorn, MI Powder, Powder, Powder!
22. Indianhead, MI Powder, Powder, Powder! And powdery moguls!
23. Porcupine Mountains, MI In a state park - super cool. Long steep runs with a wild feel - and more of that U.P, Pow!
24. Welch Village, MN By far, the best of the Twin Cities area ski hills. The best patrol, too!
25. Loveland, CO I went there in October one year and there was only a single groomer open. I could barely breathe carrying my skis from the parking lot.
26. Trollhaugen, WI It’s not great, but holds special magic for me as it was where I learned to ski and had four season passes.
27. Afton Alps, MN Only fun at night (for some reason)
28. Mont Du Lac, MN “Ski the wheat!”
29. Mount Itasca, MN Watch crazy Nordic jumpers while jibbing a mini park.
30. Wild Mountain, MN First place in America to open every year. Ski there in early October. Leave when someplace else opens.
So there you have it. Plan a trip and ski someplace different for a change. And remember, as Matt and I found out in J-Hole, if you can ski icy moguls in the Midwest, you can rip anywhere!
My high school friend Matt Bolang and I were standing at the base of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort staring at over 4,000 vertical feet of the rowdiest skiing on the continent. We were two Midwestern boys who had never skied anything bigger than Lutsen on our first trip west.
For years we had seen the photos in magazines featuring the legendary Doug Coombs and crazy skiers ripping terrain that looked impossible. Terrain labeled, “Jackson Hole, Wyoming.” We would practice our hop-turns at small hills - Spirit Mountain, MN, Trollhaugen, WI, Indianhead, MI, and dream that we were in the big mountains, conquering fabled runs such as Corbet’s Couloir, The Cirque and the Hobacks - places on the Jackson Hole trail map that we had committed to memory.
But there we were. In Jackson Hole - JACKSON FLIPPING HOLE!!!! It was time to see if we were, in fact, real skiers.
One of the greatest things about skiing, in my opinion, is exploring new mountains. There are so many places to ski in this world, and although it’s a great thing to be a “local” at a ski hill and know a place intimately, the real fun is taking those skills you hone all winter someplace different. New mountains where you can challenge yourself. To encounter new terrain, new views, new people. And this is the time of year that we as skiers start to lay plans for the winter - we plan a ski trip, or two, or seven…
Over there past 28 years I have been fortunate to be able to ski all around North America. So if you are still mulling over ski destinations for this winter, I have compiled the following list: my personal rankings of every mountain I have ever skied.
Keep in mind, they are ranked based on the conditions I found when I went there. Some places I have skied many times and have a good sample base - a few I have only skied once and might not have the greatest feel for. I judge high on challenging terrain and snow conditions. Scoring low are crowds, price and cheesey base areas. Regardless, here’s how I rank the thirty mountains I have known:
1. Jackson Hole, WY Big, bad, gnarly! Steep and Deep! Come on, it’s Jackson Hole! I named my son after this place for crying out loud! Enough said!
2. Whistler-Blackcomb, BC Probably could be number one. It’s like two Jackson Holes with an extra thousand vert and just unbelievable HUGENESS! It’s the closest thing to European-style backcountry experience you can get at a North American ski area. W-B has a cool foreign vibe even though it’s just Canada - you’ll hear everything from German to Japanese in the lift lines. And at the end of the day you’ll skid to a stop with your legs completely fried and some Australian will hand you a beer before you even click out of your skis. Crazy!
3. Montana Snowbowl, MT Holy cow! How can I have a place you’ve never heard of listed at number three!? Because even though there are just two chairlifts and the only lodging is a hostel above the rental shop, it’s mega steep - like a mini Jackson Hole. And cheap - the last time I stayed there the room was 30 bucks and included the lift ticket! And we had it all to ourselves!!!! Been there three times - great, soulful place!!!!
4. Snowbird, UT It seems like it’s always sunny at the ‘Bird! The snow is perfect, smiles all around, tons of steeps - I’ve never had anything but a stellar day at Snowbird!
5. Big Sky, MT How can you not get stoked by the sight of Lone Peak? It’s big, it’s steep, and there’s nobody there. Only drawback - it’s darn expensive! But then again, so are most of these places nowadays!
6. Solitude, UT Honeycomb Canyon. Parachutes. Headwall Forest. I’ve had some epic days at Solitude. Such a special place! Great snow and, if you’re lucky, you’ll see the “naked Indian” on the sun deck!
7. Brighton, UT Solitude’s neighbor in Big Cottonwood Canyon. Great snow, great steeps, I just have a bad memory of being sick and sleeping in the chalet after only three runs one time I was there! Otherwise, Brighton is “sick” in a good way!
8. Alta, UT Probably should be rated higher on this list but it seems like every time I’ve skied there it has been super cold! Then the next day I’ll go to Snowbird and it’s sunny and warm! But Alta has legendary snow and great steeps and trees - and it’s a throwback - still now snowboarders allowed! Normally I don’t like segregation, but at Alta it’s kinda cool!
9. Bridger Bowl, MT As core as it comes! Bridger is a fantastic little local area just outside of Bozeman. Make sure you have a buddy, beacon and shovel and hike the Ridge for the greatest turns of your life!
10. Alyeska, AK It’s the Chugach Mountains of Alaska - ALASKA!!! What more do I need to say? Mega snow - the most snow I have ever encountered, in fact! Great steeps on the north face, and the base is at sea level so there is no acclimatizing!!! (Except for the time zone difference) Best views you’ll see anywhere!
11. Mammoth, CA “A Man’s Mountain!” according to the old Glen Plake film. I’ve only skied Mammoth once - in May. It was 80 degrees and I fell-in with an Iranian dude from Orange County who was amazed that I skied “Hangman’s” and “Climax” on my first ever visit to Mammoth. In fact, he bragged about it to everyone we rode the lift with! AMAZING terrain in the heart of the Sierra. Mammoth is a place I would love to return to.
12. Squaw Valley, CA The light was kind of flat the day I visited Squaw but I could tell there was tons of rowdy terrain that inspired the 80s extreme movement. Another place that would probably rank higher if I had more days there.
13. Kirkwood, CA Yet another place I have only skied once- in May! But it was fantastic. Amazing Sierra views and great steeps! Tons of fun!
14. The Canyons, UT Again, should probably be rated higher - the terrain is great, the snow is usually perfect, but the development at the base hurts it a ton. Remember, I like tiny core areas like Montana Snowbowl. But the last time I skied The Canyons I was recovering from the flu and was dead tired by two o’clock. So I went to the bottom to rest while my buddies skied another hour or so. There I encountered not only a GAS FIREPIT (woodsmoke fires are mandatory parts of the western skiing experience) but a JUGGLING COWBOY CLOWN ON STILTS!!!! It’s not Disney World! It’s SKIING! I’ve never been back.
15. Alpine Meadows, CA I only skied ¾ of a day there as a snowstorm was brewing and we had to catch a redeye flight out of San Francisco. What we found was great - just wish I would have had more time to explore Squaw Valley’s neighbor.
16. Grand Targhee, WY It’s legendary for pow skiing and I did get tons of that my only time there, but it was so foggy we couldn’t see the chair in front of us and had to follow these green dots to the bottom of every run. Really need to return so I can see the Grand Teton lean the “wrong way” on a sunny day! (We did catch the goods of that same storm the next day at Bridger!)
17. Lutsen, MN Best in Minnesota. Without a doubt. Nothing else comes close. Big, long runs, steep runs, tree runs, views of Lake Superior, it’s a western vibe in the Midwest. Just too darn expensive for a Midwestern ski area!
18. Whitecap, WI Steep! And TONS of pow as it’s just on the Wisconsin side of Michigan’s big snow country. Plus, the scariest lift ride in the world is going between the two peaks at Whitecap - trust me - get a chair with a safety bar!
19. Giants Ridge, MN My current home mountain. Amazing terrain park, no lift lines and even though I would rather have them leave the fresh pow, the grooming is amazing - it can sometimes feel like pow when it hasn’t snowed for weeks!
20. Spirit Mountain, MN Great terrain park like the Ridge and the view is amazing - especially at night. But the crowds - feels like rush hour traffic half the time and the lift lines can be horrendous!
21. Big Powderhorn, MI Powder, Powder, Powder!
22. Indianhead, MI Powder, Powder, Powder! And powdery moguls!
23. Porcupine Mountains, MI In a state park - super cool. Long steep runs with a wild feel - and more of that U.P, Pow!
24. Welch Village, MN By far, the best of the Twin Cities area ski hills. The best patrol, too!
25. Loveland, CO I went there in October one year and there was only a single groomer open. I could barely breathe carrying my skis from the parking lot.
26. Trollhaugen, WI It’s not great, but holds special magic for me as it was where I learned to ski and had four season passes.
27. Afton Alps, MN Only fun at night (for some reason)
28. Mont Du Lac, MN “Ski the wheat!”
29. Mount Itasca, MN Watch crazy Nordic jumpers while jibbing a mini park.
30. Wild Mountain, MN First place in America to open every year. Ski there in early October. Leave when someplace else opens.
So there you have it. Plan a trip and ski someplace different for a change. And remember, as Matt and I found out in J-Hole, if you can ski icy moguls in the Midwest, you can rip anywhere!
In : skiing
Tags: ski skiing downhill minnesota "jackson hole" "spirit mountain" "giants ridge" "big sky" montana "squaw valley" "lutsen"
Zach Johns is an alpine skier, backpacker, paddler and all-around nature lover who lives on Minnesota‘s Iron Range. Originally from Osceola, Wis., Johns attended the University of Minnesota-Duluth so he could ski every day and be close to the trails of his beloved North Shore. There, he earned a degree in Communication and was editor of the student newspaper. However, the real education he gained at UMD was in honing his outdoor skills. He took courses in subjects such as backpacking, winter camping, rock climbing and canoe tripping. By the time he graduated, that was all he wanted to do. In January of 1997, he moved to the Range where he met a group of die-hard skiers dedicated to making turns at Giants Ridge every single day of the winter (when they weren’t out skiing the big mountains of the west.) Throughout the late nineties he built a very impressive ski resume, taking several trips to Utah, Montana, Wyoming, California, British Columbia and Alaska. During the off-season, he took to the hiking trails. In 1997, he hiked the entire Superior Hiking Trail during the single season (what had been completed until that time) and in following years, took trips to Yosemite, Glacier and the Grand Canyon. He also made two attempts to climb King’s Peak, the highest mountain in Utah, but failed to summit both times. In 1999, he attempted the infamous 43-mile Kekekabic Trail through the heart of the BWCA and limped out after only ten miles with a hernia. He did finally complete the Kek in 2005, during one of the hottest weeks on record. Besides hiking, he also continued dabbling with paddling, making several canoe trips to the BWCA and became an enthusiastic (yet very novice) whitewater kayaker. He is now a father of two sons, Nick and Jackson, who accompany their father on nearly all his adventures. Both were skiing fairly soon after they could stand and from 2006-2011, the three hiked in every state park in Minnesota, 195 miles of hiking in 65 parks. Since becoming a dad, Johns has suddenly realized that you can’t just be out there skiing, hiking, paddling, etc. without also working to protect the very things you love. With that in mind, he founded an adventure club at work to get co-workers outside who might not otherwise be inspired to go. The club has gone on hiking, paddling, winter camping and cycling trips and annually go on a trash pick-up hike to celebrate Earth Day. He believes that once you get people out into beautiful wild places, the more likely they will be to protect them. He has also done a lot of volunteer work for the Superior Hiking Trail Association including adopting a backcountry campsite which he and the boys maintain twice a year. It is of extreme importance, he believes, to introduce children to the outdoors early. Not only is it good for them, but they will be the ones protecting these places once we are gone. Future plans? There are a few local goals to check-off including hiking the Border Route Trail in the BWCA and Isle Royale. Mostly, it’s just to take the boys hiking and camping in more of our national parks, skiing the big western mountains, and more of their usual seasonal cycle: Giants Ridge in the winter, Superior’s North Shore in the spring, South Shore in the summer and back to the North Shore in the fall.
