The following guide was sponsored in partnership with Grand Targhee Resort.

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Located on the western side of Wyoming's Teton Range, Grand Targhee Resort is most famous for its deep and consistent snowfall. It is ideally situated to receive a combination of abundant moisture from the Pacific and cold air from Canada to generate tons of dry, powdery snow. Targhee also offers an increasingly rare type of ski resort experience where you feel like skiing still rules.

The terrain at Targhee is expansive, covering two lift-served mountains (plus a third hiker-accessible mountain) and four major lifts with a vertical rise of over 2,000 feet. In other words, plenty of terrain for powder hounds to explore. 

Targhee has carefully planned recent terrain and lift expansion with the skier in mind, not just for the sake of expanding. The latest expansion at the southern end of the resort has made Targhee a more well-rounded ski area with a greater variety of terrain choices that cater to all ability levels. 

There is something for every type of skier here, ranging from steep tree shots to open bowls to moderately pitched groomers. There is also an excellent beginner area that includes a covered conveyor belt, along with an additional 14 beginner slopes accessed by a 4-person chair on the lower mountain.

At the end of the ski day, Targhee's base area village offers a refreshing experience. It's just big enough for you to want to hang out for hours after the lifts close, but not so big that it feels "resorty". The village strikes a perfect balance between fun and inviting, while still feeling like it belongs to skiers.

You won't find luxury hotels and high-rise condos here. Instead, you'll find comfortable slopeside lodging, several excellent dining options, and one of the best apres scenes in the West at the Trap Bar. 

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Grand Targhee Resort Overview

Grand Targhee Resort offers 2,602 acres of skiable terrain, the most of any ski resort in the state of Wyoming. This terrain is accessed by 95 trails and 6 lifts, including the new 6-pack high-speed Colter Lift that recently opened in the winter of 2022-2023.

The mountain stretches from a low point of 7,650 feet to a high point of 9,920 feet, resulting in a total vertical drop of 2,270 feet.

Our friends at Zrankings list Grand Targhee's True Annual Snowfall at 466 inches, making it one of the snowiest ski resorts in the Rockies!

Approximately 15% of the terrain at Targhee is considered expert, 30% advanced, 45% intermediate, and 10% beginner.

In terms of aspect, approximately 60% of the mountain features a west-facing aspect, 20% north-facing, and 20% south-facing.

The lift operating hours run from 9:00 am - 4:00 pm (weather and lift depending).

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Getting to Grand Targhee

Targhee is a little more off the beaten path compared to some ski resorts, but maybe not as much as you think as there are two airports located less than a two-hour drive away.

The two closest airports are the Jackson Hole Airport and the Idaho Falls Airport, both of which are about an hour and a half drive away in good weather. 

The Jackson Hole Airport has expanded its service significantly in recent years and now offers nonstop flights from 14 different cities across the U.S. from coast to coast via United, Delta, American, Alaska, Frontier, and Skywest.

Directions from the Jackson Hole Airport to Grand Targhee

Advantages of flying into Jackson Hole:

In my experience, the Jackson Hole Airport tends to offer more affordable flights compared to Idaho Falls and there are also more flight options with nonstop flights from 14 cities, compared to just 5 from Idaho Falls.

The Idaho Falls Airport offers nonstop service from Denver, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Minneapolis via United, Delta, and Allegiant.

Directions from the Idaho Falls Airport to Grand Targhee

Advantages of flying into Idaho Falls:

The main advantage of flying into Idaho Falls is that weather conditions are typically less severe compared to Jackson Hole. Weather can impact travel to/from the Jackson Hole Airport in two ways...

1) Weather delays to flights are more likely at Jackson Hole compared to Idaho Falls due to its harsher winter climate. The Jackson Hole Airport does a great job of handling winter conditions all things considered, but there will always be some potential for delays or cancellations if conditions are bad enough. 

2) To get to Targhee from the Jackson Hole Airport, you must drive over Tetons Pass which can be a rough trip in bad weather. Teton Pass is subject to poor driving conditions and occasional road closures during storms, and traffic can also be very slow, especially in the afternoon and early evening when locals commute from Jackson back over to Victor and Driggs. 

WY State Route 22 – Teton Pass Current Road Conditions

The drive from Idaho Falls to Targhee is usually not as bad compared to Teton Pass, though blowing snow and poor visibility can sometimes be an issue on the open valley roads. 

Public Transportation from the Airports: 

Public transportation options between the airports and Targhee, as well as the nearby towns of Driggs and Victor, are limited. In most cases, renting a car is the recommended option.

Alltrans does provide a Grand Targhee Airport Shuttle from the Jackson Hole Airport directly to Targhee that departs from the airport at 2 p.m. daily during the winter. This is a viable option if you plan on lodging at Grand Targhee Resort.

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Parking and Public Transportation from Driggs and Jackson:

Grand Targhee has more convenient parking than many ski areas. The first few rows of parking are paid parking ($20, available to pay by credit card), but the vast majority of parking at the base area is FREE.

Targhee is only about a 20-minute drive from the nearby town of Driggs, but when it's snowing the drive can take longer. 

On weekends, powder days, and holidays, the parking lot often fills up by 9 a.m. so make sure you get there early.

Or better yet, you can take advantage of Grand Targhee's FREE shuttle bus from the nearby towns of Victor and Driggs to the resort with buses running approximately every hour during the winter. The first bus leaves Driggs prior to 6 a.m. and the last bus leaves Targhee late in the evening which is good if you plan to apres after a day of skiing.

Bus Schedule from Victor/Driggs to Grand Targhee

Also, if you are staying in Jackson Hole and want to plan a day trip to Targhee, I would highly recommend RIDE GTR which is a daily winter shuttle that runs from Jackson Hole to Grand Targhee.

The van ride has a regular price of $199 per adult roundtrip which includes a lift ticket to Targhee, or you can choose a transportation-only option for $119 roundtrip. During the holidays, prices are $249 for transportation + lift ticket and $149 for transportation only.

The van leaving Jackson departs at 7:00 AM and the bus leaving Teton Village departs at 7:15 AM with return service departing Targhee at 4:15 PM.

This is a great option if you don't want to drive over the pass, or if you'd like to enjoy your apres for a little longer. 

More Details → RIDE GTR

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Grand Targhee Lift Tickets

The resort offers flexible single-day tickets along with half-day tickets starting at 12:30 pm. Targhee is also a part of the Mountain Collective Pass, which gets you two full days here and 50% off on additional days. For single-day tickets, you can save extra by purchasing online in advance.

Lift Tickets: Grand Targhee

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Grand Targhee Snow & Weather

The quantity, quality, and consistency of snow is what sets Targhee apart from other areas in North America. Targhee's average annual snowfall is an incredible 466 inches, which is only slightly below a few ski resorts in Utah's Wasatch Range for the most snow in the Rockies.

Year-to-year and month-to-month consistency is impressive at Targhee. Over the past 14 seasons (2011 to 2024, there was only one winter with less than 350 inches of snow at Targhee and only three years with less than 400 inches. In other words, even a "low" snow year at Targhee is better than a good snow year in most other areas.

Average snowfall ranges from 74 to 84 inches each month from December through March, indicating that snowfall tends to be consistent (and deep) over the course of a season, unlike in some areas where heavier snowfall can be skewed toward the early, mid, or late season.

Targhee receives more than 100 inches of snow in 25% of all winter months, and less than 50 inches of snow in only 14% of all winter months. 

Targhee's high elevation, northerly latitude, and interior location (far away from the Pacific Ocean) result in a cold winter climate, and the snow that falls here is usually very dry and powdery. Rain is very rare during ski season, even during warmer-than-normal patterns. 

In other words, Targhee has the perfect combination of consistent, abundant natural snowfall that is also light and dry. 

Why Does Grand Targhee Get So Much Snow?

Targhee is ideally situated to receive tons of snow for two main reasons...

1) The Position of the Teton Range

When Pacific storm systems make landfall, they deposit heavy rain and snow along the West Coast and over the first significant mountain ranges, which include the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada.

These mountain ranges see some of the deepest snowfall in the Western U.S. but they are also protected from cold continental air, and the snowfall in these ranges tends to be heavier and wetter as a result.

As storms pass over the Cascades and Sierra, they lose some of their moisture. Downslope winds also have a drying effect in the lower elevation valleys immediately downwind of these ranges.

However, as storms travel east toward the Rocky Mountains, there is still plenty of moisture (invisible water vapor) in the atmosphere, and once this moisture is forced upward by the rising terrain of the western ranges in the Rockies, it cools and condenses into clouds and precipitation. This is known as the orographic effect.

Between the Cascades/Sierra and the Tetons, large swaths of dry, low-elevation terrain exist with few significant terrain barriers to "wring out" moisture from storms. When storms travel across the Great Basin and Snake River Plain, the Teton Range is the first major mountain range they encounter.

The Teton Range is the highest mountain range located entirely west of the Continental Divide and north of Colorado in the Rocky Mountain Chain. This upward rise in terrain creates a lot of vertical lift as storms approach the Tetons from the west and moisture is forced to rise with the increase in elevation. 

From west to east, the town of Rexburg, Idaho sits at an elevation of 4,800 feet, Driggs at an elevation of 6,200 feet, the base of Targhee at 7,800 feet, and the top of Targhee at nearly 10,000 feet. This is a significant but gradual rise in elevation that leads to consistent vertical lift as moist air approaches and ascends the west side of the Tetons.

The height of the Tetons and the relative lack of terrain barriers west of the Tetons mean that storms arriving from many different directions can produce a lot of snowfall.

• Storms that make landfall in British Columbia or Washington often "dig" southward from the Pacific Northwest into the Northern Great Basin, and then swing from west to east across the Snake River Plain.
  
  
• Storms that make landfall in Oregon often track from west/southwest to east/northeast across the Snake River Plain directly toward the Tetons.
  
  
• Storms that make landfall in California can track from southwest to northeast across the Great Basin and toward the Tetons.
  
  
• Occasionally, storms originating in Canada will drop from north/northwest to south/southeast toward the Tetons with moisture sneaking through north-to-south oriented valleys in Montana. These storms often contain less moisture but with cold air to result in very dry snow (blower pow).

Here is a graphical view of the common storm tracks that can bring abundant snow to the Tetons.

The Tetons are also located far enough inland from the mild Pacific Ocean and at a high enough elevation to make it easier for cold, continental air to settle over the region. The combination of moisture and cold air results in "efficient" snowfall with high snow-liquid ratios – meaning it takes less liquid to produce a lot of snow.

2) The Location of Grand Targhee in the Teton Range

The Teton Range as a whole is located in a favorable position for snowfall. But zooming in further, Grand Targhee is located in an ideal position within the Teton Range to receive deeper snowfall compared to other parts of the range. 

The primary reason is that Targhee is located on the upslope, or windward, western side of the Tetons. As moisture reaches the west side of the Tetons with winds blowing from the northwest, west, or southwest, it is forced to rise with the increase in terrain, depositing its heaviest precipitation along the middle to upper slopes of the west side of the range, including Targhee.

The town of Driggs averages 90 inches of snowfall per year, which is not a small amount of snow for a valley area.

However, the difference in snowfall between Driggs (90 inches) and Grand Targhee (466 inches) is remarkable for such a small distance (about 13 miles), and indicates just how much of an effect orographic lift has on the western slopes of the Tetons.

The upslope effect is already significant by the time you reach the base of Targhee. This is a ski resort that receives deep snowfall from top to bottom, unlike many ski areas with high vertical relief that experience a substantial drop-off in snow totals from top to bottom.

Last season, I kept a daily log of snowfall measured on Grand Targhee's snow stake cam at the base of the resort in addition to reported snowfall at mid-mountain. I found that the base area received only 10% less snowfall compared to mid-mountain over the course of the season. 

This indicates that snow conditions are usually very consistent from top to bottom.

Local Wind Influences on Targhee Snowfall

Targhee is in a beneficial position to receive significant snowfall with any wind that has a westerly component... meaning the wind is blowing from the southwest, west, or northwest. This is a great position to be in because the majority of storms arrive from one of these directions. 

Orographic lift and snowfall are maximized when winds blow perpendicular to a mountain range, whereas the orographic effect is minimized when the winds blow parallel to a mountain range. 

The Teton Range is oriented in a south/southwest to north/northeast direction. To the west of the Tetons, the smaller Big Hole Range (8,000 to 9,000 foot peaks) lies due west of the Southern Tetons, but to the northwest of Targhee and Driggs, there is a large gap in the terrain.

As a result, Targhee receives some of its biggest dumps when winds are blowing from the west or northwest due to the lack of terrain interference and because winds from these directions hit the Tetons at a more perpendicular angle. 

Wind speed (in addition to wind direction) also plays an important role at Targhee. When winds are relatively light to moderate at Targhee and blowing from a favorable direction, this is ideal as moisture tends to become bottled up on the west side of the range, which can lead to a lot of snow at Targhee.

This is a win-win scenario, as big snow events with relatively tame winds lead to better skiing conditions anyways!

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Skiing Grand Targhee

Now let's get into the good stuff, skiing and snowboarding!

Targhee has four main lifts spread across two mountains with terrain suitable to every type of skier. 

The Dreamcatcher Quad (or DC as locals call it) is a great place to start as this chair takes you directly from the base area village to the top of Fred's Mountain at 9,682 feet, covering 2,000 feet of vertical. 

The wide-open bowls below Dreamcatcher are outstanding on a powder day. You may encounter some surfy wind buff on the upper sections of these bowls, and as you head further down into the gullies, the snow fills in deep and face shots are common. Groomed intermediate runs are also available off of DC.

From the top of DC, you can easily access other parts of the mountain, including Blackfoot (skier's right) and Sacajawea (skier's left).

The Blackfoot Quad at the northern end of the resort is relatively short in terms of vertical and the terrain is mellow, but you get a fun mix of open bowls and widely spaced glades that are amazing to lap on a powder day. Also, the top of Blackfoot is about 800 feet lower than Fred's Mountain (DC) and is less exposed on windy days.

The Sacajawea Quad (or Sac as locals call it) takes you to Peaked Mountain on the south side of the resort, and this chair has something for every type of skier or rider. You can cruise down groomers, hunt for powder stashes in the north-facing glades on the skier's left side, or if you're feeling bold, you can visit the most extreme terrain on the mountain. 

To the skier's right off of Sac, a large cliff band exists on the north side of Peaked Mountain. If you're standing at the top of Fred's Mountain (DC Chair), this cliff band is very eye-catching. This area features a mix of narrow chutes and difficult route-finding with the potential to get cliffed out, and is recommended for experts only who are comfortable with navigating technical terrain. 

The Colter Six Pack is Targhee's newest lift, which opened in 2022-2023. Located at the southern end of the resort, Colter features longer and steeper runs compared to other parts of Targhee (1,800 feet of vertical) and is great for advanced or expert skiers.

The top of Colter is fairly open and exposed, while the middle to lower portion is more heavily gladed, making this a great option on storm days with poor visibility. 

Hiking-Accessed Terrain

For inbounds hike-to-ski terrain, be sure to check out Mary's Nipple, which is the highest point in Grand Targhee Resort at 9,920 feet. You can reach this hike by following the Teton Vista Traverse from the top of DC.

The hike to Mary's takes about 10 to 15 minutes but it's enough of a climb to get your heart rate up, especially if you're not used to the altitude. From just below the summit of Mary's Nipple, you have access to a mix of bowls and open glades that hold snow well. Deep turns and face shots are good bet if it has snowed recently.

If it hasn't snowed for several days, hike or traverse out to the saddle on the south side of Mary's to access north-facing slopes that hold onto powder for longer.

This hike closes at 2 p.m. each day, and can also close at any time during storms or due to avalanche danger, so please heed any closures.

Beginner Terrain

If you or your children are new to skiing or snowboarding, Targhee also has an excellent ski school and beginner terrain. At the base of the resort, there is a newly graded beginner area with a covered conveyor belt, which is a nice perk on cold days.

The Shoshone Quad on the lower mountain also provides access to 14 green (beginner) runs and has a nice variety of features, including a kid's play zone featuring low angle glade runs through aspen trees, and a beginner terrain park.

Learn More → Mountain Sports School

Spring Skiing at Targhee

While Targhee is known for its powder, spring skiing is also outstanding here. Targhee has a long season and typically stays open through the third weekend of April.

The great part about late-season skiing is that you can get the best of both worlds. Late-season powder dumps can occur late into April, while sunny spring skiing days with blue skies and soft afternoon snow can also occur.

Plus, the views from the upper portions of Targhee looking west toward the Grand Teton are unreal!

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Grand Targhee Après

No day at Targhee is complete without stopping by the Trap Bar after your last run for a drink and nachos.

The Trap has a lively but chill and friendly local's vibe, making it one of my favorite apres scenes of any ski resort. Beyond their famous nachos, the Trap also serves lunch and dinner with options ranging from bison burgers to fish tacos.

There are several other food and drink options in the Targhee Base Village, which is especially convenient if you are staying slopeside.

Snorkles is a go-to spot for a quick breakfast or lunch with sandwiches, pastries, and coffee, while Powder Cache is an excellent choice for a sit-down meal and is open for all three meals, though reservations are strongly recommended for dinner. Wild Bill's Grill and the Mother Truck taco food truck round out your options at the base. 

On sunny days late in the season, there is a big apres spring scene at the base of Targhee. The Trap Bar has plenty of outdoor seating, and there is also a large patio next to the Rendezvous Lodge where you can hang out and enjoy a beer in the sun. 

I have stayed at Targhee's slopeside lodging for multiple nights on a few different occasions, and have always found it to be a wonderful experience with comfortable rooms, convenient dining options with good food, and a nice general store with snacks and supplies. 

If you're heading back down to Driggs after a day of skiing, you also have many options for apres drinks or dinner. Driggs is a small but fun town with a lot going on for a town of its size. 

Citizen 33 is a solid choice if you're looking for local brews and a burger or sandwich. Teton Thai has the best Thai food on either side of the Tetons in my opinion. And Forage Bistro is one of my favorite all-around restaurants with delicious food and an interesting menu. 

On your way up to the slopes in the morning, grab a cup of joe or a bite from Rise Coffee House or Big Hole Bagel. For a sit-down breakfast, Provisions Kitchen is excellent. 

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Grand Targhee Uphill Policy

The rise of uphill (also known as skinning or touring) has brought a new aspect to the ways that we can explore and have fun on the mountain. It is great exercise and in-resort uphill travel offers a safe environment on groomed terrain.

For the 2024-25 season, all uphill traffic may begin at 4:30 PM and cease by 9:00 AM. No dogs are allowed. Also, Targhee may elect to close "after-hours" uphill access at any time due to conditions and/or avalanche control. 

Uphill travel is restricted to only the Teton Vista Traverse. All users must be aware of operating machinery and stay alert at all times.

Learn More: Uphill Access Policy

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Final Thoughts

Whether you're a devoted powder hound or you're just looking for a down-to-earth and authentic skiing experience without the glitz and glamour of more famous areas, Grand Targhee is an outstanding choice for a ski trip.

It's one of my favorite places to ski, because yes the snow is excellent, but also because of the variety of terrain, the overall vibe of the resort, the friendly locals you share the lifts with, and the festive but stress-free base area experience.

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OpenSnow Resources

Snow Forecast & Report: Grand Targhee

Daily Snow Forecast: Jackson Hole-Targhee

Download: OpenSnow App

Alan Smith 

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This guide was sponsored in partnership with Grand Targhee Resort.