by Tina Woo, Membership Chair

This year our family decided to purchase the Mountain Collective ski pass.  This pass enables skiing at 22 locations for two to three days.  For the price of $539, this includes skiing a total of 44 days with no blackout dates, if you don’t mind travel planning.  Domestic locations include Mammoth and Palisades in California, Alta, Snowbird, Snowbasin in Utah, Arapahoe Basin, Aspen Snowmass in Colorado, Sun Valley in Idaho and Taos in New Mexico.  International locations include Mt. Buller in Australia, Niseko United in Japan, Thredbo in Australia, Valle Nevado in Chile, Chamonix Mont-Blanc in France, Panorama, Banff Sunshine, Revelstoke  and Sun Peaks in British Columbia, Canada.  Needless to say, there is quite the variety.

We decided to head to some Northwest ski areas: Big Sky in Montana, Grand Targhee in Idaho and Jackson Hole in Wyoming.  Luckily, my son-in-law, Mike, doesn’t mind driving, and made the four-hour drive from Jackson, Wyoming to Bozeman, Montana to begin our ski trip. Our group included children ages 6 and 8 who are very accomplished skiers (better than me)!

Highlights:

The Ramcharger Lift at Big Sky
  • Big Sky includes 5,800 acres of skiable terrain and vertical of 4,350 feet.   They boast a 6-person chair (“Swift Current) and America’s first 8-person high speed chair (Ramcharger) which are fully automatic with snow bubbles, heated seats, headrests, footrests and speaker systems for emergency communications.   All disengage when unloading from the chairs.  They need those heated seats, as the day after we left, the temperature was a frigid -17 degrees!  
Jackson Hole Ski Resort
  • Grand Targhee is a smaller, quaint venue with 2600 total acres, a 2270 foot vertical drop and 5 lifts. Chair names include Fred’s Mountain, Peaked Mountain and Mary’s Nipple. They boast 500 inches of snowfall per year, which makes it known for its plentiful powder.  
  • What can I say? Jackson Hole is Jackson Hole, a world class resort for boarders and skiers.  It is a large venue with over 130 trails, more expert and intermediate trails.  It’s on the radar for the FWSA domestic trip next year.
  • We managed to find an Asian fusion restaurant, Ameriasia Bistro in Victor, Idaho where we dined on Pancit, Nasi Goreng and Lechon!