Stephen Koch

I decided it was time to go skiing at Grand Targhee Resort with my three and a half year old son, Axl, after spending most weekends at Jackson Hole and a few days and one evening at Snow King. I wanted to have a fun ski day with Axl on lower angled terrain. The plan was to meet and ski with Sam Southwick, pioneering ski film star, owner of Simpson House and one of the oldest ski bums around, and his girlfriend. They stay over at the Hotel at the base of the mountain and ski Targhee, preferring it over Jackson, despite Sam having a lifetime ski pass at Jackson Hole, for the lack of lift lines, easier terrain and more relaxed atmosphere.

Taking the bus from Jackson Hole to Grand Targhee Resort.

My wife dropped us off so we could take the Targhee Express ($88.00 for ride AND adult lift ticket…$44.00 for ride alone) shuttle from Snow King on a recent Saturday morning at 7:15 a.m. The ride through town, picking up passengers along the way, took 40 minutes before finally heading West on Highway 22 to Stiltson Ranch for the final stop before going over Teton Pass and eventually arriving at Targhee. If coming from town and you can get dropped off or have a car, I suggest parking on Scott Lane and getting on at The Lodge at Jackson Hole, 80 Scott Lane, at 7:40 a.m. to save yourself the time wandering through town.

Once we were on the road, so to speak, the ride was comfortable and mellow. I enjoyed hanging with Axl, reading the paper together and drinking my coffee (Axl happily popping the bubble that formed after each sip), all the while knowing that I was doing something beneficial for the environment by not driving and saving the pounding on my vehicle.

At Targhee we got our tickets, kids under 5 ski for free with the purchase of an adult ticket ($69.00…$44.00 when purchased with Targhee Shuttle…kids 5 and under ski for free).

I was unable to connect with Sam so Axl and i took the Dreamcatcher lift to the top of Fred’s Mountain, elevation 9,862 feet. Once on top we headed north on the Headwall Traverse to Chief Joseph Bowl. This was a bit steeper than Axl was enjoying, so I skied with him in between my legs and distracted him by doing “jumps” (lifting him high up into the air after hitting a small bump), after he asked to ski  ”together.” (sure sign he is not comfortable with the steepness of the slope)

We hooked up with a couple fun guys from NYC who my wife and I met at Koshu, where we popped in for fantastic drinks made by Chris and food by Chef Josh Spisak, after checking out Kaidi Dunstan’s latest amazing show at the Taylo Piggot Gallery (formerly the Muse Gallery).  It was a real treat to spend several days among Kaidi’s paintings while framing them with Rocky at Full Circle Frameworks.

We eventually made our way to the Beginner Area off of the Shoshone Lift. Let me tell you, this area is stellar for skiing with kids. There are eyeballs of different colors strapped to trees throughout the upper woods to start, which lead into the raven/bird trail and eventually worked our way back to the bottom of the lift, which felt like it was situated slightly uphill, which made it difficult for Axl to ski himself to the chair. I chose to push him to keep things moving along. The lift is a comfortable quad (four person) with a safety bar that I happily lowered over us on every run.

Alley Oop Alley had us giddy with the joy of moving swiftly over the smooth rollers. What a fantastic and fun run that it would be nice to have more of at other resorts. Kid friendly!

I had to be back in town earlier than the bus, which departs Targhee at 4:15 or so and arrives town around 5:30, would have arrived. So we got a ride from our new friends from NYC so I could make it to my presentation to a group from the World Presidents Organization at the National Museum of Wildlife Art.

It didn’t take more than a few minutes for Axl to fall asleep after a wonderful outing to Grand Targhee!