Heavenly snow at Teton Pass Ski Resort

Ear Mountain from the road on the way up 

Jim Heckel on the way up Teton hill

Taking a breather

I had given up skiing at downhill areas.
I don't like the crowds, the noise, the groomed slopes.
But, I made an exception on Thursday.
I bought a lift-ticket ($27!) at the refurbished Teton Pass Ski Resort because there was no crowd and there was plenty of untouched powder left from a two-foot dump over the past several days.
I hadn't started out to ski downhill.
We arrived before the resort opened, skinned up to take a look and try a slope. The snow and slopes were great.
As Jim Heckel put it, we won't know when the snow will be this good again and we needed to take advantage of it.
Our alternative, hitting the backcountry in this scenic Rocky Mountain Front country, was equally as good.
The only downside is very high avalanche danger.
That danger meant that the new, north-end slopes were closed.
They didn't have a track on them.  The temptation was great.
Although there were some tracks on what we skied, there was plenty of powder all day.
We skied hard and tired quickly, leaving some daylight on the table when we left.
We were satisfied that we had made the right decision.