Jackson Hole Conditions Report: Feb. 17-23

Feb. 17-23 - Dr. Huckinstuff's weekly recap:

The week kicked off with the final sputterings from a massive system that dropped over 4 feet the week before. The closing 5 inches of the storm left us sitting pretty, with fully stocked shelves ahead of the Presidents Day Weekend. It was also the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back, as it instigated a fairly massive round of avalanches in the surrounding backcountry. Few aspects were spared from activity as mild temperatures had slopes shedding some of the excess weight they had recently stacked on. The giant jaw-dropper was when the upper-level clouds parted, revealing a colossal slide on No-Name Face, south of the ski area. The near historic sized event stood as a stark reminder of the dangerous beauty created by the collective power of delicate crystals. The holiday weekend started off in a fine fashion with mostly sunny skies allowing new visitors to get the lay of their new-found fantasyland. Sun-soaked corduroy and sneaky faceshot stashes under the bluebird skies had skiers stoked, but this Presidential weekend wasn't content to serve up only sunshine. Whether you're a fair-weather fan or a storm skiing sycophant it was easy to inaugurate yourself the head of a blissfully altered state, as Saturday's sunshine was replaced by storm skiing on Sunday afternoon. Rolling into the new week, several inches fell each evening. A huge bonus in maintaining snow quality that was being slightly deteriorated from springlike daytime temperatures at the lower elevations. Time and those fluctuating temperatures helped settle out the avalanche situation a bit, affording window shopping powder fiends the opportunity to paint fine lines from the highest peaks and air bath enthusiasts the ability to pop off increasingly larger ledges. By weeks end we had picked up about a foot and a half of snow. Enough to keep the turns fun and forgiving, but not enough to send the masses into a frenzy. Honestly, a near perfect situation that explains why the past seven days have absolutely flown by. I'm not expecting it to slow down because skiing is just too fun, but at least we've got a little extra time to play with this month as 2024 is a leap year. With a cautious look inside my hazy stellar crystal ball, Swami Huckinstuff is seeing a special day forming on the not-too-distant horizon. Help manifest our dreams with deep powder thoughts and stay tuned for more Tetonic tales from the frozen jungle. -Lege

10-Day Forecast

OpenSnow predicts we will receive another two-ish feet of snow in the next 10 days, exciting to keep the snowy pattern going as we head into March next week. A thick base over 100" will only get better and we're looking forward to (hopefully) another 100"+ month ahead and prime conditions for spring powder and sunny laps under the sun.

Scroll down for photos from this past week.