The call for Monday night dinner was Tatanka Tavern in Driggs. This is a new restaurant which specializes in wood-fire personal pizza's & an excellent selection of micro-brews on tap. Definitely a "can't miss" when it comes to two of the major food groups!

The forecast for Tuesday was for a slight freeze overnight with the sun showing up by 11:30 AM. With this being the case everyone headed up earlier to get on snow by 9 AM and get a jump on testing.

"Fast Eddie", Bart & Dave get an early jump on testing All-Mountain/All-Condition skis.

Terri, Karen, Mickey (a.k.a. Marty) & Lindy ready to roll.

A rare photo of Tyler & Dave not skiing Mach Schnell...

Mickey, Courtney, Terri & Patti at the top of Dreamcatcher.

Pictured above: The "Most Interesting Man Alive" is skiing with us again this year.
Pictured below: The Most Ineresting Man Alive skiing with his harem.

Things softened up sooner than yesterday and the switchover to the wider Pure-Mountain/Side-Country skis also took place sooner. Wider is definitely better when the snow gets soft as the skis just don't get deflected around near as much. It's good to have a quiver...

Today was our best opportunity for our "Group shot" taken on the aptly named Teton Vista Traverse. The 2016 Group & (l to r) Mt. Owen, The Grand Teton, Middle Teton & South Teton.

Grand Targhee canines (GTK9's) have been "employed" since 1993 for both P.R. as well as rescue and recovery dogs. There are typically 5 full time dogs on staff with younger dogs in training as seen above.

The day ended up just like yesterday with Bart, Dave, Eddie & the rest of our Crew testing micro-brews, Bloody Mary's & Marguarita's at the Trap; tough work but someone has to do it.

The Gang's All Here!

The whole crew showed up around 4 PM, some driving in from Bozeman & the rest from Salt Lake City. Once everyone was situated in their accommodations & test skis were set up it was time for the chili feed.

After the long day of travel and male bonding it was pretty much lights out by 9 PM.

It was a high overcast and the snow set up ever so slightly overnight so the morning call was perfect for testing All-Mountain/All-Condition skis which are skis with waist width(s) in the mid-80's.

Based on the above photo's you can see that we had the area virtually to ourselves and within 2 1/2 hours the group had logged somewhere in the range of 20,000 feet of vert.

We were in and out of the clouds all day and as soon as the sun came out the snow softened up to the point that it was time to get into the spring corn in the trees and test the wider Pure-Mountain/Side-Country skis or skis with waist widths in the 90's & above.

There is no better place to end a day of skiing than at the Trap Bar at the base of Targhee. It's not pretentious, it's not contrived, it's genuine and it's reminiscent of what all ski bars were like 30 to 40 years ago.

Great conditions, great people, smiles on faces, camaraderie. No other sport brings people and generations together like skiing. That is why this trip is so important. It gives us pause to remember & reflect on why we do what we do. It's part of our shop DNA.

Terri, Dave & myself hit the road Thursday at 3:30 AM in advance of our crew on Sunday. Winds gusting to 60 mph in South Dakota combined with the Wyoming wildlife resulted in a trip just shy of 18 hours; as we pulled into Driggs, ID at 8:15.

Dave and I spent Friday AM setting up most of the skis and then we all went up to the area to take advantage of the classic spring conditions.

Pretty cool as the GT Crew already noted on their sign the arrival of the Pierce Crew for year #6.

Since 1936 our goal has been "To provide our customers the finest in equipment, clothing & service through our own active participation in and passion for the sports that we sell.

In order to continue to achieve this goal we will be closed April 10th - 15th for our 6th annual End-of-Season Shop Employee / Ski Testing Trip to Grand Targhee Resort in Wyoming.

Our Service Manager Eric Jacobson has spent the past week making sure that the 40+ sets of All-Mountain/All-Condition & Pure Mountain/Side-Country Test skis have the proper edge bevels and base structures to eliminate variables that could alter test results.

We also make sure that all of the bindings have been adjusted for fore/aft balance to Ramp Zone #3 to further reduce a variable that may adversely affect ski performance and testing outcome.

Tyler is already out west getting an early jump on testing. Bart, Dave & Terri head west on Thursday to get everything set up for the arrival of the Pierce Crew on Sunday.

At the end of the exercise our staff will not only be able to assure you that we have "been there and done that" but that we also have "been there and skied that".

Test blog for the 2016 Targhee trip
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