One under the chair is tracked at "The Ghee" - head for the trees

After 24 hours of travel and 36 hours with no sleep, you'd think the crew would require immediate rest, but a foot of fresh powder on the Salt Lake City streets, a comfy hotel room and some duty free supplies revitalised all. This was definitely an occasion for celebration.

The next morning saw the arrival of our friends and hosts for the next 4 weeks. Logan and Gina in a Dodge Van the size of which you would only find in America. Both had spent the last 6 months working, travelling and surfing? in Alaska until the lack of sunlight had driven them south. They now claimed to have found a spot where powder was plentiful, backcountry was easily accessible and crowds were minimal. Take us there we said.

Driggs, Idaho pop 864

The township of Driggs is just over the border from Jackson and Jackson Hole Resort- Wyoming , in south-eastern Idaho. Between the two towns runs the Grand Tetons with some of the craziest peaks you'll ever see.

Cookie snares the seasons largest potato.

The main cash crop in Idaho is the potato. Fiercely proud and protective of them, locals will go to great lengths to make sure that you are eating and storing plenty of these brown starchy balls of carbohydrate. We made the mistake of purchasing some Washington potatoes in SLC before arriving in Idaho. It wasn't long before the word got out and we were in trouble.

Grand Targhee aka "The Ghee" is on the Driggs (western) side of the Grand Teton itself. Targhee's base elevation is 2438m and top elevation is 3108m. This gives 670m of vertical accessible by high speed detachable quad. There is also another lift accessing the next valley North, of the more traditional kind for this region - double chair, no safety or side rails and plenty high off the ground. 1500 acres of terrain of which 10% is beginner, 70% intermediate and 20% expert. Now some of you may think that this doesn't sound hugely spectacular but there are a couple of very important points to note that transfer The Ghee from being a fun place to be, to absolutely awesome.

Its best to obey signs at The Ghee. Tetons in the background.

Firstly the atmosphere here, especially outside of holiday period (20 Dec - 10 Jan) is mega cruisy and super friendly. People here simply love the snow. Secondly the trees here have the affect of multiplying the size of the field several times. The are endless different lines through tight or open trees. They make average terrain very interesting. Finally the snow! The Ghee is rapidly becoming famous for one thing especially, and that is snow. It receives over 500 inches / 13 metres annually. Last season was a record season (20+ metres). Each year The Ghee's only competition for the most snow in the US is Alta in Utah - unfortunately snowboarders are banned from there. As if this snow quantity isn't enough to get excited about its as dry and cold as you'll get anywhere in the world (6% moisture content).

We spent 10 days exploring the Ghee. It snowed throughout 4 of them, but no worries about white-out, just disappear into the trees and all perspective returns. Within boundaries the terrain never gets extreme and there is a definite lack of rocks but riding high speed bottomless dry powder runs through all sorts of crazy tree created funnels, chutes and lines is plenty challenging.

6 days after snowfall - head to Teton Pass for freshies.

However if somehow you get bored of this sort of behaviour, the backcountry accessible from The Ghee is enough to keep the most experienced wanderers interested. Directly over the back is permanently closed for good reason. As some very straightforward signs describe - if you don't die you will definitely lose your pass. Huge cornice to ridiculously large cliffband. Not a good run combination. Major access to backcountry is through a gate from the top of main chair, hike to the next peak south and terrain opens up. Theres a really radical cliff band full of chutes and drops that runs straight back into the Southern boundary of the area, which also makes for very good viewing from the chair. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to do much backcountry from The Ghee as most of the time it was dumping or had just dumped and access was closed. Even if getting beyond resort boundary isn't your scene, make sure that you spare some time to have a look over the back - the Teton peaks will blow your mind.

Ya gotta love Cat track Air....Landing softer than water.

To compliment excellent riding at The Ghee there are many other activities and facilities that will impress all. There is 15km of nordic trails, another entire mountain reserved for cat skiing and backcountry dog sled, snowmobile and snow shoe missions. We were fortunate enough to spend a night up at The Ghee in a condo. Facilities on offer include a heated pool, sauna, exercise room, masseuse, general store, bars and restaurants. We had an amazing time there. Many thanks to Karen Nelson, Susie Barnett-Bushon and Lance Christenson. www.grandtarghee.com

On weekends during our stay in Driggs, Logan took us on various adventures in and around the Tetons. By far the easiest and best hiking value for turns mission is Teton Pass. This pass connects Driggs with Jackson with the road peaking at 2570m. From here you can hike either North up to Mt Glory or South, and from either high point, numerous options are available. Mt Glory was our favourite as it had better snow coverage and longer runs. At the summit of Mt Glory (3080m) was a shelter where often you find up to a dozen people resting and preparing for the awesome runs ahead. Standing at the top of Mt Glory there is the choice of six bowls to drop into so once you had dropped in it was unlikely you would see any other parties again.

Coming out of the drainage at Teton Pass.

Logan took us out along the Northern Ridge and we dropped in at the top of a huge valley. The next ten minutes or so consisted of 800m of steep, tree invested deep dry powder. A total bad time. At the bottom it took several minutes for us to regain self control and Logan announced that we had about a 15 minute ride out through Coal Creek Drainage. Following the creek was a windy, often one person wide, boarder cross like track through the trees. I had the unpleasant experience of confirming with the use of my head the theory that Aspens, although they look pretty and are fun for riding amongst, are quite solid. Logan and Brent dragged me out of the creek and we rode the last quick section and popped out back on the pass road. An easy hitch back up to the van and we were homeward bound.

The only other useful piece of information I feel I should share with you all is with regards to beer. Like most who have been to the US, we all experienced the discomfort after a night of consuming budweiser and coors with a local potato farmer and small town football hero known as "Bubba". There are tons of great beers produced by microbreweries throughout the US but if ever you make it to Driggs and consequently O'Rourkes, Moose Drool is the only option.

Boarder Zone Correspondents - Cookie & Vik, Steep & Cheap