Grand Targhee Ski Resort Wyoming

Skiing at Targhee

Overall Score: 8
Price: 3
Kid Friendly: 9
Parent Friendly: 9
Easy Access: 2-8

I remember skiing at Targhee once as a high schooler, but it wasn't until last year that I rediscovered this treasure and it has quickly jumped to one of our favorite family places ever! Don't let the overall score fool you, the price brings it down (family skiing is $$$$ pretty much everywhere). The "beginner hill"
which is pictured above has a very nice conveyor belt to help the learners up the "bunny" hill. The kids have no idea how good they have it! I had to learn with a rope tow, which is almost as hard to learn to use as skiing itself. 

Ok, so kids 5 and under are free (which covers one of our kiddos) but they do have discount tickets for their "green" lift. This is very helpful for kids and/or adults who are just going to stay on the greens anyways. My kids are venturing into blues this year so the "price points" might actually get worse for us soon. Which as a side note, Idaho Mountain Trading (in Idaho Falls) sells discount tickets (better prices than liftopia). The only catch is that they open at 10am so you have to know at least a day in advance that you wanna go, or you don't get the discount. 

This is a very kid friendly ski hill. The "green" lift (Shoshone Lift) has all of their runs named for kids (the north pole, the bobsled run, ect) and they have dream catchers and bells hanging from the trees as well as "eyes" on the trees. You do have to pass the traditional "bra" tree on this lift but my boys would put that in the hilarious and positive side, not as a negative. Its a good icebreaker for the puberty talks on those long lift rides.  

This ski hill is also definitely parent friendly. When Drew or I can sneak away to the "big" lift it is very fulfilling. (So much so that my sister and I had a very entertaining hour trying to get down a very powdery double black diamond that we accidentally found ourselves on).  Another thing I totally appreciate is that the child care center is right there on the mountain. I can literally take off my skis, walk about 5 feet and check on the baby, then ski off again in under 10 minutes. It is very pricey for "regular" child care but super comparable to other resort daycares we've tried (about $20 an hour....my wallet hurts typing that). They do have annoying hours which is that you have to choose either the morning, afternoon, or both. You can't just bring your kid from like 10am-2pm (you would have to pay the whole day rate if you did that) and we have been to other resorts where you pay a flat hourly rate without having to sign up for slots.  We often leave the baby at home with family, but sometimes we don't plan ahead enough. Which brings me to the accessibility. It is really not close to any major airport, and the towns around it have a grocery store and some restaurants but they are very tiny towns. It is about an hour and a half from our house which is in the middle of nowhere Idaho (which is everywhere in Idaho-- minus Boise).  And the road up is windy (for miles) and obviously snowy so I very much appreciate my 4 wheel drive truck when we go. 

The lodge has rooms where you can bring your own food to eat and the parking lot is really easy to access. We have yet to be there where we felt like the mountain was just too crowded and we have gone on holiday weekends and beautiful sunny days. 

Of the 6 or so resorts we have visited, this one is by far my favorite.