Jackson Hole ski trips

Groups who want real terrain, planned so every level has a good day. The resort rates its terrain 50% expert, 40% intermediate and 10% beginner, so strong skiers have the Aerial Tram and Corbet's Couloir, while a beginner needs the right instructor and the right part of the mountain from the first morning.

The Aerial Tram carries 100 people over the full 4,139 feet of vertical in about nine minutes. Corbet's Couloir, reached from the top, opens with a drop of about 20 feet onto a 50 degree pitch: a line for experts, and a sight for everyone else.

For a family with mixed levels we book private instruction by level rather than one lesson for everyone, and plan the day so the group meets again for lunch and the last run. Our guide to family ski lessons explains how that split works.

January is the resort's own answer: it averages about 7.5 feet of snow that month, with roughly 45% of its days sunny, according to Jackson Hole. The season runs from late November into April.

Christmas, New Year and the February school holiday weeks fill first, so for those dates we book the instructor before anything else. Our guide on when to book a ski trip covers the timing week by week.

Fly into Jackson Hole Airport, about 20 miles and 36 minutes by road from Teton Village, with nonstop flights from major US cities in winter. It is the only commercial airport in the United States that sits entirely inside a national park, Grand Teton.

The other routes are longer: Idaho Falls Regional Airport is about 1 hour 45 minutes from the town of Jackson, and Salt Lake City about 4 hours 30 minutes, both over winter roads. We arrange the transfer from whichever airport your flights land at, and private charter when the schedule calls for it.

Teton Village puts you at the foot of the lifts; the town of Jackson, about 12 miles away, has more restaurants and more to do in the evening. Families skiing every day tend to choose the village; groups who want the town at night stay in Jackson with a driver.

We do not sell from a fixed list of hotels. We look at who is coming, how each of them skis and how they like to spend the evening, then tell you where to stay, and why.

Everything between the flight and the last run: where you stay, a private instructor for each level, lift passes, transfers, equipment and a concierge on the ground, with one point of contact from the first message to the flight home.

Patagonia Living is a ski travel agency based in Patagonia and operated worldwide, and skiing is all it plans. The full list is in what a private ski trip includes; for what the first turn there feels like, read a private Jackson Hole ski trip.