Pebble Creek, Idaho

Pebble Creek is located just a little south of Pocatello, Idaho. It offers 2,200 vertical feet, topping at 8,560 feet, and 53% of the terrain is advanced.  In addition to the groomed and ungroomed trails, there is also quite a lot of tree skiing here.

Pebble Creek is not one of the 12 Powder Alliance areas, but that is exactly why I visited here today, Saturday, March 29, 2014.  Saturday is the one day of the week when the Powder Alliance season passes are not valid at ski areas other than your home area. On a week-long road trip, one is bound to hit at least one Saturday, so I looked for a ski area that is exciting to ski, close to my route, and hopefully not too expensive. 

Pebble Creek fits the bill perfectly. It's right on my route, it offers lots of terrain, and lift tickets are regularly priced at $40.  But, I was in luck today.  An all day ticket was just $25.  I am not sure why.  Maybe because of Spring Break, or because it's the last full weekend of the season, or because the snow is getting a bit thin in places. 

We who live near a ski mountain that is close to a large urban area and gets lots of snow, as
Mt. Hood does, are so lucky and spoiled in that we can ski all of April and May, and even June and July.  For me, it's still the middle of the season.  But for Pebble Creek, this is the last full weekend.  They will just open next Saturday (April 5) for one last day. 

I love how this ski area marks its trails. I always felt that a scale of just 3 or 4  steps (Green, Blue, Black and Double-black) is not enough to describe ski terrain well.  In Europe they use Red to designate trails between Blue and Black.  At Pebble Creek, they use intermediate designations such as:
a) Blue-Green  (a harder greeen or easier blue)
b) Blue-Black (a more challenging blue).

Pebble Creek ski area towers over a dry valley through which the I-15 freeway runs from Pocatello, Idaho to Salt Lake City, Utah.  In some way, it reminds me of Mt. Bachelor, which towers over the dry plains of eastern Oregon, or Mt. Rose (Nevada) which overlooks the dry Nevada scenery just south of Reno.  I assume this means they often get light, dry snow here.

Even today, on a Spring like day, the snow was pretty good.  You could almost read its history just by looking at it.  There was some fresh white snow that must have fallen recently, covering up the slightly brownish snow underneath, which was probably the result of wind-deposited dust whipped up from the surrounding dry valley.

The day did not begin well for me.  My stomach hurt a bit, probably because of something I ate the day before.  But, things got better with every run. I started off easy, then progressed to some steep trails, and finally skied some trees as well.  By the end of the day, I felt great!  Ski area magic!!!