Bill Royall chose the University of Denver so he could take the winter quarters off from school and hit the slopes. His powder-searching ways continued after college, landing him in Vail for a few years before it eventually became too crowded, too trendy. A move to Aspen ended with the same claustrophobic result. And so it went, Royall's quest for a quiet skiing sanctuary going on for years, taking him to places like Steamboat Springs, Taos, Sun Valley. And it always ended the same: moving out when the crowds moved in.The nomadic journey seemed to come to an end about 20 years ago when he arrived in Jackson, Wyo., a place still oozing with that dusty-floor saloon charm of the Old West. But, like all the other ski towns that had lured Royall with its charms, Jackson changed, attracting fuzzy-jacket-wearing out-of-towners to the slopes and trendy shops with pricey paintings and sparkly T-shirts lining the streets.
Then Royall found Grand Targhee. A down-home alternative to upscale Jackson Hole, Grand Targhee is a throwback to the days of the small-town ski resorts, the kind of place where lift operators know the regulars' names and the glistening snow is the only sparkle anyone will ever need. "When you go to a lot of big-time resorts, it's a lot of hustle and bustle, glitter and glamour and we don't want that," says Royall, a stone carver from Southport, Maine, who spends three or four months every winter in Grand Targhee with his wife, Emery. "Grand Targhee is a non-threatening ski environment." Grand Targhee's appeal starts with the Tetons, the 13,000-foot peaks that jut dramatically from the high plains like jagged teeth. Reach the top of the main lift and you get a clear view of these craggy mammoths, seemingly a short double-diamond run away. But Grand Targhee is more than just a hill with a view.
