AtomicSkier

wow nice catch....I meant to say continuous drive. Apparently I wasn't paying attention when I was typing.

Johnny's not going to be able to fit his inflated head through the door

ya that sounds familiar.

Flying to Seattle, yes, but I don't think they had free lodging there.

He also went in May, I believe.

Crappy quality pictures because they got washed out by the sun and my macro mode shoots in shitty quality, but here is me ripping a turn on the former "america's downhill" course, now claimed by Beaver Creek. Not bad for 105mm waist skis.

You definitely need to. And I know you like first chair, but there is really no need here. In fact, if we would've gotten first chair this morning, we wouldn't have been able to see 20 feet in front of us. By 9:45, it was sunny

JH is not the place to goto for constant snowfall. I like Jackson because of the awesome terrain. Aspen, in my mind, was always for rich gapers. My opinion has changed. I've skied more legit stuff at Aspen with JStyle then I have at Jackson, for sure.

Ajax is only 700 acres maybe? It skis very small unless you know where to go. We were quite occupied for the whole day, that's for sure. Ajax vs JH...no brainer, Jackson.

Aspen is pricier, for sure. For instance...at the ticket window (no advance purchase)....$400 buys you 6 days at JH, $365 buys you 4 days at Aspen. My average lunch was like $20 in Aspen, where my average lunch at JH is around $15. I'm sure lodging is much more expensive in Aspen. Jackson Hole really isn't that expensive. That being said, it's a totally different place then Jackson Hole. There are no Hobacks at any Aspen mountain, but there is no hanging valley at JH. Jackson Hole locals are hardcore skiers that will track the fuck out of the mountain before 10am, whereas Aspen locals are movie stars who stick to Blue cruisers and hate powder. At Aspen I feel like an expert, compared to Jackson where I feel like a newbie compared to Doobie Don. There are less people at Aspen because they are spread out amongst 4 mountains, and again, they don't ski the terrain that I like to ski. I couldn't chose between the two because they are both so different. Jackson technically has less vert and less acreage then Snowmass, but Jackson just humbles you in terms of it size. I'll be back to both places.

Next year Jay, next year

awesome guys, sucks about the slides, but looks like you're making do. keep it coming

Final day on my aspen adventure today, and the venue would be Snowmass. I woke up to it snowing at Jstyle's house and when I looked at the window, Snowmass was in a cloud, so I had a feeling it would be good. Well, it was better then good, it was fucking awesome. We skied Powderhorn to start off the day, a 3000+ vert bump/pow run down to the base of Campground, and then worked our way to the poma, where we hopped off early in order to hit AMF (adios mo fucka). We traversed over a bit and scored countless turns of knee deep pow, traversed some more, and scored more deep where I snagged an epic action shot of Jstyle. We worked our way through untracked pow back to the lift where we hit hanging valley glades again for more boot to knee deep freshness. It was already 12:30 by that time so we met Jstyle's wife who was also out skiing at Gwyn's High Alpine. A turkey wrap and soft chocolate chip cookie later we were back on the snow, and headed immediately up the high alpine lift for more turns. Two runs down Baby Ruth to hanging valley glades below where more freshness was found. Some hootin and hollarin was definitely heard from our mouths as well as other people in the trees around us who we couldn't see. Between the two runs we rode the lift with a guy who's daughter is a senior material science engineer at Lehigh. Small world. I dropped into the left chute of baby ruth, but johnny didn't follow. I popped out and traversed left and I heard someone yell. It was Johnny who had found the elusive second chute (one that requires some air) and wanted me to take his picture. I had no idea where the yelling was coming from, so I just waited, and a few minutes later Jstyle emerged from the woods with a smile on his face. When asked how it was, he replied "scary". We then proceeded to track the fuck out of the woods on our way down to the base. What an awesome freaking day and what an awesome freakin trip. I hiked the Highlands bowl. Skied fresh on Monday at Snowmass, fresh on Tuesday at Ajax, and knee deep fresh today at Snowmass. Aspen just doesn't have the clientele that Jackson Hole has. Most people come here to ski the groomers, allowing awesome terrain to remain untracked days after a storm. People just don't ski powder here. It's awesome and I love it. It has been awesome skiing with Johnny Style, and he's been a great host. I will be back, for sure. Enjoy. Oh, hello Gowdy's and our knee deep tracks Some people have freakin balls. Me straight lining between some trees for some freshness. i made it. johnny's chute...ya, it looks flat. it's not. both of the chutes we skied were somewhere up in there. endless powder at Snowmass. me getting after some untracked knee deep and the shot of the trip....johnny style getting after it!

Jay, did you happen to damange your skis at Ajax? If so, I know where, and we avoided that place like the plague

Today was awesome (again). We skied Ajax (Aspen) today, and after a fresh 7" fell at Aspen overnight, we were ready to track the f*ck out of the place, and we did. We opened up with a run on Walsh's which only had a few tracks and the rest was totally untracked. We then hit the Face of Bell which was freakin awesome (see action shots below). We headed over to the FIS chair to check out the former downhill course which was pretty well groomed for a quick run at mach 2. We skied a run off of Ruthie's and then worked our way over to Bell's again. We eventually skied Kristi which was the ROTD. Super steep and so soft. There wasn't any crusty stuff underneath. I'm having a hard time remembering where we skied today, but today was definately the best vert day, and we had so many deep turns in the fresh pow. We were still skiing fresh on Bell and the backside of bell at 1pm. Today was awesome, and a storm is rolling in tonight for some more freshness at Snowmass tomorrow. Enjoy.

Jay....Mrs Style had the beef stew...looked epic.

yes! Expect a different TR on that topic

yes, KTs was the ROTD.

I was just talking to Jstyle's wife about this...I generally eat red meat when I go out as my parents cook mostly chicken and fish, so maybe I'll have some pinot noir.

We went to the Woody Creek Tavern (awesome mexican) last night which is a locals place as it's kind of in the middle of a trailer park, but there have been some pretty famous people there. Today we're rolling into Aspen to eat at Little Annie's. Probably drink a few beers

Jay, I'm not going to lie, it's pretty special here.

What a day today. I will remember Snowmass by some of the awesome terrain we skied. We arrived at johnny's secret campground entrance around 9am, and hoped on the lift at 9:15ish. The snow report was saying 2" in the morning, but on our lift ride up, it was evident there was more. We worked our way over to the poma which wasn't open yet, so we took some runs through some trees until 10am when the poma lift to the top of the mountain opened. After two runs, it was open, so we hopped on. Visibility was nonexistent and pretty much a whiteout from the snowfall. The visibility pretty much ruled out dropping into Gowdy's/AMF/Cirque, so we took the crazy ass traverse by following lolipops over to hanging valley. We hit the hanging valley wall and then down into some trees, with about 5 inches of fresh. There was nobody out skiing today, so there was fresh as far as the eye could see. We worked our way down through some steep trees and and traversed out to Alpine springs lift and then up the old ass High Alpine lift. We decided to check out some of the "extreme" terrain on the map. Our first choice was Possible but it was closed, so we skied down a few hundred yards to Baby Ruth. It was pretty obvious only one or two people had been down it, but it was so narrow it wasn't going to support too many more skiers. After the few hundred vert of steeps, we were dumped into an awesome powder field which let to more steep trees and more fresh pow. We took a break at Gywn's high alpine for lunch, and then headed out in search of KT's Gully. The best turns of the day were had after the headwall. Faceshots, steep trees, and wide open pow. It was a solid 9" with much higher accumulations in the trees. We did that another time, and by then we were both pretty beat. I'm sure I missed a run or two, but wow, awesome day of skiing in terrain that's not found at Jackson Hole. Epic. Oh, and people bitched about no action shots, so here: me at the top of the hanging valley baby ruth...picture is deceptive in terms of pitch. notice the angle of the trees to the snow. johnny style gettin the goods! dick deep! jstyle buttering around in hanging valley

Snow was windbuffed pow. Definately worth the investment in time. It'd be a waste for me to come out here and not hike what highlands is famous for.

Ok...well on to the skiing. Today it was decided that we were going to hit Aspen Highlands and hike the Highlands bowl. After a kickass breakfast in town, we headed over to Highlands, and after a delay getting my ticket, we were on our way and headed straight to the Highlands Bowl. After a 1 cat wait, we took the cat up to the start of the "real" hike, and got on our way. It was the perfect day for it. Not a cloud in the sky to start, but as you'll see, a storm starting rolling in really quickly. It was 50 degrees about 10 minutes ago, but now he's puking here at Jstyle's house. The highlands bowl took it out of both of us, but the hike up (for me at least ) was a piece of cake and even got some comments from some people on my pace. The expression on their faces when I said I was from PA and landed last night was priceless. We got some food after doing highlands, skied a few more runs and then called it a day. Skiing highlands bowl was awesome and something every skier should do. The work that goes into that bowl to get it skiable is amazing. They have hundreds of people bootpack it in November and December (for free season passes) to ensure the safety of everyone. The line we took had a maximum pitch of 43 degrees with an average of around 37 degrees. Walked out of the garage this morning to this awesome view. What we were about to undertake...the highest peak is our destination Our ride to the top (well, this picture was taken at the top) Me waiting for the cat... JStyle all ready to begin the ascent... And me... Beginning the hike...doesn't look too bad. Jstyle smiling...enjoying the view Nice view off the backside...watch your step are we there yet? yes...yes we are oh hello there. johnny takin in the view after skiing Highland's bowl...wow...from the bottom it looks huge. Some awesome turns were had on the way down. Sorry for no pictures, but the light was getting so flat because of the storm it was time to get back to the lift. you can see the sheer size of the bowl by the little dots (people).

Well good morning from Aspen Johnny was right, the way his house faces, you truly do wake up to nature's alarm clock. It was dark when we rolled in last night, but I woke up to this view: