Assspen

[Barb]

Had my first alpine ski day of the season at Aspen. The logistics are definitely more of a pain then skiing Crested Butte. Have to drive to the commuter lot near Snowmass then take the free bus into town. Parking in Aspen is a huge pain in the ass. So by the time you gets to the base of the gondola from my house it’s probably between 1 hour 30 and 1 hour 45. Went in to get my fancy premier pass printed. 
 

Got to gondola and pass wouldn’t scan in my jacket, had to take it out. I will have to play with that next time. Didn’t have to scan it the rest of the day from mid mountain. 
 

We did get snow over the weekend but surprisingly it was scraped off and icy in spots. The bumps looked treacherous especially for day one. One side was a bit better conditions then the other. Don’t really know trail names yet. No lines, hardly any people, bright sunshine and warm. The last run down to the base was very icy. I remember now that when we did our bump class last Dec, they had us download each day. The reason being that December sun doesn’t hit the bottom half of the mountain and it gets pretty icy, especially on tired legs. 
 

 

 

 

Aspen girls gonna Aspen. Note the pink twins. 

[RidgeRacer]

“We did get snow over the weekend but surprisingly it was scraped off and icy in spots. “

That’s a 100000 out of 10 at Blue. Lol. Looks awesome Barb. Are you spending anytime at crested Butte this winter?

[Barb]

Probably go to Crested Butte off and on starting next month. It’s weird though, now that I live in the mountains I do t feel the need to run over there as much. 

[Barb]

Went to Highlands today for the first time. Wow, the snow was fantastic!! 

 

I went with my neighbor who is in his early 70’s with a nice beer belly and doesn’t look like he is athletic. This guy can fucking ski!  He still does races in Vail and Beaver Creek. He has been skiing Highlands for 50 years and knows every inch of the place. He gave me a very nice tour. There was nobody there, I mean at all. 
 

He definitely pushed me for day #3 on the snow. We started on Exhibition lift and did 2 off there, then moved over to Cloud 9 lift and did a bunch off of that lift. He wanted to take me to Thunder Bowl but it was closed. 
 

last run of the day we went to the top (of the lift, obviously not the bowl) pics from the top

 

the next ridge is Highland Bowl. 

 

 

I didn’t feel like I could take many pictures while we were skiing, since he is from a different generation and just doesn’t do that. He showed me picnic point and I took a pic there, really pretty view of the bells

 

 

I realized why my legs were so tired (even after some midway stops) when we got to the bottom. I looked up the trail map and it’s 3600’ of vert top to bottom. Very solid day for me. 
 

 

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Nice report Barb, you’ve now skied Highlands as many days as me. 

[Barb]

Some pics from xc skiing last evening

 

 

 

Went to Aspen today. I started my tracker on the Aspen app but it told me I skied 0 today which is a bummer.  I like my stats. 
 

For Christmas week the crowds were amazing.  5-10 min lift lines and mostly empty slopes. We need snow like everyone else so conditions were somewhat icy and scrapey.  But then I hear @JFskiDan’s voice in my head saying “boo hoo, Colorado is icy”  

 

 

Natalie in the bumps 

 

There is a jr race at Aspen tomorrow  think we are going to try out Snowmass, I have never been there. 
 

after being down with the flu for over a week it felt good to ski again

 

 

 

Edited December 30, 2023 by Barb

[JFskiDan]

Looks horrible. 

[Barb]

It was!

[Shadows]

Ice is the same all around the country. Only difference is CO has 4k vert of it.

[Barb]

Snowmass was really fun today!  It’s a huge mountain. We mostly stayed in the big burn lift. Those runs are 2000’ of vert. And had some nice baby bumps, my favorite. 
 

However, I had been told it’s a Rocky Mountain and it is definitely true. I hit 2 rocks going in the bumps that I didn’t even see. When I got home I saw this nice shot to my skis

 

Not even sure I can ski on them unless I get this fixed. Crap!

 

Other then that it was a great day. 

 

 

 

Coming back to the base there was a cat walk so I had my speed up, turned a corner and it looked like someone threw handfuls of gravel on top of the snow. There was no way to avoid it. I could have gotten the ding from that as well. 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

@Barb do you have a season pass at Aspen?  Snowmass is the best for intermediates.  Also those mountains don’t need a lot of snow to be almost fully open. 30-40” base only. Awesome reports!!!

 

Barb that gouge in your skis is nothing. You should see some of our skis but for piece of mind would be easy to get it smoothed out and filled in with p Tex. You’re lucky it didn’t affect the edge.  

Edited December 30, 2023 by GrilledSteezeSandwich

[Barb]

I am very lucky indeed! I did get a full Aspen pass this season. It was the right call. I would not have been happy with 7 Aspen days on ikon pass. Plus I probably would not use ikon anywhere else. 
 

Another thing about Snowmass was that people really spread out. I thought it would feel busy since it’s a very family friendly mountain but it seemed empty. Only had a short line at the base. The lift we lapped was 3-5 min tops every ride. Nothing off that lift was groomed. Really really fun 

Edited December 31, 2023 by Barb

[indiggio]

Yeah @Barb that’s barely a scratch.
Ski them or get a shop to fill it and base grind. Edge is fine and not down to the core so no problem using them as is.

Outta the box and into the rocks!

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

10 hours ago, Barb said:

I am very lucky indeed! I did get a full Aspen pass this season. It was the right call. I would not have been happy with 7 Aspen days on ikon pass. Plus I probably would not use ikon anywhere else. 
 

Another thing about Snowmass was that people really spread out. I thought it would feel busy since it’s a very family friendly mountain but it seemed empty. Only had a short line at the base. The lift we lapped was 3-5 min tops every ride. Nothing off that lift was groomed. Really really fun 

Apparently Aspen is never really busy and the crowd there are not voracious powder hounds. Different crowd than the resorts that attract front range locals and most of those Denver peeps are gapers who ski ten days a year. 

[Shadows]

It's lonely at the top.

That should be aspens motto. Smug pieces of shit 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

50 minutes ago, Shadows said:

It's lonely at the top.

That should be aspens motto. Smug pieces of shit 

It’s really not like that..Aspen is filled with a lot of people that like to ski and snowboard and they’re not all millionaires and billionaires.  When I was went to Aspen, only a few people wore fur coats walking onto the plane.  It’s the same in Jackson hole..

[Shadows]

Even copper and keystone made me feel sketch. Walking through base on heated patios with no edges. And last year's coat. 

[Barb]

Hit Snowmass today. Lift lines were actually busier than Christmas week. I guess because conditions are much better. Base lift had about a 20ish minute wait. Went to where I knew and headed back to the Big Burn lift. Lines were 10-15 min but I kept taking the singles line and it was like 3 minutes. 
 

conditions were good, everyone spread out and runs felt empty. There is some fun terrain off that lift. Lots of stuff in between runs not groomed. Tried to do a bunch in there, as my instructor at Aspen said last season “practice makes permanent.”  
just a few shots 

 

 

 

 

 

Was nice to actually ski with some sunshine today. Last few times have been very flat light. 

[Johnny Law]

On 1/20/2024 at 3:50 PM, Barb said:

Is that the end of sneakys ? It's been a few years but big burn has so many full throttle runs. I'd say the freeway is my favorite as sneakys is always working one leg.

Iirc they tend to not groom whispering Jesse alot but that's super good if you can catch it groomed. My favorite lap was freeway across the bridge down to Alpine springs and then rip whatever of coffee pot, naked lady or lodgepole was groomed.  That's like solid 10 mins at top speed of just arc arc arc with a billion places to get air especially on lunkerville. If you go back up and take turkey trot to elk camp and go sandy Park or the one under lift that's maybe the best set of fast flowly blue groomers in the US. 

I'm super jelly, Highlands is my favorite but I skied Snowmass the most by far because it just has everything and their blue groomers are maybe the best anywhere, the design is just so perfect. 

[Barb]

Yes I am pretty sure it is Sneaky’s. According to my Aspen App, I do Dallas Freeway the most off that lift. Next time I go I really need to explore a new zone, but that is a fun area. Thanks for the beta! 

[Johnny Law]

4 hours ago, Barb said:

Yes I am pretty sure it is Sneaky’s. According to my Aspen App, I do Dallas Freeway the most off that lift. Next time I go I really need to explore a new zone, but that is a fun area. Thanks for the beta! 

The views from Sneakys or up top at Elk alone make the runs special but the freeway is an absolute classic. You can max short radius carve for like a solid min it's so wide. 

Generally I found if your starting at the mall if you work left and then back the crowds are mostly going the other way. They'll ski Sam's knob at 930 because it's right out the mall but nobody is home at 230. Like working back to front at Vail. 

[Barb]

Again good info!!  Looking at the map again I did not do Sneaky’w but the one next to it, Max Gulch or some thing. Will have to try it next time 

Edited January 22 by Barb

[Barb]

*real time report for Doug 💙
 

My neighbor told me about a closer in parking lot at Snowmass. Since it’s a holiday weekend and I was cutting it close w time, I got one of the last spaces, woohoo!  Got to the Village Express lot about 9:10 after the bus and walking thru the mall. 
 

we have had some snow!  Everything is ungroomed and chopped up or bumped. As seems to be my habit now, I went right over to Big Burn lift. On the way there (all ungroomed chop) girl is straight lining totally out of control and came within inches of taking me out. Started out on Sneaky’s. Here is a pic from the top for @Johnny Law

 

Ran the Powerline Glades a few times off here. Nothing like Created Butte trees. Very well spaced. Lots of powder in there. 

Scarfed down a mahi sandwich and some M &M’s  the mahi was not great.  Would not get again. 

not sure how much longer I will last. Legs getting tired from the bumps and chop. Crowds are amazing for a holiday weekend. Singles line is 5-6 min. I need to find some down hill ski ladies here to hang with.  Skiing alone gets a bit boring. But overall 10/10 day here at Snowmass. 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Wow thanks for the shout out Barb and nice report!!!

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Have you done the surface lift at the top of Snowmass?  When I was there I did Gawdys a few times. Might be above your ability level but that’s a fun run.