Highland Bowl, Pyramid Peak, and the Maroon Bells, from the lodge at the top of Aspen Highlands
While there was no official national Gathering this year, it was supposed to be at Aspen. And of all the places I've been skiing, Aspen has been my favorite. So while there were COVID restrictions for visitors, including testing requirements, I was pretty determined to still go. So I went - and met up with a few others who also still wanted to go. Throughout the week I would ski with @AeroSKI5150, his wife Missy, @NeillST, @Scotty I., @MattSmith, and his girlfriend Whitney.
There was a lot of sun, and a bit of snow, but we found a lot to ski on three of the mountains (I didn't make it over to Buttermilk this go-round). Since the only other time I've been to Aspen was in 2016 for my first Gathering, I was curious if I'd enjoy it as much as I did that time. I'm also a somewhat better skier now, so I think that made a difference, and I still think Aspen is my favorite place to ski.
For the whole trip, I wound up skiing 4 days at Snowmass, and 1 each a Aspen Highlands, and Aspen Mountain. I skied about 125,000 vertical feet, about 117 linear miles, some fresh snow, some leftovers, some ice, some bumps, and a bunch more trees than I have before.
Flying in
Aspen is a terrible place to fly into. The airport is nice enough, and there are plenty of flights, but there tends to be a lot of issues too - late arrival rates and cancellation rates on flights are really high compared to many other places. Still, it beats driving, so I was flying in. As it turns out, Aspen was due to get 7" of snow the day of my arrival, so I was prepared for delays. I was connecting to Aspen through Dallas, and sure enough, my flight from Dallas was delayed for a couple of hours. But once it went, I did eventually make it into Aspen.
But my luggage didn't. *sigh* So I got in line with quite a few others to report my lost bags... and waited... and waited... and waited. By this time I was second in line, when someone starts walking in from the parking area with bags, including my skis! And shortly thereafter my bootbag and suitcase! Turns out, they went out on an earlier flight than mine, that got diverted to Grand Junction by the weather. Then they were bussed from Grand Junction to Aspen. But I was now good to go.
I was staying at Snowmass, so I got settled in with about 8" having fallen during the day, and looked forward to the next day...
Sign in Aspen airport that I enjoyed
Skiing Day 1 - Sunday at Snowmass
I was skiing solo today, as others weren't coming in until the afternoon. I spent all day on the west side of Snowmass.... Village Express, Sam's Knob, Campground, Big Burn, and Sheer Bliss. The snow that had fallen the day before was all pretty skied out, but everything was nice piles and very soft. It was a really nice day and it was fun to get reacquainted with the mountain.
Walking out to the slopes from my condo, I was greeted with this view
Fresh cord in the morning at the top of Village Express
The views everywhere are wonderful on a bluebird day!
The top of the Big Burn area
The view out of bounds from Sneaky's in the Big Burn
I spent a lot of time at Snowmass in Powerline Glade... lots of easy trees that skied well
Lots of nice cord and low clouds... Snowmass wasn't very busy, even with the new snow, and everything held up and skied very well
View of the top of Sam's Knob from Big Burn
Hey! I know why they call it Powerline Glade!! The powerline line was some easy fun bumps among the trees
Moving over to Sheer Bliss area was a lot of soft crud... the areas up high were wonderful... lower was more scraped off and scratchy. Sheer Bliss lift covers over 2000 feet of vert, so it can be somewhat different top to bottom.
After Sheer Bliss I decided to ski Campground, which I'd never skied before. Requisite ski sticker shot on the slow lift back out of the area.
The view up the valley from Campground area looking at Mount Daly
This little section of bumps was soft, but a bit heavy and kicked my butt a bit. (It's a lot steeper than it looks, at about 35 degrees for the first few turns.)
I saw a "watch for dog sleds" sign while skiing, but didn't really expect to see them!
Another view of the steep bit, from the lift - I definitely would not have skied this last time I was at Aspen
Skiing Day 2 - Monday at Snowmass
Day 2 I met up with a few others, and hit some more areas of Snowmass. It was another bluebird day, and the snow had settled in a bit so off-piste was not as nice. But - and I hate to sound like a broken record - it was still a great day.
Morning steep groomer on Slot under the Sam's Knob lift
Part of the lower Cirque wall from the Alpine Springs lift
I met up with @Scotty I. - and racked up a lot of vertical trying to keep up with him. We skied a lot of fast groomers.
Pano from the High Alpine area
Later in the morning, we met up with @NeillST, @AeroSKI5150 (Mike), and Missy... though we got separated from Mike and MIssy, wound up taking different lifts, and had to track each other down
Later we headed over to Elk Camp. The views off the back of the Maroon Bells are terrific.
@NeillST, @AeroSKI5150 (Mike), and Missy at the top of Elk Camp
Pano of the view from the top of the Elk Camp lift
After some laps in Elk Camp, we headed back to the Snowmass Mall for après ... Missy, Mike, Katie, and Neill here at the New Belgium Ranger Station
Skiing Day 3 - Tuesday at Aspen Highlands
We decided to head to Aspen Highlands on Tuesday. I caught the bus at the stop right after the mall, and was wondering if it would be full (the busses are operating at 50% capacity). But I forgot how empty Aspen can be during the week...
I was the only one on the bus on the way to Highlands - a few more folks would get on at the outer parking areas, but not many
It was another glorious day, and had stayed cold so far, so things were still pretty nice. I mostly stuck to the groomers, but did a few bumps. And Neill did some more exploring in Olympic Bowl, Deep Temerity, and Sherwood Forest.
Beautiful morning at Highlands
Highlands cleared out the main lodge room and doesn't have any seating or cubbies or anything. Instead they put up more benches with covers. There are little firepits in each one too, though they only light them after 12:30.
Missy and Mike in the Cloud 9 area
Valley view from somewhere on Highlands
Pyramid Peak and Maroon Peak from Aspen Highlands
Later in the morning, we decided to ski Scarlett's above the Merry-Go-Round. @NeillST (shown here) skied it very well. I skied it better than 2016, but bailed halfway down.
The view down Golden Horn/Thunder Bowl... this was fantastic groomer skiing with fun huge wide open turns. Unfortunately I skied it with my backpack unzipped and lost a gatorade, and my Ski-trax.
Skiing Day 4 - Wednesday at Aspen Mountain
For my fourth day, we decided to head to Aspen Mountain. @MattSmith and Whitney were coming in, and it was the last ski day for Neill and Mike. It was yet another bluebird day, and was warmer... the snow was still pretty good but it was starting to be affected. We also had our first real lift lines - the gondola wait was nearly 10 minutes at times (though no, or very little, wait at any other lift). It must have been the warm weather getting people out.
Silver Queen gondola plaza (which I like a lot no matter what @James says
)
The view of Aspen Highlands off the west side of Aspen Mountain
Riding the FIS lift up to Ruthie's run. Several lifts are old and small/slow... especially Gentleman's Ridge lift, which is sssslllloooooowwwwwww.
Aspen grove on Aspen Mountain
Closer view of Highland Bowl and part of the Deep Temerity lift area at Aspen Highlands, from Aspen Mountain
Matt in some hard bumps at Aspen Mountain
Whitney in the bumps
View of Bonnie's restaurant and the mid mountain area
Mike and Neill enjoying the sun and groomers (somewhere on Ruthie's, I think)
View down into town from the lower mountain
Lunch at the top with Matt, Whitney, Neill, and Mike
After lunch, we skied Gentleman's Ridge, which had softened nicely in the sun. They were nearly (OK, maybe not too nearly) slush bumps.
View to the top of Ruthie's from above
Neill looking at the view
Mike and Neill mid mountain
Skiing Day 5 - Thursday at Snowmass
Day 5 had a chance of snow, and 2-4 inches were predicted overnight... so the clouds had rolled in. We skied all over on this day... from Campground to Elk Camp... pretty much everywhere except Two Creeks and the Cirque poma.
Cloudier Mount Daly view
View to the bottom of Sam's Knob lift
Some minor lift lines today... a bit surprising
Wide open runs are a Snowmass specialty... with the flat light, it was interesting... (I think it would have confused @James) (Also, if you go to Aspen, and you wear red pants and a white/grey jacket, you're going to be mistaken for an instructor a few times. Guess how I know that?
)
Low clouds over Big Burn
Matt with the international symbol for "follow me"
Even lower clouds over Big Burn... we spent a good amount of time in trees which helped with the flat light
Powerline Glade again
And again...
Then we headed over to Elk Camp and things really started to roll in... no view from the top today
Snow!! We were hopeful to get more than a couple of inches
Matt and Whitney on the Elk Camp lift
After Elk Camp it was back to New Belgium Ranger Station
Skiing Day 6 - Friday at Snowmass
The last ski day, and Snowmass reported 3" which actually helped to freshen things up.
Moon view from Sam's Knob in the morning
View of Big Burn and Sheer Bliss from Sam's Knob
Powerline Glade... yet again. This time the fresh snow was very nice....
After a few runs, we went to the Cirque lift to the top
Terrific view from up there... and a fun groomer coming back down (I did not ski the Cirque)
After that we went back to Elk Camp and skied some more trees off Bull Run, which we had found were very nice the day before, and were great today
My almost final run of the day down into Two Creeks. Matt and Whitney did Long Shot, but I didn't feel up for it....
Final run down the gondola line to the village
Flying out
Flying out went only a little better than flying in... I wound up switching flights twice due to mechanical issues which were eventually going to make me miss my connection back to DC. (Changing flights is very easy these days, as I could do it almost instantly on my phone with no waiting in line.) Unfortunately, my luggage again didn't make it, and I didn't get it until more than 24 hours after I got home. But at least the view was nice as we took off....
Snowmass from the plane
Lift Tickets
I was skiing on the full Ikon pass, and had made my reservations long ago. But I don't think there would have been any issues getting reservations on short notice.
Dining
We ate outside most of the time, though restaurants were operating at 50% capacity. We did eat inside twice, including at the restaurant off Alpine Springs lift at Snowmass. It used to be Gwen's, but was bought out by Aspen, and remodeled somewhat. It was actually very good. We also had a dinner at The Edge Restaurant in Snowmass that was very good, and pretty empty/spaced out.
Finally... it was a great trip, and I can't wait to go back next year... and hope to see lots of the rest of you there too!
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