Intermediate TR Sunlight / Aspen 4: March 10 - 16

[alison wong]

Country pumpkin was venturing out west again. This time, I was off to Sunlight and Aspen for 1 week during my school spring break in mid March.

Before the TR, just want to share with you few thoughts & observations from the trip (for those of you interested about the logistics/transportation)

Tansportation:
1) Many mentioned how convenient the transportation in Aspen/Snowmass is, it is true only if you stay in Snowmass /Aspen area.

If staying in Basalt (12 miles from Aspen), Carbondale (~30 miles), or even Glenwood Springs (~40 miles), I’d say it might be more convenient to get a rental.

In my case, I flew into Denver and took Colorado Mountain Express (CME). Picked up a rental car in Aspen Airport (*last day of my stay), because I did not want to deal with the driving on I-70W at night.

There are two type of buses run between Aspen & Glenwood Springs:
1) BRT - stops along highway 82 “ParkNRide” stops. BRT buses run more frequent. Only downside is, you’d need to walk a bit more to get into the town.

2) “L” buses - L = local. Buses run into towns but they are less frequent.

I stayed in Basalt (AirBnB). There are 2 hotels (to my knowledge) in Basalt:
1) Aspenalt - locates across the street from the Local Bus stop (“L” line, L for local).

About 5-10 mins. walk from ParkNRide stop in Basalt. If you carry gears (skis + boot bag), add another 2 -3 min.

2) Basalt Mountain Inn - It locates a bit further away from the local bus stop, add additional 5 mins. of walking from Aspenalt hotel.

About 15 min. walk from ParkNRide stop in Basalt.

Basalt Mountain Inn is nicer and newer than Aspenalt. Only downside, it locates a bit far from the Local bus stop and BRT ParkNRide stop. It is not a big deal if you don’t carry anything, but it can feel tiring if you need to haul skis + boot bag, esp the end of the day.

3) Element Hotel - it is actually not in Basalt town. It is further away from Balsalt town, near El Jebel. But the hotel is right outside of the BRT ParkNRide stop, so it is convenient. There are shops, Whole Food, restaurants within walking distance.

Travel Logistics:
1) Aspen 4 - There is a service to store your skis overnight ($10) and transport your skis to any of the Aspen 4 mountains ($10) next day. I used it once, quite convenient.

2) If you stay outside of Aspen/Snowmass, and decide to get rental, parking in Buttermilk is free. Other 3 mountains cost $$ (I am pretty sure) for parking.

3) For free parking, you can park the car at Bush Creek Intercept Lot. Then take free buses to any of the 4 mountains. Bush Creek Intercept Lot is where all buses stop, like a “Grand Central”.

4) If you want to visit Sunlight Mtn. (which I strongly suggest), it’d be better to have a rental car, so your travel time can be more flexible. Since Sunlight Mtn shuttle runs once a day during weekday: morning hotel pick up and afternoon drop off. Twice daily on weekends.

Also, you can purchase their ski + swim package (~$75 for ski lift ticket + hot spring in Iron Mtn. + RT bus tickets.)

If no rental car, consider to stay at their ski in -ski out hotel (price is v. reasonable). Or, stay at a hotel where the Sunlight Mtn shuttle bus stops. Suggest you let the hotel staff know you are taking the Sunlight Mtn. shuttle, so they will call the bus driver to confirm for pick up. If you are taking bus, it’d be more tricky to visit the hot spring swimming pool at Iron Mountain, because it is about 10 miles out of the town.

There are many consignment stores in Glenwood springs. I did not visit those stores, only saw them when I was on the bus to Sunlight. I assume some of those consignment stores sell ski related stuff.

*I had a red eye flight returning home. Shuttle bus (CME, Bustang, Greyhound) last departure out of Aspen, Glenwood Spring is 3:30 pm. I decided to get a one-way rental, from Aspen to DIA. That way, I could ski until the last chair at 4 pm and then driving back to DIA.

One-way rental was quite inexpensive, $60 one day, even though I reserved a compact, I got AWD SUV at Aspen airport.

 

[alison wong]

Day 0 (March 9) - DIA

You know you are in ski country when you see this at the airport. Of course, it took country pumpkin quite a while to figure it what this was....


Day 1 (March 10) - Sunlight Mountain in Glenwood Springs

I was inspired to ski Sunlight after reading an article about old ski school.

I decided to ski the first day at Sunlight at Glenwood Springs to warm up. I contacted Sunlight via Facebook, asking if they offer any mountain tour. Reply I got was, they don’t normally offer but someone would be available to take me around.

I arrived to Sunlight before noon, purchased a half day ticket. I met up with Troy Hawks, in charge of marketing, to show me around. (I believe Troy's name was mentioned in one of the diva threads about old school ski area or small resorts....)

There are only 3 chairs, 1 triple, 2 double. All chairs have no safety bars, the two doubles are “center” pole chairs (same as Cecret chair at Alta).

When I asked if they ever planned to install a safety bar, the answer was not in the near future because it requires significant amt of $$.

Sunlight relies 4 months of ski season, to sustain their business for the entire year.

My impression of sunlight, it has the vibe very similar to Mad River Glen (MGR), only 10X ++ bigger.

There is a sundeck lodge. I really like the local vibe here, low profile, no frills, unassuming, laid back. Wide, well groomed trials. It is my kind of place to ski. Nothing “posh” but got good skiing and scenery. Top of Chair Primo chair offers view to Mt Sopris.

During my first run, I noticed something was off with my skis. The skis were grabbed very easily, few times, felt like I almost caught an edge and was going to fall. This made me nervous and became very timid. I wonder what went wrong, considering I had it tuned and waxed right before this trip. My skis just did not ski the same as before.

Troy took me through all 3 chairs to cover different trials. I think he was going to take me to few more runs but because of the technical difficulty with the skis. I told him I’d be ok to ski on my own to find my way around…. He suggested few trials that I could check out.

Mishap of the day. Troy mentioned few times about this blue run called Beaujoulais, I decided to check it out.

At the trail split, I saw 2 signs: black diamond run - Defiance, and blue run - Beaujoulais. But I was not sure which one is black and which one is blue. Both appeared to be steep, and I was too scared to get further down to check.

This was the time I wish I could either be an advanced skier to have an ability to handle variable terrains, or have good sense of direction to know my orientation. Since I possess neither, and I am very much a chicken, I resorted to plan B: took off my skis, hiked uphill to get to the green trial (Grizzly road), skied down as my last run for the day.

I hesitated to be brave and adventurous on my first day:
1) only had 40 mins. to catch the bus back to hotel. Don’t want to get stuck on a trial that might make me to miss the bus.

2) don’t want to get hurt myself first day out, esp. with my skis issue and, I have 6 more days to go!

As I was skiing at here, I even thought to myself, I really like this place. I could easily spend few days here to enjoy what Sunlight has to offer.

My overall impression, Sunlight is definitely underrated, it’d be a place worth a detour if you have a car. It is a great place to warm up your legs and experience the local vibe.

Few photos to share:

View from the sun deck


View of the sun deck


Inside the lodge:

 

[alison wong]

Day 2 (March 11) - Buttermilk

I decided to start at Buttermilk because it has the easiest terrains. Again, following my standard operating procedure (SOP). I did a mountain tour.

Before I started, I went to the ski rental shop, asking about my skis issues. Why it grabbed so much as I turned? The answer I got was, the skis was tuned too well, so it grabbed as I turned. He suggested me, next time when I tune my skis, I should ask them to tune and then detune it. He also said, the problem would go away after couple days of skiing… What a relief…..
(Dumb question: why do I pay someone to tune my skis and then asking them to undo it by de-tuning it? I don’t understand...)

Tour started at 10:30am, it was little passed 9 am. So I decided to make couple warm up runs before the tour. I approached an ambassador.

Me: What is the easiest run for a warm up before 10:30 am mountain tour?
Buttermilk ambassador: Homestead run is the easiest. But it is 3-mile long.
Me: OK, but I should be able to finish in an hour, right?
Buttermilk ambassador: right, I suppose so…. (he did not seem to realize it was only little after 9 am).

Cindy was the ski ambassador at Buttermilk I skied with. I was the only tourist taking the tour. She was very considerate and tried to ski slower as I told her I am slow. We made few laps around the area…… She took me to this trail where there was a John Denver Shrine. Quite neat. People put a shrine here because of his song “Rocky Mountain High” put the Rocky mountains on the map.

John Denver Shrine:


She suggested: 1) Meet up with her at 1: 30 pm (all 4 mountains offer 2 tours a day: 10:30 am and 1:30 pm). 2) Checked out the runs between Tiehack and Summit chairs on my own for couple hours before we met up at 1:30 pm. So I did. Well, at least I tried (with minimum success).

My terrible sense of direction, I was not able to find those runs in the middle part of the mountain (e.g. Savio, Bear, Friedl's Lover's Lane, etc….) This really frustrated me. I wanted to go to trial x, but always ended up trial y and got no clue how I got there.

But I did find this run under the West Buttermilk Express lift chair I liked v. much, called Big Face Hollow. It started with green and then became blue. I always wish I could ski runs under a chair lift. But often times, those runs are either mogul runs or steep blacks. For that reason, I was never able to ski them. For the Big Face Hollow, it was a very mellow, tamed run, not intimidating at all. For this reason, I consider this trail as my favorite run at Buttermilk.

I witnessed an accident on this day. I was on the West Buttermilk Express lift, looking down on the slope, I saw a hiker with his dog (unleashed) traversed across this Westward Ho (v. wide trial). (Many people hike with crampons or ski skins at Buttermilk.)

There was a skier coming downhill. 2 things immediately came to my mind: 1) Wonder if she would collide with this dog? 2)But then I thought, she should be fine coz she could see the dog far ahead and had plenty time to avoid it…. Well, it turned out not to be the case.

She “ran” into the dog, became air borne, then had a face plant, lost both of her skis. She was fine and the dog seemed fine also.

(Later as I skied down that same trail. I saw blood spots on the slope and ski patrols were shoveling and trying to cover those spots.)

I met up with Cindy at 1:30 pm for the afternoon tour. She showed me runs off the Tiehack Chair. We only stick on the blues (few blacks off Tiehack). She showed me 2 things that were “memorable”: 1) the house where Michelle Obama stayed when the Obamas visited Aspen couple years ago. 2) This high School in Aspen has its own lift chair. How fancy! If students have two free periods, they can take the school lift, then onto Tiehack chair to make couple runs…These students are so lucky!

House Michelle Obama and her family stayed during their visit to Aspen few years back:


View of the high school has its own chair lift, connect to Tiehack at Buttermilk


During the afternoon tour, we also stopped by ski patrol hut and met an avalanche dog. I got to chat with a ski patrol, I learned something new. There are 2 types of avalanche dogs, “live” dogs can only sniff out live people in an avalanche and “cadaver” dogs can only sniff out dead bodies. I supposed in an avalanche, one needs to send out both dogs, coz one can’t do the job of another….. you really don’t want to miss sniffing out anyone in situation like this.

Ski patrol also mentioned, we should not be “lifting” our skis when skiing alongside of a dog. (He said kids tend to do that). Because the edge of the skis can cut the dogs and harm them…. Bottom line, keep your skis on the ground if skiing with a dog.

Meet Zara, 6-year old, she is one of the 2 avalanche dogs at Buttermilk.


I also asked the ski patrol about the accident with the dog I saw few hours ago. It turned out those blood spots were from the dog, the edge of the skis made a cut on the dog and caused some bleeding. Dogs are really not allowed here.

In terms of terrain difficulty, Buttermilk is comparable to Sunlight. Both got wide open terrains. Of course, Buttermilk is fancier. It has nice comfy couches on the sun deck at the base.

I finished the day little after 3 pm. Don’t want to stretch myself too thin since I have 5 more days to go.

C'est moi, top of the Tiehack chair

 

[alison wong]

Day 2 (March 12) - Snowmass

I made my way “up” based on the level of difficulty of the 4 mountains. Snowmass is considered to be an intermediate mountain.

Following my SOP, I skied 2 greens before 10:30 am tour. By today, my skis issue was completely resolved.

Including me, 5 total in the group. 4 other skiers are from a ski club in Ohio.

First impression of Snowmass? Crowded, long lift lines, too many beginners wedging and plowing down the hill. They just made me nervous. I was underwhelmed with the snow condition at Snowmass. For the morning tour, our ambassador took us to runs off Alpine Springs, Big Burn chairs; we did the "popular" blue runs - Sneaky's, Coffee Pot, Dallas Freeway, Lunkerville, Naked lady etc.

All 5 of us had lunch together with the ambassador, then did 1:30 pm tour with him started at Elk Camp.

This ambassador was ok. He was an older gentleman, rather quiet, did not say much. He is the type of person that he only talks if you ask him questions.

During lunch time, I asked him whether Highlands or Aspen has more difficult terrains. He said Highlands is easier, he thinks I should be able to handle terrains the bottom 2/3 of the mountain. He suggested I should check out Highlands next.

We skied some more blues off Elk Camp Chair in the afternoon.

Overall, it was an okay day. Perhaps coming in, I had a high expectation about Snowmass. By the end of the day, this place did not “wow” me, like Buttermilk or Sunlight had….

There are only 2 things I like about Snowmass thus far, clear trial signage and free S’more at the end of the day (I don’t even like S’more because it's too sweet for my taste).

Everyone raves about Snowmass, but I am not finding anything great about it. Wonder, what am I missing here…??? This was also evidenced by the fact that how short this day's report was.... and no pictures either...

 

[alison wong]

Day 3 (March 13) - Highlands

With a somewhat disappointing day from Snowmass, I hoped Highlands would give me something better….

First impression upon arriving to Highlands: it was quiet, I felt this place is tucked away in its own place, somewhat “isolated”. Not touristy or spreadout like Snowmass, not young & “bustling” like Buttermilk (many families with young kids at Buttermilk), it is just quiet and calm.

Knowing Highlands is considered as mountain with advanced terrains, I felt a bit intimidated and cautious when I rode the Thunderbowl chair up for my warm up run. No greens here, only blues.

In fact, for my first run, I was so cautious that I asked the lift attendant (came out of his hut) about this trail I was about to get on… just to be sure it’s easy and not steep. The run was very manageable, nothing over my head. Since I got time for another run, I rode up Thunderbowl chair, decided to check out another easy run, called Golden Horn. Being cautious but didn’t want to bother the lift attendant again, I stopped a skier (just coming downhill) and asked him…..

Him: Do you want to go up to the top? I can take you if you want.
Me: I am going to do the 10:30 mountain tour and I believe the tour ambassador will take us up.. Thank you though for offering.

I smelled alcohol in his breath as we talked, it was not even 10 am….. As much as I wanted to go up to the top, I am not sure if I’d want someone who was intoxicated this early of the day to take me up….

J.B. was the Highland ambassador for the day, an energetic older gentleman, no-nonsense, very matter-of-the fact type of guy.

There was another guy joining the tour, 2 of us only.

Before we started the tour, I told J.B.:
Me: just to let you know, I ski slow.
J.B.: Usually I run into women who claim they ski slow but they turn out to be fast skiers, and men who claim they are fast but turned out to be slower skiers.
Me: Well, I am going to prove you wrong today….

We rode up Cloud 9 chair, did few runs off that chair (Gunbarrel, Kandahar etc). Then we took Loge Peak chair to visit the ski patrol hut for the view. We saw a snow cat taking people up to the Highlands bowl. The guy in the tour decided to leave the tour because he wanted to ride the cat and skied the bowl. Before he left, J.B. made sure he had water and an energy bar with him because hiking up the bowl and skiing down could be strenuous. Well, it turned out he had neither…… So, I gave him my bag of M&Ms and he had some water from the ski patrol hut.

It was only J.B. and me for the rest of the tour, which was nice because Mr. M&Ms was a good skier and he was quite fast. Sometimes, it is a bit stressful to ski with someone fast, coz I had the pressure to keep up…. J.B. took me to the trail Broadway (off Loge Peak chair) to visit this memorial site where 3 skiers died in an avalanche. Story was, they were here to discover the Highland Bowl, but triggered an avalanche and lost their lives. People can ski the Highland Bowl now because of them, hence the memorial site.

There was only one “legit” blue trial off the Loge Peak, rests are blacks or double blacks. One section of that Broadway (blue) was a bit narrow. J.B. warned me in advance and told me to take my time…… I have mental blocks with narrow trials, I was side stepping quite a bit because I was so nervous. At the end of that cat walk, the trial became wide but steep. J.B. was patiently waiting for me there. Again, he said to me: “take you time to make one turn at a time here…” I think he was concerned that I might not able to handle that steep part. To my own surprise, I was very comfortable on that steep section, making one turn at a time with good rhythm and in control. Best of all, I was doing it with full confidence. At the end of this run, I came to realize, I am a true / solid intermediate now. Because some blues at Highlands are legit and I was able to manage them without feeling frazzled.

Throughout the tour, I asked many questions to J.B.:

Me: why do you guys change the trial ratings from greens to blues this year? Are you trying to discourage people to come here, so you can keep this place for locals?

J.B.: Not at all. We very much wanted more people to come but the problem is: when folks ski the blues at Buttermilk, they think they can ski the blues here also. But as they get on the blues here, they got into trouble, because blues here are much steeper….. we just don’t want to mislead people.

Me: I like Highlands more so than Snowmass. The only complain is the signage, it is so small and hard to see.... Snowmass has much better signage. Do you have any plans to improve that?

J.B.: True, but the signage has been here since it first opened, It was part of the history. So no, we have no plan to make any changes.

At the end of the tour, he gave me 2 advice.
1) In order to get better, you alternate between easy and difficult blues.
2) You know you are good when you are at a point that you no longer need to look at trail map to figure out where to go…
(This is so true, I felt very much the same way when I was skiing at Montage and Elk at PA….. But given this is west coast, I still have to be cautious.)

After lunch, I skied on my own, wanting to check out few more trails that I did not get a chance to explore during the tour. Knowing it was Highlands, I wanted to be sure where I was heading and did not want to unknowingly end up on any blacks. Literally, I was looking at the map at every intersection. One time, I stopped at an intersection, reading my map, a skier came by…

Skier: Do you need help?
Me: I want to go to the Red Onion. Is this it?
Skier: Red Onion? Is there such a trial?
Me: Yes, it says so on the map. Look….
Skier: Well, I don’t know… never heard of Red Onion. but all these trials are very much the same anyways.

Off he went………

Yes, I guess it was true, all these blues were very similar. I gave up looking for the Red Onion, just took a leap of faith that whatever this trail I was on, it would stay as blue until the end…. and it did.

I finished the day at Buttermilk. @marzNC suggested me to try out the blacks there. I wasn’t sure about the blacks initially on my first day at Buttermilk, but with her vote of confidence, I decided to go back and check it out.

Blacks at Buttermilk felt like blues at Highlands. They were OK. Initially, my confidence was not 100% because “black diamonds” are two intimidating words to me still… I skied until the last chair at Buttermilk.

This was a much better day than the day at Snowmass. Highlands was not crowded, no lift lines, good snow conditions, manageable terrains.

Few photos to share:


This is the cat took people up to ski the Highland Bowl. I think the cat only took you to a certain point, you still had to hike rest of the way....


C'est moi, encore, from Ski patrol hut top of the Loge Peak chair...

 

[alison wong]

Day 4 (March 14) - Snowmass

I signed up for the first track at 8 am. No snow or fresh powder this day but I wanted to do this for the sake of experience and to satisfy my curiosity. For the first track, it is led by 2 instructors, one leads and one sweeps. We took village summit express chair, and then sheer bliss chair. Usually you only have time for 2 (max) runs. The groups are divided into fast, slow, and tree skiing groups. Of course I was with the slow group, we skied on corduroy, hard pack snow, much like east coast hard pack snow.

Photo: 8 am "line up" to ski the first track at Snowmass. The ones in red pants are ski instructors.
We supposed to meet at 7:55 am at the Village Express. Limited to 30 but they did not really take "attendance". (First Track at Snowmass is MWF, sign up at the guest service. They call you the day prior to re-confirm.)

Again, not impressed with Snowmass and did not want to waste too much time here, I decided to take a break and headed to Aspen to check out the town. I walked around the Aspen town a bit. To me, this was quite an ordinary town, nothing special or quaint, without much character and history. Again, perhaps I am missing something here?

I did go inside the Little Nell hotel, it was quite posh and “modern”. I heard it is very pricey.

Before I left Aspen town, I checked out the locker and storage room (next to the shop called Gorsuch), so I knew where to boot up the following day. I also took the gondola up to check out the views. Based on what I saw from the gondola, the trials at Ajax were indeed quite steep, more so than Highlands.

Guess who I ran into at the top of the sun deck lodge at Ajax? Mr. M&Ms. He told me he did Highland bowls twice yesterday, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, the afternoon one was much better. Now that’s a real hard core! Today he was skiing at Ajax and he said the snow condition was actually better at Highlands (than Ajax).

I went back to Snowmass just after 1 pm, I had two options: either check out the Rocky Mountain High trial off Cirque poma lift or took another tour. I was intrigued by the Rocky Mountain High after reading @NewEnglandSkier 's TR on Aspen Snowmass.

I decided to give the ambassador tour another chance. Being a chicken, I was also a bit hesitate to ski Rocky Mountain High this late of the day, not sure how bumped up it’d be.

Jeanette was the afternoon ambassador, there was a couple from MI and an older gentleman from MD, 5 of us total.

This MI couple, the wife was a low intermediate. Jeanette was very considerate, cognizant of the fact that we had a low intermediate. She had few favorite blues but decided not to take us there because they were harder blues.… She repeatedly said to us: “I don’t want to put her off, because she is at a stage where she can grow to liking the sport or want nothing to do with it.” I truly appreciate such gesture because I was in her (low intermediate) shoes until a year ago. I do think the wife was a real trooper though. She stuck with it and skied the same trails we skied, some of the sections were quite bumpy. If I were her, I’d be in a total mental shut down.

Jeanette was a better ambassador. From her tour, I felt I was able to see the real Snowmass. Yes, this place was indeed quite impressive, got some impressive view and wide open runs. I no longer had the same negative viewpoints about Snowmass as I had two days ago.

Jeanette lives in Aspen, she and her family moved here from NCal 9 years ago. Originally she is from Scotland, has 3 kids, husband is an engineer. During the chair lift rides, we discussed about the wealth disparity in Aspen. This is one subject I am quite interested in because I watched a documentary about it years ago on CNN.

She said NCal is an expensive place to live, majority of the populations are middle class professionals, minorities are ultra rich or poor. But here in Aspen, it is the total extreme, many are either extremely wealthy or poor, with only minority being the middle class. She finds such phenomenal quite disturbing. She said, whatever social economic status you are, people somehow manage to make it work to live here. For her, she rents out part of her house on AirBnB to subsidize the income.

I finished today again around 4 pm. This place started to grow on me, I can tell by the fact that I finished late again today. Also evidenced by the fact that, this day's report was longer...

Few more photos to share from the first track at Snowmass:

This the "First Track" slow skier group. No fresh powder, so we skied the corduroy....


Sneaky's run - most popular run in Snowmass....

 

[alison wong]

Day 5 - Aspen Ajax

Today is the day! Finally, I am skiing in Aspen (Ajax), this famous mountain that I’ve heard since childhood, the place I’ve longed to visit but never gotten a chance to.

No warm up runs today, I just jumped straight into the tour. Honestly, I didn’t know where I would go for warm up anyways. Everywhere I looked felt so steep, more intimidating than Highlands. So I decided just to “wing” it.

The husband of MI couple also joined the tour, his wife was taking another lesson, only two of us.

Steven was the Ajax tour ambassador . He was like J.B. (Highlands ambassador), no nonsense, very matter-of-the-fact, no sugar coating. For me, I prefer to deal with people like that, coz it is straightforward, no reading between the lines.

I think he was the best ambassador I’ve had this week. He repeatedly reminding us the orientations of each chair lift, how to tell we’ve passed the mid-mountain point, what are the only two ways (Copper or Spar Gulch) to get down to base… For all the 4 mountains, I felt I was most familiar with Ajax because he repeated the same info. over and over.

Basically, his advice was stick on mid-mountain and above because of the good snow conditions, best to use Ajax Express as the main chair to lap around.

He started us with an easy blue off (1 & 2 Leaf) the gondola. He might realize we were good enough to handle something more difficult. He led us to Dipsy Doodle the next run. This Dipsy Doodle was no Dipsy Doodle at Liberty in PA hill or Alta, this was a blue with moguls! But Steven took us to the side of Dipsy with small bumps, coz the other side of Dipsy had some challenging bumps.

Skiing with Steven did not feel like a leisure tour at all, he really “worked” us and I was sweating. But it was very good though. He took us to trials normally I would not dare to venture out on my own, we skied quite fast and was able to cover majority of the blues.

He was quite funny in “criticizing” how I (not) used my poles.

Steven: Did you rent those poles or they are yours?
Me: I bought them so they are mine.
Steven: How come you don’t use them then???

It started snowing half way through the tour. Visibility was bad at times. The tour finished with Ruthies’ run. I was satisfied because the only run I was interested to check out was Ruthies at Ajax, I even watched on YouTube to prepare myself for this…

Originally I was planning to return to Snowmass or Highlands to finish the day. Realizing the blues at Ajax were manageable, I decided to stick around to ski the rest of the blues we did not cover during the tour.

I remembered Steven said he liked Copper more so than Spar Gulch because it was less crowded. I decided to check it out since we did not ski it during the tour. Of course, I only remembered 50% of what he said, I totally forgot Copper was one of the two trails that led you to base. As I skied down, I realized I already passed mid-mountain point, so I had to commit to go down to the base. That was fine because it was getting cold and I needed to add another layer anyway. It was a convenient time to go to the locker room.

Copper and Copper bowl were like gully. Gully was my most favorite type of terrain because I liked the sensation of being able to rock back and forth with my skis. This trail was long and bit steep, I stopped few times to catch my breath. While I was resting, I looked back up and realized this was a steep blue (other places may categorize it as black). Thinking back, if I were on this trial a year ago, surly I would be totally freaked out and had a panic attack. But now, I was enjoying it and wish it could be longer.

I’d say Copper and Copper bowl were my 2 favorites at Ajax. Because I liked these two so much, I decided to ski down this one on my last run.

After I got back to the top, I lapped few more blues off Ajax Express: silver bell, buckhorn, lazy boy, dipsy, Ruthies; and then it started to snow pretty hard. When I was on Silver Bell trail to head down to Ajax Express, I could not even see the chair lift. Even though I experienced this at WB and Val D’Isere, I became nervous this time because I was by myself. Fortunately, there were enough people that I could follow. Since I ski slow, often times, I was not able to follow the same group all the way. Usually, I follow one group, they disappeared, then I had to wait for another group to come along and follow…..

Remembered I said I wanted to ski down Copper and Copper Bowl as my last run? Now I was not sure if it was a good idea because visibility might be poor mid mountain. It was past 3:30 pm (lift closed at 4 pm). I asked this guy (seemed to be a local), and he suggested to do another run toward Ajax chair, to check visibility. If poor, took gondola to download; if good skied down Copper.

The weather was so finicky, it was snowing still but became sunny again. I took it as a green light that I could finish my day with Copper and Copper Bowl run. With the snow and minimum people on the mountain, I was able to ski on some fresh snow. It felt so nice, soft and “velvety”. This was like the best run with the best condition I’ve had this trip.

As I reached toward mid mountain on Copper, visibility became poor again. I got nervous because I was the only one on this trail, given the fact I’ve only been on this run one time before, I was unsure if I was on the right trail at all. Luckily, there was a woman came along. She skied quite slow, so I was able to follow her a good distance.

As we reached at an intersection, I saw her skied toward upper section of the terrain, where the trees were….. I wonder why? Then I saw few snowboarders came, they also went where she went. I started to have doubts, wonder if I should be heading there also. Anyway, I decided to stick with what I know and not to venture out toward some terrains that I’ve yet been to.

It felt like an eternity before I saw them again as they came downhill..…. interesting thing was, almost at every intersection that they could go toward the upper section of the terrain with trees, they would go there…. I was the only one in the bottom of the terrain. This made me uneasy, wonder why they would do that? Was it because visibility, you could see better with tree lines? But then it was not a total white out where I was…. I was able to see ok.

Anyway, I finally made to a point I knew I was on the right track. I could finally breath..… As much as I enjoyed Copper and Copper Bowl the first time, I did not enjoy so much this 2nd time around. Primarily because of the visibility, I was on survival mode and had a bit of anxiety attack.

So I finished the day with an adrenaline rush run. It was good, relieved to make it down safe and in one piece.

No photos to share today. Was having too much fun skiing and not wanting to waste time for photos.

 

[NewEnglandSkier]

Enjoying your trip report!

 

[alison wong]

Day 6 (March 16) - Last day, it was also the day I ditched my trial map.

Last day….. red eye flight went back to DC, so I got whole day to ski. Up until I got on the shuttle bus, I was vacillating between Snowmass and Highlands, unsure how to best split my last day.

I wanted to ski Snowmass at least part of the day because: I want to ski Rocky Mountain High and Green Cabin off High Alpine chair. (Upper Green Cabin is well known for its spectacular views)

After that, I was thinking of hitting Highlands since I only got to spend ½ day there.

I decided to do Rocky Mountain High first, I was supposed to ski from Village Express to Sheer Bliss then to the Cirque poma lift, I verified this route with the mountain ambassador. Of course with my sense of direction, I ended up at somewhere else, Big Burn chair. Luckily, from Big Burn chair, it could also get me to the Cirque. By the time I got there around 10:30am, there was a line.

I was a bit nervous about getting on this type of disc (?) lift because I had bad experience when I first learned to ski at Breckenridge.

Anyway, it turned out I used this type of disc lift at Val D’Isere. The service was better at Snowmass than Val D’Isere. Because a lift attendant was there to hand you the disc, versus at Val D’Isere you had to grab the disc yourself (it could be tricky if you never used it before).

Funny thing was, I saw conflicting info on the status of Rocky Mountain High. Big Burn chair had it as closed, whereas the village express had it as open and groomed.

When I was waiting in line at Cirque, I decided to ask the guy behind me just to be sure:

Me: Do you know if Rocky Mountain High is open?
Guy: I don’t know but I can ask someone who knows.
(He yelled the question to his grandfather, I think, who was standing 3 lines across)
Grandfather: Yes, it is open, why?
Guy: The lady in front wants to know….
Me: Because it’s the only trail I know how to get down.
(Cirque lift serves one blue and rest are double blacks)

The guy stood next in line had a chuckle. Why was it funny? I was just being honest here.

As I went up on the disc tow, I saw at least 4 people on the far right were digging and trying to find something. Wonder what they had lost?

The disc tow ride was smooth, no issues. At the top, there was a plague of John Denver.


I followed a group down the trail. Did not understand why it was rated as blue? It was relatively flat. Since it was still early, the trail had not been entirely tracked out. I was able to ski on fresh snow, which was wonderful and enjoyable, I had to say Rocky Mountain High would be my favorite run at Snowmass.

This run was too short and I decided to repeat again to get my powder fix. The line was longer 2nd time around. By the time I got back for the 2nd run, it was already a bit tracked out, not as fun as the first time. But I did dabble into spots further away from the main trail where there was some deep snow. I passed by the group and they were still digging. So I went to ask if they needed help. It turned out the woman had lost one of her skis in deep snow. Fortunately, they were with an instructor and the instructor had gone to get some help. Lesson learned: I guess I should not be dabble into places where the snow was too deep, I might fall and lost my skis….

Had enough with the Cirque lift line and Rocky Mountain High, off to my 2nd item on my agenda: Green cabin off High Alpine.

Green cabin was divided into 2 sections, upper and lower. Upper was not groomed, but I heard the view was spectacular and I decided to go for it.

The ungroomed upper Green cabin reminded me of Ballroom at Alta after powder day. The condition was “treacherous”, bumps all over and it was long… , some turns I even had to jump to switch directions. This was one of the times that I was glad I was on my own. Coz I could take my time to negotiate my turns. Yes, some of the negotiation process took quite long.

Despite the awful condition, I was proud that I made down without falling. I still had a lot to work on when it comes to skiing ungroomed trials. This run showed it…

I decided not to waste time to travel to Highlands. I could use the time to check out Creek side, since I haven’t been there yet. I enjoyed the Two Creek chair because I got to check out those empty mansions along the road. There are some stunning houses here, I wonder what they looked like inside? What kind of decor? How many days a year these mansions actually got occupied? I wish I could house sit one of these mansions in winter months… one can only dream….

I finished the day around 4 pm off Creek side.

I ditched my trail map today. Not because I had Snowmass trails memorized by heart, but because I still could not figure out how to read that damn map. I just gave up, I decided to rely on signage to get me from point A to B. I knew enough that most blues would end as blues, also Snowmass has very good signage, so I was willing to take a risk…

I skied 4 mountains in 6 days. I’d say I like the vibe at Highlands the most, Buttermilk is a confidence booster, Ajax is the place for me if I wanted something more challenging. Snowmass has the variety, it offers a bit of everything. Only problem with Snowmass, it can get pretty crowded.

Even though I started out feeling underwhelmed about Snowmass, I think this place started to grow on me. Let’s put it this way: I don’t mind returning to Aspen in the near future….

Few more photos from the top of Cirque poma lift:
These were skiers walking towards some double blacks....


Snowmass had a lean year this year. As you can see, coverage was still te thin given it was in mid March.

 

[NewEnglandSkier]

Glad they got the Cirque lift running--it was down for mechanical issues my whole trip so I didn't get to ski Rocky Mountain High this trip. I had hoped to ski it to take in the views.

 

[alison wong]

Glad they got the Cirque lift running--it was down for mechanical issues my whole trip so I didn't get to ski Rocky Mountain High this trip. I had hoped to ski it to take in the views.

Yea... Thanks for your TR.
I would not have known it until I read your TR. Of course, I then had to make it on my agenda to check the Cirque lift.

 

[marzNC]

Great trip report as always! Glad you went back to Snowmass to give it another chance. It's so huge that it's hard to get a sense of the terrain in just one day, even if not sticking to blue groomers. I have no doubt you are a solid intermediate at this point. The mileage you have gotten at destination resorts in the last few years is making a difference. Of course, the Taos Ski Week and lessons at Liberty are helping too.

J.B. took me to the trail Broadway (off Loge Peak chair) to visit this memorial site where 3 skiers died in an avalanche. Story was, they were here to discover the Highland Bowl, but triggered an avalanche and lost their lives. People can ski the Highland Bowl now because of them, hence the memorial site.

They weren't just skiers exploring. The three were ski patrollers doing avalanche control work in March 1984. The fact that the Highlands Bowl is still patrolled and open as in-bounds terrain is a testament to the dedication of the Highlands patrol.

https://www.aspensnowmassshrines.co...sler-Soddy-and-Snyder-Plaques-Aspen-Highlands

I gather that the entire bowl is manually boot packed during the early season. Highlands recruits volunteers. If a volunteers spends 15 days boot packing, that's worth a season pass. It's hard work though.

https://aspenpublicradio.org/post/d...eps-boot-packers-prepare-highland-bowl-skiing

Although signage is good at Snowmass, Ajax, and Buttermilk, I agree that all four trail maps are hard to read. Really surprised they never commissioned Jim Neihues to paint the mountains. Have all been owned by Aspen Ski Co. for a while.

 

[alison wong]

@marzNC : Ah OK. Thanks for the clarification about the Highland ski patrollers. Next time I go back to Highlands, I will ask tour ambassador about Highland volunteers and boot packing, I am now curious about this.

I don't know if 15 days is a lot? Because for the tour ambassadors, they need to work once a week for an entire season to be eligible for a free season pass. Between the two, I don't know which one is "harder work"?

Good to know about the 4 trail maps are hard to read... I really think I was "directionally challenged", now I don't feel so bad.

Last but not least, thanks for your help & guidance virtually during my week in Aspen. I don't think the trip would have gone so smoothly without your input and advice. Much appreciated, as always...

Next time I go back, I will be ready for the Long Shot. I really wanted to ski it but did not have the guts to do so this time around.

 

[marzNC]

@marzNC : Ah OK. Thanks for the clarification about the Highland ski patrollers. Next time I go back to Highlands, I will ask tour ambassador about Highland volunteers and boot packing, I am now curious about this.

I don't know if 15 days is a lot? Because for the tour ambassadors, they need to work once a week for an entire season to be eligible for a free season pass. Between the two, I don't know which one is "harder work"?

From what I read, boot packing it a LOT of hard physical work. First of all, half to hike the ridge. Then stepping down the slope in deep snow up to hips one step at a time. The volunteers boot pack together in a supervised line. Start in the morning and keep going all day. So only people in very good shape can even consider doing the five days needed to get discounted lift tickets.

I did manual snow packing with skis on at North Country School as a teen. Essentially side-stepping up and down slopes that still had brush sticking up. Even that is definitely work. The students at NCS still do it. But only for an hour or so at a time.

 

[badger]

Wow. @alison wong , your series of daily reports has been not only engaging, but tremendously informative. I've never skied that part of Colorado. Your experience has piqued my interest in visiting this group of mountains.

Reading your words is almost like being there.

 

[Albertan ski girl]

As usual - great trip report

 

[marzNC]

If staying in Basalt (12 miles from Aspen), Carbondale (~30 miles), or even Glenwood Springs (~40 miles), I’d say it might be more convenient to get a rental.

In my case, I flew into Denver and took Colorado Mountain Express (CME). Picked up a rental car in Aspen Airport (*last day of my stay), because I did not want to deal with the driving on I-70W at night.

*I had a red eye flight returning home. Shuttle bus (CME, Bustang, Greyhound) last departure out of Aspen, Glenwood Spring is 3:30 pm. I decided to get a one-way rental, from Aspen to DIA. That way, I could ski until the last chair at 4 pm and then driving back to DIA.

One-way rental was quite inexpensive, $60 one day, even though I reserved a compact, I got AWD SUV at Aspen airport.

Very good to know about the logistics of staying in Basalt without a car. Never occurred to me that a one-way rental back to Denver would be so inexpensive.

2) If you stay outside of Aspen/Snowmass, and decide to get rental, parking in Buttermilk is free. Other 3 mountains cost $$ (I am pretty sure) for parking.

3) For free parking, you can park the car at Bush Creek Intercept Lot. Then take free buses to any of the 4 mountains. Bush Creek Intercept Lot is where all buses stop, like a “Grand Central”.

The two trips I've taken to Aspen/Snowmass so far were based on staying in Carbondale and driving a car for ski days. Buttermilk parking is free. It's an alternative place to park when skiing Highlands for the day. The small van-bus that goes to Highlands goes about every 15 min during the mornings and late afternoon. Only runs every 30 min mid-day so best to find out the schedule beforehand.

Parking in the deck at Snowmass is very pricey, as is the deck at Highlands. Even if willing to pay, it's better to arrive pretty early, meaning at least 30 min before lifts open. However, for cars with 4+ people parking is free at Highlands and the Two Creeks lot at Snowmass. At least, that was true in 2016.

Street parking in the town of Aspen exists near the base of Lift 1A. It's based on a payment system by phone or website. If already have a lift ticket (or MCP pass), can park near the lift in the morning and use the car for storage. At least until that lift is replaced. Discussions have been going on for several years. After finishing up skiing, possible to move the car to a different block in the same zone that is closer to restaurants and shops. Although the walk really isn't a big deal.

 

[marzNC]

I decided to take a break and headed to Aspen to check out the town. I walked around the Aspen town a bit. To me, this was quite an ordinary town, nothing special or quaint, without much character and history. Again, perhaps I am missing something here?

I did go inside the Little Nell hotel, it was quite posh and “modern”. I heard it is very pricey.

What ski towns have you been to before in the Rockies? There is certainly history in Aspen, but it's not like towns in New England or the South. The towns of Colorado were settled relatively recently in comparison to places east of the Mississippi River. The ski towns are mostly old mining towns (Crested Butte, Telluride, Silverton) that have re-invented themselves as tourist destinations for winter and summer vacations. Not sure the Red Onion bar & grill would be particularly impressive just walking by.

Before I left Aspen town, I checked out the locker and storage room (next to the shop called Gorsuch), so I knew where to boot up the following day. I also took the gondola up to check out the views. Based on what I saw from the gondola, the trials at Ajax were indeed quite steep, more so than Highlands.

Good to know there is a locker room for day trippers.

Guess who I ran into at the top of the sun deck lodge at Ajax? Mr. M&Ms. He told me he did Highland bowls twice yesterday, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, the afternoon one was much better. Now that’s a real hard core! Today he was skiing at Ajax and he said the snow condition was actually better at Highlands (than Ajax).

It's great how you make friends with folks on the free mountain tours.

The Highland hosts Bill and I talked to said that there is a day (Wed?) that people who want to ski Highlands Bowl with someone knowledgeable can hike up with a host. While locals can do the hike in 20 min, most travelers seem to take 45-60 minutes. The range I heard from an instructor is from 30-90 minutes for kids. She was about to take up two tween girls who were doing full-day private lessons.

 

[vickie]

@alison wong - I value your trip reports ... your blunt honesty about conditions and the things you experience, and the little side stories such as the lost ski.

I plan to go to Aspen next season and will definitely review this TR as I plan that trip.

I've posted before that I used to have a scout for ski trails and I miss that now. I think I've found a new one!

 

[alison wong]

Your experience has piqued my interest in visiting this group of mountains.

Definitely worth considering. I did not mention in my TR the primary reason why I chose Aspen/Snowmass this year. I planned this trip last Nov., at that time, I heard rumor that Aspen/Snowmass might not be on MCP anymore. So I decided to visit there while it was still on the MCP. Another reason was, I wanted to visit a place I have not been yet...
With 4 mountains available to choose from, the most difficult task in my last two days was, which mountains should I visit this day? Because there was something unique about each place that I enjoyed. Not to mention Sunlight Mtn., it is a special place with good local vibe, worth a detour.

Never occurred to me that a one-way rental back to Denver would be so inexpensive.

Caveat: I checked rental car one way price couple days after I arrived to Aspen, one-way 1 day rental was $100. At that time, I was pretty sure I'd go for it because the price was the same as CME shuttle (shuttle one way was $102). Rental would be a sensible choice considering I'd only have half day skiing if I took the shuttle, vs. rental car I 'd be able to ski the full day.

To my pleasant surprise, when I checked again 2 days before my departure date, the rental car price dropped to $60. I selected Compact car but they gave me a AWD SUV.

What ski towns have you been to before in the Rockies?

I have visited Val D'Isere and Banff, both of which I preferred over Aspen. I heard my friend said Aspen is quaint and very European, but I did not feel anything quaint or European about Aspen. Perhaps I did not go at the right time (visited there late morning), or did not visit the "right" streets?

Good to know there is a locker room for day trippers.

Yes, there is. It closes at 6 pm and forgot what time it opens in the morning (around 8 am?)

For Snowmass, there is a 24-hour storage / locker room for public to access. Right above the bus terminal at the base village. Y'all know about it, right?

This place is useful to know if:
1) You are not staying in Snowmass village, but you are doing first track in the morning (8 am) and need to boot up and store your bag. This is the place to go.

There is a storage / locker place by the ticketing office (Snowmass Mall), where guest service locates, this place opens at 8:15 am, which is after First Track starts. Not useful for 1st trackers...

there is a day (Wed?) that people who want to ski Highlands Bowl with someone knowledgeable can hike up with a host

Yes, you are correct. Sorry I forgot to mention in my TR. Thanks for the reminder. Here is the deal:
According to J.B. (Highlands ambassador), the free Highland bowl tour is every Wednesday 10:30 am, mtg at the Guest Service Cabin near the Merry Go Around restaurant. Off the Exhibition Chair). If I recalled correctly, you'd need to register in advance, I think there is a quota on max # people can join. You'd be going with the ski patrollers. Besides signing up, there is an "interview"/"assessment" before they actually take you up there. Basically, they just want to find out your skill level, that you are capable of skiing the bowls. This "interview"/"assessment" is conducted by ski patroller.

Per AspenSnowmass website: "** Highlands Bowl Tours require signing up beforehand, therefore tours depart at 11:45am."

Side note, from the people I talked to at Snowmass, one guy said if you can ski AMF (double black at Snowmass), you'd be ok handling the Highland Bowl.

I think I've found a new one!

Congrats.
I found a "virtual" scout, who knows my skiing ability (or the lack of.... ). With the combination of mountain tour(s) (if available), I am pretty well covered for now. Of course, my end goal is, be scout-free someday, that's when I can ski any place, any terrain worry free, with confidence, ease and in control...

One thing I forgot to mention in Thread #1:

If anyone wants to ski with the "locals" in Snowmass, there are 2 groups:
1) Over the hill gang (>50 yrs old), meets every Tuesday morning. Ruth is the person in-charge.
For exact meeting time and location, please find out from the Guest / info. service (ticketing office) at Snowmass Mall.

I spoke to Ruth, my understanding is, this group skis quite fast. It won't be for you if you are slow.

2) Seniors group (>70 yrs. old), meets every Thursday morning, Jack is the in charge person.
Again, check with Guest/info. service (ticketing office) at Snowmass Mall for the meeting place and time.

I don't know how fast this group skis since I did not speak to Jack.

My understanding is, even though there is an age tied to these 2 groups, people of any age are welcome to join. So you don't have to be >50 or >70....

The Guest/info service desk only posts the info. on the day of, not prior. i.e. They have a sign up every Tuesday for skiing with over-the-hill gang, another sign up every Thursday for skiing with the seniors.

If you need to make inquires about either groups in advance there is a binder that the staff on duty can look up the info. for you.