Sean leaves his mark, with a slight brown tinge. Down low the dust is everywhere and soon it will be up here as well. Bummer. Just when we thought we finished a season without a dust layer, it arrived. Actually, we never really acknowledged the lack of dust. And how soon we forget. With somewhere north of six dust events around Aspen last season(it was pretty bad, read here), we...
The signs were pointing to an exceptionally busy Saturday at Highlands. So we decided to hit one of our favorite lines on Highlands Ridge and made it a “one and done” day.
A moderate pace up the moderate slope, as an avalanche instructor/forecaster, Josh knows better than to assume the moderate rating is as safe as it sounds. If you haven’t checked the CAIC website as of late, the current avalanche danger rating for the Aspen zone is moderate on all aspects and elevations. With five ratings on the avalanche danger scale– low, moderate, considerable, high and extreme– moderate is just a...
After climbing the couloir from Como Lake, Christy starts along the ridge towards the base of the couloir. Route: Southwest Face/Hourglass Couloir Team: Ted, Christy After a huge drive from Aspen to Alamosa the long way (without Indy Pass), we opted to crash in a hotel. The next day was going to be long, so some better rest than we’d likely get in the back of the truck would be...
Always preferring to check conditions firsthand, AHSP’s Powder Weasel– seen above in the Northwoods– determined things were pretty good. If I were him, I might have deemed a second run through as necessary to fully assess things before opening it to the public. Because I found myself with so many deep powder pics I decided that a third post from our huge storm was warranted– if it pushes my coverage...
A close up of the Aspen area form the summit. Not only are Pyramid and the Bells looking large, but Aspen Highlands can be seen in a unique perspective. Route: North Ridge Team: Ted, Christy, Dirk Bockelmann Trying to keep the momentum going, we headed down to Holy Cross. The three of us headed up the road on snowmobile, all the way to the Halfmoon Pass summer trailhead. Earlier we...
Tim blasts through a stacked “Stop Sign” on Sunday. It seemed the snow was refilling old tracks wherever we went. If you weren’t around this past weekend you missed out on a special offering at Highlands– free refills from Saturday to Tuesday– and not the type that come from the soda fountain at the Merry Go Round. Through the entire extended weekend it seemed like every lap in Highland Bowl...
Amy Beidleman agreed it was likely more than 3-5, but couldn’t get an official number as her ruler didn’t have a measurement that went all the way to ‘waist deep’. Click pics to enlarge. I’ve seen it before, during extended dry periods of past winters, people can become a little jaded and skeptical of storm predictions. Whether the forecasts are incorrect or simply not calling for any big dumps, after...
Adam Dennis drops into the “facet farm.” On the plus side– facets are pretty good for getting powder photos. On the plus side, everything we encountered on our lap off of Highlands Ridge was better than we expected. Of course in full disclosure we had all set the bar pretty low. Deeming it an important product research/ snow conditions survey, Dirk checked out of the Aspen Expeditions office on an...
Another awesome night at “Airport.” Glow in the dark discs, and a satellite or two light it up. Click to enlarge. The hump of the ski season upon us and spring is coming. Punxsutawny Phil thinks otherwise, after seeing his shadow he declared there to be six more weeks of winter– but apparently Staten Island Chuck (who? read here) says Phil’s got it all wrong. After Christy and I opted...
We met in Aspen in 2000 and have been happily stuck in the rockies ever since, getting out in the mountains every day we can, in every season and by all means possible. Read More
