TR:Colorado--Sunlight Mountain and Snomass, 3-17,18

[davidski]

After two great days in and outside of Loveland a storm was forecast to hit w/ 18 in. mostly west of the front range.



So thurs morning (march 17) I decided I would step out and head to Aspen. I didn't make a dawn start and the drive is long enough that I decided to do a half day at Sunlight Mountain, then drive on to Aspen that evening



Sunlight mountain is a noncommercial dirt parking lot local mountain just south of glenwood springs -- they do packages in conjunction with the actual hot spring and resort there, would be a pretty amazing apres experience, one big *** hot tub





the mountain is 2010' vert three fixed lifts , staggered so that the top requires two rides, easy seperation of skill levels and the advanced lift keeps the bull wheel spinning at max speed











Beautiful variety of aspen and spruce glades, and serious steeps which conditions precluded for me -- most were closed and what was open was so tightly tracked and bullet proof I had no desire to attempt it -- on a powder day, or just decent soft coverage, you could spend a couple of days. Biggest feeling small mountain I have ever been on



Don't let the rad base and all the hardcore vibe scare you off---

















Coming up the lift and looking left -- that was where I ended up as conditions were marginally softer on that side









Glades, very nice as things softened a little

















Oh look -- a magic hut, there are at least 5 scattered on this "small" hill













at 3 o'clock the snow finally moved in -- these pictures look across to part of the opposite side where I barely skiied, it gives a feeling of the relative size of the place















So that's sunlight I would love to return, and did I mention lift tickets are 50 bucks? ($40,1/2 day)







So that was cool and I drove on to Aspen through more hungry looking law enforcement then I've ever seen in a 30 mile stretch



In Aspen (what a lovely quaint little town) I was staying at the St. Moritz Lodge and "hostel"







With tax it was $59/night for a shared room -- (about that, I'm cool w/ sharing a bunk style room with a few strangers, sharing a small room with one stranger seems a little wierd) -- anyway it didn't matter as I had it to myself for two nights -- sweet deal for Aspen







Some good folks there and after inquiries I got a $75 ticket to snowmass. And I closed my St Paddy's day at a bar w/ $3 drafts and a sliding scale on Jim Beam -- sliding scale on closing time too



SNOWMASS has always been a want to for me. After taking the free bus out of aspen, I had no idea what to expect except scale and expense













But by 9:30 I was in and out of the trees under the runs on Big Burn. ( Snowmass ended up w/ only 9" out of that storm but that was still about the most in the state, sunlight got 10, Aspen/Ajax only 3)

















I met some grizzled old guys there who were waiting for the high poma to open but each time we'd stop and line up w/ 50 or so others, the opening kept pushing back,so we kept making runs







Avy control went on booming, and the groomers had been moved up to move wind loaded snow out of the poma track, at about 10:45, our group of four checked again -- everyone had given up and we stepped up first in line -- well patrol still went ahead











First set of tracks on the cirque that morning were sweet -- notice the knarly old bump skiers' tracks -- they approach everything like a mogul field, still I love their tight form







and lower (my tracks tend left, toward the trees)







Great guys, way better skiers then me, but they were heading toward a long lunch and I wanted to hit more stuff beyond the cirque --











then so many LONG steep tree runs underneath there -- snowmass is amazing so glad I got to ski a small portion of it







That night there was a free concert in downtown aspen and the next morning it was on towards Leadville and Ski Cooper

[davidski]

I made runs in the Hanging valley are -- a huge tree run in there that had untracked stretches till the end of the day, I think it was Frog Pond Glades and Wierd Woods but I was pretty lost



I also saw a wipeout either on the Hanging Valley head wall or Roberto's that started out funny-- second turn the guy ate it and everything just scattered, but then almost in slow motion he started rolling and then it just went on and on gaining inertia, sickening slow motion tumble, probably rolled 20 -30 seconds, don't know the out come



I was told I should close the day down longshot but ended up finishing in Powerline and Sneaky glades



I barely scratched the surface -- what a mountain

[KneeDeep]

Snowmass is such a fun mountain- it's steeper than people realize, and the runs are LONG. You can easily get 2-3k vert in a single shot.



It's also nice because it doesn't take much convincing to get my wife to ski there, as it's her favorite mountain of any we've been to. I've always said that if I could live in one town for the skiing alone, it would be Aspen. Snowmass + Highlands = WIN.

[davidski]

KD -- consider Sunlight on your way as well for a day with good conditions their really is something for all -- It's a big mountain that just got left in the drier a little too long

[dreamnofpow]

Nice TR. Good to see some smaller ski areas getting some love.

[pagamony]

Nice terrain and all, but check out that single pole lift! If its Riblet it must be good. I guess I need to ski that side of rado.



@davidski 244078 wrote:

[LakesideChutes]

Schweitzer, ID has a few Riblet Lifts - as you said, good terrain usually comes with a Riblet lift.

[marzski]

Thanks for this TR and the others. I like the shots of the hostels too. One of these days I'll go explore Colorado.