Skiing in Aspen, Colorado

I spent a weekend in February skiing with a couple of buddies, one of which has a place in Aspen, Colorado.  It was my first trip to that part of Colorado, which was really cool.  Technically, we were in Snowmass, Colorado, and skied the Snowmass resort.

All 3 of us skied a half day, on day 1.  Here we are riding the gondola up.

The conditions were so-so.  Visibility was somewhat poor, with a heavy storm blowing in over night.  The slopes were packed powder and decent.

Cole is a pretty avid snow- and wake boarder.  Here he is, grabbing some air!

It's too bad Kim couldn't make it on this trip, as she would have loved our cozy lodgings :-)

I found this advertisement sadly amusing.  Aspen/Snowmass's "Commitment to the Environment" brags about its 2.3 KW solar array for the resort.  Sorry, that's just a joke.  The array Kim and I have on our roof is 6.7 KW (which is a decent sized residential array, but isn't even on the scale for industrial arrays).  I have to hope that this is somehow a typo.  Otherwise, they're totally pulling the wool over people's eyes in a pretty shameless marketing ploy.

Okay, off my soapbox and back onto the snow.  It was a bit chilly, so I wrapped up tight.

Powder!  We got 8" and 10" of new snow on Saturday and Sunday, and it snowed off and on through both days.  Gorgeous powder, especially in the trees and through the glades.

I took a break skiing through the glades to have a snack and shoot a few pictures.

Saturday night brought a dump of new snow, as you can see this guy digging his truck out.

There were parts of the day when the clouds cleared and the sun came out, bringing a bit of warmth and better visibility.

Unfortunately, my host, Cole, was laid up in bed with the flu, so I skied of Saturday and Sunday by myself.

The absolute highlight of the Snowmass mountain for me was the trail called Long Shot.  Read the "greeting" to this trail...

So Long Shot is a 3.5 mile trail in the most remote corner of the resort.  From the top of the lift, you have to hike up a few hundred feet carrying your skis.  As a reward, you get to ski down one of the most incredible glades in all of Colorado.  Snow covered trees, knee deep powder.  Even some unique wildlife.  This trail had it all.

Frosted trees.

Almost to the top...

Okay, well, there's actually quite a bit further to go...

About halfway down, I spotted this curious little guy!  I spent at least 15 minutes watching him watch me.

Kim thought it was the cutest animal, ever :-)

She did a little research when I showed her the pictures and determined that it's a long tailed snow weasel.  Cool!

It scurried back and forth, always keeping a close eye on me.

The snow was actually pretty deep, and it sort of flopped through the snow, rather than on top of it.

Anyway, I thought it was pretty awesome.

The trip back to Austin wasn't exactly ideal.  I was flying out of Aspen, through Denver during the Superbowl.  Chicago was all messed up from the wretched weather they had been having, which cause a cascade of delays and cancellations that resulted in me spending the night in Denver.  (I swear, I'm hating this United/Continental deal more and more...)

I do enjoy traveling, but I really don't like getting stranded in an airport over night :-(  This has happened 3 times in the last 9 months, and that's way too much.

Anyway, I can't wait to get back to the snow!

:-Dustin