We were finally settled in at Snowmass for awhile after 4 days on the road. We were tired and didn't get out real early. Nonetheless we saw our first significant lift maze at the base of Snowmass. It's one of the 2 key lifts out of the base serving nearly all of Snowmass' lodging, so it's a high speed 6-pack and the line was not over 5 minutes. We took a warmup on Sam's Knob, then headed for the Burn. This was the acid test for holiday crowds: 11AM on a sunny Jan. 2 on the signature intermediate terrain of Aspen/Snowmass. There were lots of skiers on the hill, but no more than 10 people waiting for the lift.
Liz wanted her picture by this sign, which some people say reflect a key demographic among Snowmass clientele.
This was an ominous run for LIz because her feet were hurting again. This was more understandable yesterday on Steeplechase, but here it showed her ~2004 vintage boots were nearing the end of the line.
After a couple of Burn runs we took the Cirque poma.
Up here above tree line it was windswept with lots of rocks. This is in marked contrast to the good snow cover down below and explains why A-Basin and Loveland with above average snowfall but so much terrain above tree line are still only half open. Patrol has maintained two ~10 foot wide strips of snow, one leading to the Cirque entry and a much longer one to the top of Hanging Valley.
Here's the only open entry to the Cirque.
There were many other variations available when I was last in this area in March 2004.
Once in I traversed a bit and was pleasantly surprised to find the short but nearly undisturbed powder stash.
The runout from Cirque is very long through a maze of trees and gullies. Liz and I got separated and regrouped at the base of the Sheer Bliss lift. We cruised down to Alpine Springs, then up to Gwyn's for lunch and a boot break for Liz.
After lunch we rode High Alpine and hike up to Hanging Valley.
Everything up there has blind entries so we followed the obvious tracks into Roberto's Chute.
Liz took a while to get down this.
From below I took this pic of a skier on Headwall, which is not as steep as Roberto's but is peppered with rocks at the top now.
Headwall is a quite wide open straightforward run by February/March.
The trees and open faces like Wall One and Wall Two lower down in Hanging Valley were great skiing with some soft snow. I did not stop for pics as it was getting late and we barely made it to Elk Camp for one run before it closed at 3:30.
When we got back to the hotel we started checking out bootfitters. Liz had previously had work done at the Harald Harb Center near Loveland. One bootfitter the marketing director Jeff Hanle had recommended was Jim Lindsay of Bootech at Aspen Highlands. Online research showed Jim had a reputation servicing racers and "problem feet" for over 20 years, so Liz made an appointment for the next afternoon.
Liz wanted her picture by this sign, which some people say reflect a key demographic among Snowmass clientele.
This was an ominous run for LIz because her feet were hurting again. This was more understandable yesterday on Steeplechase, but here it showed her ~2004 vintage boots were nearing the end of the line.
After a couple of Burn runs we took the Cirque poma.
Up here above tree line it was windswept with lots of rocks. This is in marked contrast to the good snow cover down below and explains why A-Basin and Loveland with above average snowfall but so much terrain above tree line are still only half open. Patrol has maintained two ~10 foot wide strips of snow, one leading to the Cirque entry and a much longer one to the top of Hanging Valley.
Here's the only open entry to the Cirque.
There were many other variations available when I was last in this area in March 2004.
Once in I traversed a bit and was pleasantly surprised to find the short but nearly undisturbed powder stash.
The runout from Cirque is very long through a maze of trees and gullies. Liz and I got separated and regrouped at the base of the Sheer Bliss lift. We cruised down to Alpine Springs, then up to Gwyn's for lunch and a boot break for Liz.
After lunch we rode High Alpine and hike up to Hanging Valley.
Everything up there has blind entries so we followed the obvious tracks into Roberto's Chute.
Liz took a while to get down this.
From below I took this pic of a skier on Headwall, which is not as steep as Roberto's but is peppered with rocks at the top now.
Headwall is a quite wide open straightforward run by February/March.
The trees and open faces like Wall One and Wall Two lower down in Hanging Valley were great skiing with some soft snow. I did not stop for pics as it was getting late and we barely made it to Elk Camp for one run before it closed at 3:30.
When we got back to the hotel we started checking out bootfitters. Liz had previously had work done at the Harald Harb Center near Loveland. One bootfitter the marketing director Jeff Hanle had recommended was Jim Lindsay of Bootech at Aspen Highlands. Online research showed Jim had a reputation servicing racers and "problem feet" for over 20 years, so Liz made an appointment for the next afternoon.