THE Aspen/Snowmass / Greater Roaring Fork Valley 23-24 Thread

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Originally Posted by grskier

Hero's was good, hallow but good on Friday. It'll be a great addition and will change most people's flow on a pow day.

The rest of the weekend was... FAST.

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You guys think Heros will generally increase traffic to the Walshes and surrounding areas with more people hitting that side ? (one of my fave spots as a clueless touron in the past)

Also, coming out with the family on Friday ,looks like rip some groomers and get some core shots with you fine folk. Staying in the land of Shredhead at snowmass without a car most likely ,first time not in downtown Aspen so somewhat clueless.

The 6 year old is scheduled for lessons most of the time at snowmass ,still trying to figure out logistically the best way to handle things when we want to ski the other mountains, especially seeking how terrain at snowmass seems the most limited at the moment. Was hoping to get the boy into some of the hike to terrain but that seems like a longshot ( pun intended) at this point . I know there are no kids lessons at Ajax so we will probably ski with her and take turns hitting the fun stuff with the 10 yo boy. I saw that Highlands lessons are blue level and above only. Not sure if she would do that yet or not, at Jackson and Vermont she had no problems at all on easier blue runs and is a pretty strong skiier for a 6yo flatlander, but I guess we will give it a few days and see. Other option would be to change a lesson to buttermilk and take the resort shuttle over to Highlands? Is that feasible? Any ski school veterans have any advice here?

Also any can't miss Christmas stuff to check out? We will be there until the 28th as of now

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Originally Posted by Duffman

You guys think Heros will generally increase traffic to the Walshes and surrounding areas with more people hitting that side ? (one of my fave spots as a clueless touron in the past)

Also, coming out with the family on Friday ,looks like rip some groomers and get some core shots with you fine folk. Staying in the land of Shredhead at snowmass without a car most likely ,first time not in downtown Aspen so somewhat clueless.

The 6 year old is scheduled for lessons most of the time at snowmass ,still trying to figure out logistically the best way to handle things when we want to ski the other mountains, especially seeking how terrain at snowmass seems the most limited at the moment. Was hoping to get the boy into some of the hike to terrain but that seems like a longshot ( pun intended) at this point . I know there are no kids lessons at Ajax so we will probably ski with her and take turns hitting the fun stuff with the 10 yo boy. I saw that Highlands lessons are blue level and above only. Not sure if she would do that yet or not, at Jackson and Vermont she had no problems at all on easier blue runs and is a pretty strong skiier for a 6yo flatlander, but I guess we will give it a few days and see. Other option would be to change a lesson to buttermilk and take the resort shuttle over to Highlands? Is that feasible? Any ski school veterans have any advice here?

Also any can't miss Christmas stuff to check out? We will be there until the 28th as of now

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Snowmass is 40% open, which is more acreage than many other ski areas.... That said, Aspen skis the best on thinner coverage. We had good success at dropping off at Buttermilk and grabbing the shuttle, it's running every 30 minutes.

If they are a relatively solid blue skier (level 4-6) Highlands can work too, just know that the bottom pitch there is busy with people flying by.

Also, you can drop off at the tree house and go downstairs and grab the bus to Aspen pretty easy and get a few laps in, a lunch, then a few more and get back for pickup.

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Originally Posted by grskier

Snowmass is 40% open, which is more acreage than many other ski areas.... That said, Aspen skis the best on thinner coverage. We had good success at dropping off at Buttermilk and grabbing the shuttle, it's running every 30 minutes.

If they are a relatively solid blue skier (level 4-6) Highlands can work too, just know that the bottom pitch there is busy with people flying by.

Also, you can drop off at the tree house and go downstairs and grab the bus to Aspen pretty easy and get a few laps in, a lunch, then a few more and get back for pickup.

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Yeah, Aspen in general is in better shape than most anywhere outside of Utah, expectations were low in general for us, but it will be far better than the 3in of rain NE is picking up now. Ive avoided Christmas trips like the plague before, but gambled last year and hit the jackpot at Jackson so figured we would try again (our kids vacation times suck for the most part)

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated!



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Agreed on giving Buttermilk or Highlands a try for lessons. Buttermilk is super easy to be a central point to access Highlands or Ajax from. Highlands is one more step to go/come from, but doable enough and I agree with GR that the terrain offerings there for a blue-level skier are pretty decent.

Your 6 year old will ski better terrain at Highlands than at Buttermilk. They rarely take 6 year olds on Tiehack. My experience is that the instructor will be better as well.

Level 4 - Buttermilk
Level 5 - either
Level 6 - Highlands

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Originally Posted by Duffman

You guys think Heros will generally increase traffic to the Walshes and surrounding areas with more people hitting that side ?

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Yup , Already has.
Was up there today and Walsh’s was about as firm and bumped up as it ever gets and the soft stashes that used to be found for days and weeks were long gone.
I’ll reserve judgement till we get more snow, more of it can be opened, and i can go poke around a bit but so far I reckon it’s kind of meh….

We need snow….


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Pandora’s box, is the name.

Do people regularly tour Government in the winter? I assume so since it's part of the PO4 now... I've got a buddy from out of town who really wants to do it from Snowmass and I'm hoping there's a skin track.

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Originally Posted by JaytaeMoney

Do people regularly tour Government in the winter? I assume so since it's part of the PO4 now... I've got a buddy from out of town who really wants to do it from Snowmass and I'm hoping there's a skin track.

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Yes, it's better on XC skis but I'm sure people do it on AT stuff to train or for coming back from the Sugar Bowls. But for just a fun tour between Snowmass and Buttermilk there are better options than following the Government Trail alignment.

Ya only reason he wants to do it is because he's training for PO4. It's part of the route and he wants to do it once before the race. Thx for the info.

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Originally Posted by gretch6364

We need snow….


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Yes, but we're still managing to be better off than most places in the lower 48 right now.

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Originally Posted by JaytaeMoney

Ya only reason he wants to do it is because he's training for PO4. It's part of the route and he wants to do it once before the race. Thx for the info.

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It was only part of the route last year due to weather. The normal route is across the ridge from Burnt Mountain to West Buttermilk.

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Originally Posted by gretch6364

We need snow….


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Sam at OpenSnow sez:

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Two storms will merge to the west of Colorado and bring us the goods from the second half of Saturday through Monday. I'll be watching for our first flakes on Saturday afternoon, followed by off-and-on heavy snow on Saturday night and into Sunday as much colder air filters in and winds from the northwest begin to work their magic.

In total, I'm going to go with 4-8 inches from Saturday through Monday, with upside potential thanks to the storm strengthening as it pushes east of Colorado.

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Snowmass skied good this morning!

Duff:
The benefit of staying slope side, is it easy to get out early. VX and Sam’s open 8:30. Get the grooming report and hit a couple of laps on Sam’s Knob, a couple on the Burn and then hit Alpine Springs/High Alpine.
Head back to Sam’s for an early lunch.
Save some energy and go to town a couple of nights.

Snowmass will get busy on the 26th.
That’s when you should go to Aspen or Highlands. Highlands direct bus is 9&10 daily.

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Originally Posted by Shredhead

Snowmass skied good this morning!

Duff:
The benefit of staying slope side, is it easy to get out early. VX and Sam’s open 8:30. Get the grooming report and hit a couple of laps on Sam’s Knob, a couple on the Burn and then hit Alpine Springs/High Alpine.
Head back to Sam’s for an early lunch.
Save some energy and go to town a couple of nights.

Snowmass will get busy on the 26th.
That’s when you should go to Aspen or Highlands. Highlands direct bus is 9&10 daily.

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Thanks for the beta. Is there a direct bus back from Highlands or do you need to switch ? Coordinating times with the 6 year old in lessons a most likely at Snowmass unless she progresses enough for Highlands is the main challenge i see here.

Also was really hoping that the Burnt Mountain / Longshot area would be open as the 10 year old wants to do some hiking and I thought that would be a decent test before thinking about the Bowl, but it doesn't look like that's in the cards. My wife is (probably correctly ) concerned that w early season conditions if the grom struggles on the Bowl hike and ran out of gas, he'd have no choice but to go all the way up to the G zones to safely ski it, which could be tough for him . That's even before accounting for the current high pressure effects.

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Originally Posted by Duffman

Thanks for the beta. Is there a direct bus back from Highlands or do you need to switch ? Coordinating times with the 6 year old in lessons a most likely at Snowmass unless she progresses enough for Highlands is the main challenge i see here.

Also was really hoping that the Burnt Mountain / Longshot area would be open as the 10 year old wants to do some hiking and I thought that would be a decent test before thinking about the Bowl, but it doesn't look like that's in the cards. My wife is (probably correctly ) concerned that w early season conditions if the grom struggles on the Bowl hike and ran out of gas, he'd have no choice but to go all the way up to the G zones to safely ski it, which could be tough for him . That's even before accounting for the current high pressure effects.

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Long shot is a few minute hike up a cat track. The bowl is 45min-1hr for most kids. Quite different. That said, most advanced kids around here can hike and ski it around age 8.

I wouldn't worry about the hike as much as your kid's ability to safely ski steep, variable, chalky terrain. You'll have a good idea of how he'll handle the hike by how the first 10-15 minutes goes and it's easy to back out at that point.

Also, don’t let a good time skiing get in the way of an ideal trip.. particularly this year.

I’d concur with Funken on that take of the bowl hike.


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Originally Posted by funkendrenchman

Long shot is a few minute hike up a cat track. The bowl is 45min-1hr for most kids. Quite different. That said, most advanced kids around here can hike and ski it around age 8.

I wouldn't worry about the hike as much as your kid's ability to safely ski steep, variable, chalky terrain. You'll have a good idea of how he'll handle the hike by how the first 10-15 minutes goes and it's easy to back out at that point.

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Gotcha. He's skied similar and steeper / more consequential terrain last year without issues at altabird and Jackson, I'm more concerned with his being unable to do the hike and then getting stuck somewhere in the middle. The few times I've done it I never saw anyone down climbing so I didn't know if that's a feasible option . I figured where it gets narrower further up that would be rough .

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Originally Posted by Duffman

Gotcha. He's skied similar and steeper / more consequential terrain last year without issues at altabird and Jackson, I'm more concerned with his being unable to do the hike and then getting stuck somewhere in the middle. The few times I've done it I never saw anyone down climbing so I didn't know if that's a feasible option . I figured where it gets narrower further up that would be rough .

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I appreciate that you are being cautious. I would say monitor the wind. My son did it a couple times as a 7yo, including all the way to ski the Gs. Even beat some of the flat landers to the top that were doing it.

That said, we did it once on a windy day and it can be pretty scary for kids as the gust can feel like it is going to blow them off the edge. Ended up a couple kids in the group (ski school class) got knocked to their knees and hunkered down for a couple minutes. Ended up dropping in before the top.

I say if this storm produces some snow and it is semi calm…go for it.


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1”

I’ll be out for a minute today with the boys. Holiday break has begun


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Originally Posted by gretch6364

I appreciate that you are being cautious. I would say monitor the wind. My son did it a couple times as a 7yo, including all the way to ski the Gs. Even beat some of the flat landers to the top that were doing it.

That said, we did it once on a windy day and it can be pretty scary for kids as the gust can feel like it is going to blow them off the edge. Ended up a couple kids in the group (ski school class) got knocked to their knees and hunkered down for a couple minutes. Ended up dropping in before the top.

I say if this storm produces some snow and it is semi calm…go for it.


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This seems like a very reasonable plan. Agree that the wind ,even if not crazy, can just make the whole thing way more intimidating and less fun ,i.imagine even moreso for a little guy.

Think we will watch the potential storm and then consider this a few days post ,especially if the unfortunately predicted high pressure ridge comes back and there's a nice sunny day for a leisurely hike.

If anyone has any similar kids who are tolerant of a slow flatlander on the up, he would probably have a blast hitting it with some other kids .

Thanks again!

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Originally Posted by funkendrenchman

It was only part of the route last year due to weather. The normal route is across the ridge from Burnt Mountain to West Buttermilk.

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Aware of that but do you know for sure that they are going back to the standard route this year? The info on the website is inconsistent, the GPX file is the 2023 re-route but there is mention of the cutoff time for the Burnt Mountain gate. Most likely they just haven't updated the GPX file back to the normal route but that's just my assumption. Regardless, I think he just wants to get an idea of the distance between Snowmass and Buttermilk.

Skiing is fun

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Originally Posted by alpinevibes

Skiing is fun

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Little guys shredding is the best! Will be joining in w that tomorrow (unless my biy forces us to unpack and gear up for 2 runs this afternoon after we land around 1230.)

Some good chalky snow on Highlands today, but obvious thin spots where grooming is turning up some small gremlins


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The angry inch made snowmass fun today. Was nuking at the top for a bit but kinda tapered off at the base now. We shall see.

Looks like about 4” today. Follow the same game plan, remember what was groomed yesterday and you’ll have a good time!

I don’t like the bum rush at the VX on a powder day. For 4”, I’ll show up at 8:35 and be one lap behind on the knob.
Blue Jacket, white helmet, fastest guy out there.
I’ll PM you my number, which you still may have.

Sounds good. Will be unfortunately a bit behind the masses since we got to get the kid set up in ski school first. I'll give you a shout though. Bright orange jacket, bluish pants black helmet. Wife in a purple jacket black pants. Enjoy the day!

You should take your little one up for a lap, before ski school. Nobody skis the lower mountain and she’ll get totally untracked.

Today was really good!

That was much needed. Nice and light - perfect for skiing with the kids.

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Originally Posted by Shredhead

You should take your little one up for a lap, before ski school. Nobody skis the lower mountain and she’ll get totally untracked.

Today was really good!

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Today was great. Blew away expectations. Hit the lower Hanging Valley Glade gate off Cookies with like 2 tracks in there besides ours. Coverage was great ,much better than expected. Highlands tomorrow w the 10 yo.

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Originally Posted by funkendrenchman

That was much needed. Nice and light - perfect for skiing with the kids.

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Boys were psyched and actually skied the untracked really well.

Scooted over to Ajax for some afternoon leftovers that weren’t too bad either

Does anyone have any tips on.getting from Snowmass to Buttermilk via RFTA? The page says take the SM route , but it looks like that just stops at Hwy 82 and Buttermilk. Am I missing something on how to get from there to the actual base area , esp with a 6 year old in boots?

It’s not any further than most of the parking spots on the way in.


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Thanks ! Merry Christmas all!

Merry Christmas from Marble

https://youtube.com/shorts/2FAgbT2IKFI?feature=shared

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Originally Posted by JaytaeMoney

Merry Christmas from Marble

https://youtube.com/shorts/2FAgbT2IKFI?feature=shared

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Yeah dude!

Got a break from the festivities for a short Christmas skin

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This storm saved Christmas.
Snowmass ski area was amazingly empty, but the hoards have descended onto the village.

The cold may stem some of them early, but I bet tomorrow’s busy.