Aspen Highlands...

[Knockneed Man]

http://www.aspentimes.com/apps/pbcsi...xW=550&title=1


Scott Condon
July 29, 2004


The Aspen Skiing Co. may be in position by next summer to build a much-anticipated chairlift that would extend the accessible slopes in Highland Bowl, Temerity and Steeplechase, according to managing partner Jim Crown.

He said the Deep Temerity lift, also known as the Deep Steeplechase lift, is one of the last remaining capital projects the Skico needs to complete at Aspen Mountain, Highlands and Buttermilk as it prepares to set its sights, and concentrate its dollars, on Snowmass.

The company also needs to replace the cabins on the Silver Queen gondola at Aspen Mountain "probably" within the next year or two, Crown said.

The Skico plans to spend $40 million in on-mountain improvements at Snowmass Ski Area if its proposal for Base Village advances. But the big investment at Snowmass wouldn't preclude the company from adding finishing touches to the other mountains, according to Crown.

"We hope to be able to build the Deep Temerity lift - the Deep Steeplechase lift - if things prove out. That's not final but we hope to achieve that," he said. "The best case is we'd be building that a year from now, summer of '05."

The Deep Temerity lift would be a fixed-grip double chair rather than a high-speed quad to avoid dumping too many skiers and riders on the terrain at one time, according to Bill Kane, vice president of planning and development.

The chairlift would unload passengers on the top of Loge Peak, near where the Loge lift ends. The lift line for Deep Temerity would be "straight down" Kessler's Bowl, a trail in Steeplechase, according to Kane.

The bottom terminal of the lift would be about 800 feet below the Grand Traverse, the cat walk that skiers and riders take back into the guts of the ski area and the lowest point where they can now go.

The appeal of the proposed chair is it adds some of the best skiable terrain that exists anywhere and it would allow skiers and riders to make "laps" quicker at Highland Bowl, according to Jim Stark of the Aspen Ranger District of the U.S. Forest Service. He is in charge of the local review of the lift.

The proposal provides "good bang for the buck" because the lower bowl could be opened for skiing without clearing trees or altering the terrain, Stark said. "It's amazing how much terrain is in there," he said.

Another big advantage of the proposed lift is shortening the amount of time required on the cat walk when leaving Highland Bowl. A new cat walk would be created below the existing one.

The presence of the chairlift could also spur greater use of runs in the trees between Steeplechase and Highland Bowl, trails like Temerity, Hyde Park, Mushroom and Lucky Find, according to Stark.

The lift would add terrain to Kessler's Bowl and Snyder's Ridge but wouldn't really affect the other Steeplechase runs, he said.

The lift would be 4,380 feet long and climb 1,800 vertical feet in extremely steep terrain.

"That would be the steepest lift in our fleet, maybe in North America," said Kane.

The Forest Service will likely require that construction be done by helicopter, Stark said.

The lift was conceptually approved by the Forest Service in 1997. The proposal has changed to shift the bottom terminal closer to the bowl to take advantage of the great success of the skiing there since the extreme terrain opened.

The Forest Service determined that the altered proposal would have fewer impacts than the original plan. For example, shifting the lift line onto Kessler's drastically reduces the need to cut down trees, Stark said.

The Forest Service is conducting what it calls a supplemental information report on the lift rather than conducting a more extensive environmental review. An extensive review was conducted on the original proposal, Stark noted.

A major step in the current review is submitting information to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to analyze whether the proposed work would have any potential effect on lynx habitat.

That step, which has been required for projects in national forests since last year, is generally proving to be time consuming for projects in the forest, according to Forest Service officials.

[Yossarian]

fucking sweet

i've always eyeballed that stuff below the traverse...

[Woodsy]

http://tinyurl.com/4atkh
[csny]been a long time cumyin[/csny]

dood

sweet

thats a highlands opener I wont miss.

be nice to ski it out with out putting a car down there

[Knockneed Man]

Yeah ya better make that opener Woods... Whats it been... 8 years?

/l\
/\

[HyRUPz]

. . .

[Below Zero]

Hey Knockneed - it sounds like you are all for this? Being a local I thought you would be against it. Not really sure on this one. Highland Bowl has an aura (sp?) that I think would be ruined by putting a lift in there. I say leave it for those who are willing to hike it.

[The AD]

Originally posted by HyRUPz
Great . . . put a lift in so all the intermediates can go flail around some of the best in-bounds skiing in the Aspen area. Gee, let's go do "laps" - ASkiCo. = fucking expansionists.

HyRUPz = fucking elitist

Below Zero: I don't think the lift will be in Highland Bowl, it will just reduce the length of the ski-out to get back into the area. But I could be wrong. I've never been to Highlands so WTF do I know?

[Yossarian]

not so good at reading maps, are we?

the lift will run in the steeplechase area, not in highlands bowl. It will go no higher than the current Loge top, and will simply allow skiers that drop into steeple or are coming out of highlands bowl after hiking to have a longer run.

so what's not to like?
No more intermediates will be there, its an improvement that simply expends the lowest end of the good stuff for us!

[homerjay]

It says it doesn't deposit people any higher up on the mountain than the current Loge Peak lift, so no hiking is eliminated, it merely reduces the runout at the bottom on the cattrack and allows for more vert lower in the bowl.

I think it's a cool addition, FWIW.

edit- Yo beat me to it.

[Woodsy]

haters,
re-read the article, still got to hike for the Bowl goods.
Just dont have to wrap around the return to get back.
only people who are gonna do "laps" are locals & magnions.
hike out & ski down will still waste most people.

the gapers already plunge into Soddys, Kessler & even out to Hyde & Mushroom from the Loge lift.

& KM, I missed one, ONE, opening last year due to my new dream gig. first one I missed since 95.

dont tell me you missed my scotch fueled ranting or stumblin across me in AAces & 8s?

tell the wife to fluff my pillows for next Dec.

[Ubersheist]

Edit: CRUD! Four people have already pounced on BZ and Hyrupz before I got a chance to. Besides... I don't know Hyrupz well, but I do know that whenever he does post, it's usually just to stir shit up. Oh well...

Originally posted by HyRUPz
Great . . . put a lift in so all the intermediates can go flail around some of the best in-bounds skiing in the Aspen area. Gee, let's go do "laps" - ASkiCo. = fucking expansionists.

Head back to Difficult or Midnight my friends, Highland Bowl goods no longer for the hikers.

Maybe they should level Highland and make it flat like Panda peak; put a huge lodge at the bottom too!

It wouldn't be that bad. There's plenty of steeper stuff that's currently lift-accessed that doesn't get loads of gapers.

The slog to the top of the Bowl would still be just as long, according to the map above, as it's always been - 30min (or 45+ min for my phat ass) hike up. The new lift isn't going to the top of the bowl. That would still keep a whole lot of people away. What will happen is that a few of the people already hiking the bowl will make an extra lap per day. Not that much would change on the Bowl itself.

Unfortunately Steeplechase and all that would get chewed up loads faster.

[Below Zero]

Ah shit, your right AD. My jongness shows through. I didn't read the article close enough, I guess. OK then, sound good to me.

[summit]

Hey below zero, glad to see you wandered over

[Below Zero]

Thanks, Summit. Not much really going on over at the other site.

[Karl Stall]

Haha, funny stuff, as usual HyRUPz. What do you care - you don't hike it now, and you won't hike it when the deep steeplechase is finished either.

Go smoke another Marlboro, my friend.

[HyRUPz]

Quite frankly, I could give a shit.

[hev]

this is good news IMO.

edit for highlands bowl opening-day-last-year-pic

http://www.hevenor.com/adam/img/tim_deep.jpg

[Shredhead]

It will be great! Northwoods and g-zones will have a better/longer shot and there still won't be anyone out there.

[Knockneed Man]

Actually the best thing about this is that it is opening the lower Steeplechase gully's. You can currently access them through boundary points, but they are mostly halfpipe style slots with lots of natural terrain traps and shrubs. (AND they usually have moguls in them from lots of use already)

I gave up skiing them years ago when I realized there were FAR mo beta road runs further out the ridge, with longer descents and half the bushwhacking.

Now for them to "glade" them, and remove the bushwhacking aspect, you will have (((BOMBER))) 'Chase powder runs from the top of Loge, to South Hayden Road! Holy crap! Providing these long leg burners will help ease demand on the Bowl.

The bonus is, it will spread skiers out and provide many more OB stashes whereupon you wont have to leave a car to get back... This in combination with ANOTHER new area opening on Highlands: "Eden", will mean this mountain goes from sick to sickest in CO.

BTW, Woods: Please refrain from using "your wife" and "fluff" in the same sentence. That said... Your bed awaits!

[iskibc]

Sweet! Hopefully they stick to the plan. 800 feet of extra vert from the bowl and other runs is real nice, but at the same time still keeping the mass crowds away from the goods. Nice planning.

[HyRUPz]

Dudes, I care - I love Aspen.

Note to self = read entire article before making jong-afied opinion.

Actually those changes could be good = more stokeage.

So all of you know (that care), HYRUPZ is an alter-ego, made up persona. I have modeled him under the ego-centric-localier-than-thou-know-it-all-mega-local-I'm-a-better-skier-than-you-and-have-skied-evrywhere-ski-snob umbrella. Not me really, just a caricature of ski snobs in ski areas everywhere . . .

So please don't take my alter-ego's banter too seriously (even though given recent threads on this board it's getting really heavy lately).

By the way, KS - have hiked and will hike it again, flatlander (Just lit up my Malboro biatche) Post, then smoke . . .

Peace to all - my real ego

[Ubersheist]

Originally posted by HyRUPz
Dudes, I care - I love Aspen.

Note to self = read entire article before making jong-afied opinion.

Actually those changes could be good = more stokeage.

So all of you know (that care), HYRUPZ is an alter-ego, made up persona. I have modeled him under the ego-centric-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah.....

Originally posted by Ubersheist
I don't know Hyrupz well, but I do know that whenever he does post, it's usually just to stir shit up.

The myth, the legend.... all for naught!!! How all of us were decieved by a 200 poster! Oh the horror...

[HyRUPz]

Hey Uber . . . go fuck yourself

[iceman]

Originally posted by Ubersheist
The myth, the legend.... all for naught!!! How all of us were decieved by a 200 poster! Oh the horror...

heh, I was gonna say that I hadn't noticed, but I didn't care enough to move my fingers to type the letters.

[Ubersheist]

Ice - the truth is that I've met Hyrupz. I skied one day with him about a year and a half ago. It was the first day I met any maggots face to face. He was amoung them, along with Pinner, Gonzo, Karl Stall and a handful of others. He's actually a very cool guy, loads of fun to ski with and very good natured. I honestly hope he'll show up to one of the summits!