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2012-02-05 01:01
in Nsnow, Ntrips, Snow, Trips
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Since I was signed up for the Ferrari FF driving experience, that was a good excuse to visit Aspen and go snowboarding there.
Aspen is a nice little town, albeit expensive. Two of its main ski resorts were actually much better than had expected (Snowmass and Highland), so it was time well spent.
Aspen airport is 'fun', it's a super dangerous airport when it's IFR and most planes can only land one way with no chance of go around (for bigger planes, you land, or else) since the other side of the runway quickly takes you into tall pointy peaks :)
beautiful during nice weather though
Aspen Ajax goes right into town
we got a nice little dusting
Aspen has a fantastic public transport system. They had bus going to all their ski resorts every 10 to 20mn. The first morning, I went so snowmass, the farthest resort (30mn) and also the biggest mountain.
their top terrain was open, but still a bit bare in spots.
EX terrain was available though :)
Snowmass was definitely a nice place, and the dusting of fresh snow definitely helped.
The next day, I went to the more nearby Aspen Highlands which thankfully had received a few extra inches of freshies:
the nice busses provided by the city
the cat that gives you a lift to the hiking terrain and pseudo-back country
the ride sure beat walking :)
the rest was on foot though, and that was almost 45mn to get to the top :)
I was mostly in shape, but my body sure didn't do as well at 12,000ft
Finally got to the top
which got me to nice open terrain with fresh powder.
Aspen Highlands was great, I really loved it. Of course the fresh snow didn't hurt, but the terrain was interesting, and the back country experience is kind of unique for a resort.
The last day, I finished with Aspen Ajax, the local mountain you can walk to. Well, it was there so I kind of had to go, but honestly it wasn't nearly as nice as the two others mountains. However, the view on Aspen was quite nice, and snowboarding one extra day still beat a kick in the balls :)
nice view on Aspen Airport
very nice ungroomed terrain
And that was it, 3 days of fun snowboarding and a nice visit of Aspen. |
