Barb

All these PASR reports of lesser known ski areas this season has been fun to read. Good stuff.

https://www.aspentimes.com/news/aspen-snowmass-to-join-ikon-base-pass-for-2026-27-season-with-access-to-snowmass/

Yes. Again what a great memory you have.

My oldest came for a visit this week and we got 3 days in at Snowmass. Mix of conditions. First day was was pretty slushy and hard to push through (but fun). Today we did a short morning sesh as I have to get him to the bus. Some runs were groomed but pretty icy and lots of small to medium cookies. I treated him to about of new gear while he was here; helmet, pants, jacket. All his were literally 15 years old. His helmet didn’t even have MIPS. So he is def leaving a happy kid.

I check for Longshot to be open daily. I think it was open 5 days this season and now closed again. I missed the short window. I am sure you can poach it, but it’s a really long run (5 miles?) with no bail out. So if conditions suck, you’re fucked. Was a mixed bag. Ungroomed runs, which were most, were pretty crappy. What was groomed was great. Didn’t hit any bump runs.

in line early today. 8:37. Already warm just wearing wool base layer and shell pants and jacket.

https://us-store.altaiskis.com/product/hok-ski-updated-2016-copy-blank-skis/ cross between snowshoe and skis. I bought some when I first moved here but I personally don’t love them or really use them. They have a permenant skin on the middle 1/3 of ski. They are short. I like my backcountry fat Nordic skis better. And they were super fun today.

Such a fun morning with the local Marble ladies. Due to snow all day and so far we have probably got about 2’. We met at the local cafe (only thing opened here in town in winter) and skied in and out of people’s property. The ladies knew where all the hills were. They were all on those Hok skis and I was in my XC fatties with fish scales. So they for sure beat me in the uphill. The downhill I had more fun. Not a ton of pics because it was just too beautiful to stop.

Finally getting some decent snow here. Several storms rolling through until Saturday. So far maybe 8”? Hard to say since it’s been very windy. Wind blew off all the snow from the Aspen snow stake yesterday. Roads are shit, visibility low, and my condo is rented so I am making do with some xc ski tours from my house.

Sorry about the knee. My friend got that same backpack and loves it. An 8.5 mile backcountry day is a lot of effort. Kudos to you

Ah ok no not the same thing. 😂

C’mon of course they have that. Would never consider one’s without that feature.

More warmth and just comfort. Mine come up very high on the chest

I don’t have a lot really. Got some new bibs on a 70% off sale last summer and an old pair of shell pants that I am going to toss. I have a back up shell that I will probably start wearing but it’s oversized so I don’t love it. I bet Atomic Jeff has way more than I do.

Woke up in Snowmass to 6” of new snow. Got in line at 8:45 and they started loading 7 min early! Snow was on the wetter side and when I got off the lift my butt was soaking wet. I was not wearing new bibs but some older shell pants. First run from top of VX down to Alpine Springs was deep! I thought no way this only 6”. Upper calf deep. When I got on Alpine Springs I realized both my shell and pants were totally wetted out. I had re water proofed them early season but since they are both about 9years old guess it’s time they retire. I was def uncomfortable being wet, but since it was warmish it was tolerable. Took a few more off Alpine Springs and they were all deep hardly touched. Went up Sheer Bliss as they only run Big Burn on weekends but it all services the same terrain. Tried Powerline Glades and there were still lots of hidden sharks so I skied back onto Sneakys rest of the way down. Sky cleared briefly the my last run down to the base it was like I was skiing thru soup, could barely see. Overall stellar morning. Hoping this is the start of the Pattern change.

Snow is finally just starting to fall here at 2:44pm. It was raining this morning! I checked out Ashcroft Nordic ski area near Aspen. When I called to ask trail conditions he said I may have to remove my skis and walk over “some” sections. In the first 3/4 mile I think I had to take my skis off 7 times to walk over dirt. sections like this I kept skis on and carefully walked over the dirt staying on the snow. I did a 3 mile loop. First section kept you next to the river and in the trees. If there was more snow it would have been really scenic. once out of the trees the wind picked up a lot. Signage was not great but finally found my return trail. There is a fancy schmancy restaurant at the turn around point that people get shuttled in by horse and carriage if they don’t want to ski or snowshoe The first section of the return was some more walking but then I was able to keep skis on and dodge the obstacles. It wasn’t steep but you would be surprised how fast you can gain speed on Nordic skis with solid sheets of ice. Lots of terrifying snow plows wondering if I would stop in time to miss the next rock. It would be a fun place to go back when there is more snow.

No. Snow due this week but right now it’s not good

That snow looks a lot better than the garbage ice I XC skied on McClure Pass 2 days ago. Well done. So all that elevation gained in about 2.5 miles. On XC skis that’s def legit!

It has been warm. My layers are good for up top though. I love my Arc’teryx shell but it doesn’t have pit zips which is a bummer. It’s pretty old. My plan for today is to slather some bio freeze on my legs and hope for the best.

Agree with everything you said about the high pressure needing to change but the snow surprisingly holding up. Chris Tomer says things may change after 2/8

That was one of our drills!

Did hours of drills today as both of us needed to work on aspects of our form. I’m sure muscle memory will kick in eventually but for now it is taking lots of concentration to break old habits. I am incredibly sore after today. It will be a miracle if I make it the whole day tomorrow. There is just not really time to take pics. Only got one of Natalie being instructed on our next drill Another nice sunny day. Mostly did runs off upper Elk camp, was windy up there and the top headwalls are pretty wind scoured. Snow gets better after that. Mountain was pretty quiet for a Saturday. Here is one of a very Aspen outfit, fringe on her jacket from yesterday. If I was quicker with my phone I could have taken a lot more. Lots of Kardashian-esque outfits

First day of my 3 day moguls clinic. We spent the day at Aspen. Weather was nice kind of sunny comfortable temps. We started out a group of 5 ladies, 3 were from Australia. They stopped in Japan to ski before coming to the Us. They said 15 years ago Japan was a secret spot but now everyone knows about it. They remarked how jealous they were that my friend Natalie and I could just “ski for the day”. That kind of put things into perspective. At lunch some groups got shuffled around and somehow now Natalie and I have our own private instructor for the next two days which is amazing! We did some runs that I really wasn’t really for and it was not pretty. But my form can only improve. Tomorrow we ski Snowmass so we don’t have to fool around with the bus and can just roll out of bed. This run was a lot steeper than it looks guess the camera flattens things out Not a lot of pics today. Will try and do better tomorrow. I precooked all our dinners since I knew we would be beat. Tonight was bean, potato and kale soup with cashew cream. Hit the spot. Tomorrow will be chicken enchiladas.

I was supposed to go to Grad Mesa this morning which is a 2 hour drive. Woke up at 4:30 to check the snow, saw how deep it was and decided to go back to bed and make other plans. Met a friend at the air strip to XC ski. We took turns breaking trail. I measured it at my house and it was just over 12”. The trail breaking was tiring but a great workout. Ended up doing 3 miles total and by the time I skied back to my house the plow guy had finally woken up and plowed the roads so it wasn’t a slog the last 1/2 mile. My friend is not too much of a stop and take pictures (or breaks) person so I just got a few of her. There’s a pretty area in the trees next to the river that feels like Narnia. Super quiet and can’t see any houses or people. i jus signed up for Nordic race on Independence Pass next month so i better get my ass out more and start practicing. I say “race” very loosely. There are super serious athletes and there’s people who just enjoy the views. I am the latter. We had to pick a team name; we are “Dead Last”.

Marble was a bullseye in our area. Aspen got 6” and CB got 4”. We got 12+ and still snowing hard My dog loves it!