Johnny Style

I too would like to compare the data. I noticed that the Blue Mt. website does not say which trail Nastar is held on. They used to do that. Perhaps that is the big change. Power to the people.

I boycotted Nastar at Blue last year due to their poor choice of moving their existing Nastar race course to a new flat trail aptly called "finish line." Well, it looks like I wasn't the only one. The Nastar statistics just came out and Blue ranks a dismal 106 out of 120 resorts. The link can be found here: http://www.nastar.co...s-1-with-nastar According to Nastar, the true measure of a resort's program is something called "Racer Days." Blue had 189 unique ski racers this past year but only 322 racer days. What does that mean? It means that many people showed up to race just once for the "novelty" factor of the new hill, but not many came back. I hope Blue is listening. First they killed mtb riding in the Summertime, next they will kill Nastar. If you are curious and don't want to click on the link, all the other PA resorts were ranked in the 30-50 range. However, I have no data to compare this to. Perhaps this is an improvement for Blue. Maybe they were ranked 120th two years ago and 106 last year is an improvement. Doubtful. You can ignore the people as much as you want Blue Mt., but the stats do not lie. Move the race course back to something with some real pitch. Touch the sky. Johnny Style has spoken. To think, I actually represented Blue Mt. at the National Championships two years ago.

I can see Atomic Jeff flying into ASE this weekend for a little skiing and golfing while staying at the Hotel Jerome. Can you imagine? "Hi, I'd like to check in my golf clubs and some skis please."

Nice.

Today was real good. 14" on Snowmass + bluebird + 20 degree temps = JADIP. Sorry you couldn't be here. The only bad part about today was having to stop early due to work obligations. Damn that unreal world.

Does anybody know Katie Stepan (sic)? She was an instructor at Blue and is now an instructor at Snowmass. I rode the lift with her today and she was really nice. She moved out here five years ago. She mentioned that Sal Aurely, who was my instructor in the late 70s early 80s, and who was also T.J. Burke's stunt double in Aspen Extreme, still teaches here. I thought that was pretty cool. Maybe I should hire him for nostalgia's sake?

The cougars will either love GSS or want him thrown off the mountain. I don't see any middle ground.

She's home now. I am in the "No Names" which is a little higher than "Deception" and "Aerobie" but still the same area. The bumps were nice and soft today. It hit the 70s downvalley today. The temps are dropping and the wind is picking up now. I'm praying for snow tonight.

It has been warm since the last storm and I spent the day on Aspen Highlands. The views into Maroon Creek are outrageous. Ignore the ugly dude in the front, as the real beauty in this shot lies in the two 14k' peaks (Pyramid and the Maroon Bells) beyond. This is the Western side of Highlands in the Olympic (Oly) Bowl. Rumor has it that there will be more snow falling tonight and tomorrow. I don't want to jinx it, but tomorrow is looking like a good day. I had dinner with my neighbor who is the director of the Snowmass ski patrol, and he is also the coroner. He was telling me all about it. There were some other deaths in the valley this week as well. The more interesting story is a snowboarder who slammed into a little girl and hurt her pretty bad. Her family videotaped the whole thing. The family then proceeded to assault the snowboarder after he hit the girl. He is now trying to press charges before the family goes back to Brazil. Crazy.

This is a day late, but this was Snowmass yesterday. The guy in the photo is the unofficial "ski model" of Aspen. I think Nazareth Skier Jay knows who this guy is. Wanna make fun of his goggles? Didn't think so.

After ten inches of powder yesterday, it hit fifty degrees today. It was a good day to stay in the shade on Ajax. As a result I found myself hanging out in some of the many shrines that locals put up. None of these are on the map, but if you look real close, or you know a local, you might be able to find a place to take a break and soak up some of that Rocky Mountain High. Jerry Garcia Shrine: While the Jerry Garcia shrine is a nice place to stop in the afternoon, I've always been partial to the John Denver Shrine. These are linked to FB, so let me know if you can't see the pictures.

Sadly I spent my off day reviewing deposition testimony, but things could still change. Most of the core people were forced out of town in the 90s due to the rising costs, and the ones that remain were probably at Highlands today.

Thanks for the invite, but I'm here with family right now. They don't ski, but I have something to come home to after a hard day on the slopes.

I wonder how many people are still reading this thread on page eleven? Anyway, temperatures have been in the fifties since the last storm on Tuesday in Aspen. I took off yesterday and had every intention of taking off today as well due to the temperatures. When I woke up this morning, Snowmass was in a cloud and there was over an inch at the house. I logged onto aspensnowmass.com to find that six inches had fallen overnight and it was going to snow all day today. I quickly changed my plans and headed up to the slopes. I was pleasantly rewarded. I got kind of a late start due to the time change but even with my late start there were still fresh tracks to be found mid-mountain. I quickly made my way up the Sheer Bliss lift to find a long line at the Cirque poma lift. I decided to wait out the line by hiking into the Cirque for a warm up run. I decided to finally hit Gowdy's for the first time this year from the top. Gowdy's is the steepest run in the valley at 50 degrees, and it is also a chute between a cliff band. The snow was coming down pretty hard and the visibility was pretty nonexistent. Gee, let's ski a 50 degree pitch in a whiteout, by one's self; that seems like a smart idea. I took a picture but it is really hard to make out the cornice at the top of the run. Wanna guess how I got into Gowdy's? Yup, hop turns. For the misinformed youths that ski Loveland and the Vail bowls that said there is nothing in Colorado that requires hop turns to get into, try coming out to Snowmass sometime and ski what I ski. Of course maybe you would prefer a Moebius Flip? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAF9iTdFfTc Most of the snow in Gowdy's was black from all the bombs they dropped in there this morning, but once you broke free, the turns were some of the best of the year. I quickly made my way over to Hanging Valley and lapped the Wall until my last run of the day. Because I was by myself, and the Sun wasn't really out, these scenery pictures might not do the place any justice. I finished out my day with a run down the Baby Ruth chutes doing what else? fucking hop turns. I blew by a bunch of snowboarders in the chute who apologized for getting in my way as I did hop turns straight down with Style. They actually hooted and hollered as I ripped down the chute. The snow in the glades after the chutes was up to my knee. I stayed in the expert areas until they closed them at 2:45. I had fifteen minutes to cross the massive Snowmass to get back to my secret parking spot. I didn't make it in time and had to duck the rope to get home. I saw a patroler and dropped a few local names and he said no problem, have a good day. I was actually getting kind of jaded with all these fifty degree days lately. Today definitely recharged my batteries. How was your day?

She didn't register. She just took some runs, they were free for two hours. She wanted to register for Friday's Nastar at Snowmass but now she will be sitting on the couch.

I think it made her cocky, and she pushed too hard today.

Cool.

I haven't been to Utah since the 80s. Back then it was all Alta and Snowbird. When did Powder Mountain open? I've heard of Silverton, CO at least.

I've never even heard of this Powder Mountain, but the TR makes it look awesome. I might have to add this one to the list.

It's somewhat funny that the first patroler to arrive had a shovel only. It was to dig up all the bloody snow she left behind. To be honest, I was real scared for her when it happened. The patrol was great, must have been karma for me helping out a guy last week.

She just took some percoset and is kicking back. She won't sleep well tonight, but at least she has a good story to tell her friends.

Part 2 of the MSP kicker in action: The wife took a header today on Snowmass and broke her nose. The Snowmass ski patrol was awesome and gave her a toboggan ride to the bottom of Two Creeks where I picked her up and took her to the Aspen Valley Hospital. The waiting room was filled with injured skiers. The worst was some kid who probably took a jump like seen above and hurt both his heels. You could hear him screaming in the ER as they were trying to take his boots off.

The price increase just went into effect. Yikes. I can see the end in sight for me out here and I am getting depressed (no word yet, on whether I can stay longer). I'll be lucky to get 40 total days this year. P.S. I ran my first Nastar race of the year yesterday at Highlands and beat the Pacesetter. I was feeling good until some dude from Australia showed up and laid down a 3 handicap.

http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20110302/OBITUARIES/110309967&parentprofile=search Brandon John Zukoff passed away on Feb. 22, 2011 in an avalanche skiing the backcountry of the Snowmass ski area. He was 26. Brandon was born on Oct. 22, 1984 in Flint, Mich. to William and Cynthia Wright Zukoff. Brandon will be missed by many and life will never be the same without him. He died doing what he loved and has touched many lives. Brandon loved everything outdoors and lived life with passion to the extreme. Everyone's life he touched was better for knowing him. Rest in peace, you will be missed. Brandon graduated from Central Michigan in May 2008 and was a resident of Snowmass for four years. Brandon's family would like to thank the Timberline Condos, Aspen Mountain Rescue, Snowmass Ski Patrol, Pitkin County Sheriff's Office, Aspen Skiing Co., and everyone that has helped us through this tragedy. Brandon is survived by his parents; and brothers William Donald, Brent Michael and Bradely David Zukoff. He was preceded in death by his grandmother, Barbara Wright; grandfather, Donald Wright and grandfather, John Zukoff Jr. A memorial service was held Sunday Feb. 27, 2011 in Snowmass with Edgell Pyles officiating. Family suggests memorial contributions be made to the Snowmass Ski Patrol, Mountain Rescue Aspen or the Aspen Animal Shelter.

One of the reasons they built the kicker at the top of the mountain is the view into East Snowmass Creek (where a skier died a few days before Jeff and Jay arrived). Here is the clip from Claim. Colby West always delivers, except in the X-Games. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeXNvX0b03A