bye bye southeast... snowmass/aspen/buttermilk, etc

[ScottieD256]

my buddy invited me to go to the aspen colorado for spring break. he and his dad are staying at a friend's hosue at the base of aspen. ill be there from march 9 to the 15. out of snowmass/aspen/buttermilk, etc...what is the best place to board? best parks? all of you who hit up that area let me know... im pumped!!!

[ScottieD256]

come on guys...someone must know the area...?!?!?!

[Jeff Miles]

iight iight calm down young jedi..i used to live in denver..best park to me is Keystone's Area 51 due to there own lift for the park and sick rails
best all mtn. is Breckenridge

[Bill]

Hi Scottie:

You'll love Aspen. We find it to be a very friendly, low intensity place compared to the resorts closer to Denver.

It's actually a complex of four mountains. Aspen Mtn. (aka Ajax mtn., adjacent to the town of Aspen, proper) and Aspen Highlands have a vertical layout and are thought of as "expert" mountains...in fact Aspen Mtn. has no green runs whatsoever, only blues and blacks. Snowmass and Buttermilk are more "horizontal", that is, spread out over a wider area of the mountain and thought of as better places for intermediates, though all have expert terrain. Buttermilk is where they held the recent winter "x games" and I understand their parks are impressive.

I've only skied Aspen Mtn. and it's very cool, they have a brand new enclosed gondola which goes all the way to the top, it's a long ride all the way back down and as challenging as you want to make it. Several weeks ago when we were there they had fresh powder, it was great.

BTW: One hint if you like pizza. There was an italian restauraunt in the town of Aspen that had the best pizza I've ever had in my life, we're still talking about it. If you're interested holler back and I'll look up the name of the place.

Here's Sweet Thing and I at the top of Aspen Mtn:

http://img162.imageshack.us/my.php?image=aspen1kh6.jpg

Have fun on your trip, it'll be a hoot!

Bill

[ScottieD256]

that would be awesome if you could give me the name of that italian place... i am def not an expert skier, but ill survive. plus i know there is a huge difference b/w east coast and west coast trail ratings... our blacks are probably more like yalls blues. my friend knows snowmass like the back of his hand so i know we will be there for atleast one day. they sell a 4 mountain/5 day pass for $385.00. im wondering if it would be worth it to be able to go to any of the mountains... im pretty sure ill be overwhelmed just by one. thanks for the help...

[Bill]

Hey Scottie,

I did a little searching...the name of that restauraunt with the great pizza is "Brunelleschi's". If y'all are breakfast eaters "Wienerstubbe", also in downtown Aspen is excellent. We like to have a hearty breakfast, a light snack for lunch on the mountain then oink out for dinner.

Aspen's slam-full of nice restauraunts but they tend to be pricey, one tip we learned from the locals is to ask for the "bar menu", aproximately the same food but a fraction of the cost.

If your local hills are like ours here in Missouri, yes, what they call a black here locally is an easy blue out there but it's so much more pleasant to skiboard real snow versus the hard, icy fake stuff. Check out JCX's Spruce 120 review in the review section, if I'm not mistaken he skis Aspen.

I believe any pass you buy will be good for all four mountains. There's a free shuttle in downtown Aspen that'll take you there and back to any one of them. I would ski as many of them as you have time for but for sure at least once ski top-to-bottom on Aspen Mtn..."Ruthie's Run" is something of a famous trail with a neat history.

You all are going to have a blast!

Bill

[ScottieD256]

thankyou so much for the info. this will definately help me enjoy my time out there even more.

[missthing]

Have fun in Aspen I hear it is really great.

I live in the Winter Park area but in the 3 years I have lived in CO I have never made it to Aspen. I have only skied at Loveland, Winter Park, Copper Mountain, Keystone, and Breck.

Of course I am partial to Winter Park and Copper ... but my next fav is Keystone as far as parks go.

CO has gotten a TON of snow ... WP getting more than 2 feet this past week. The snow is just better overall than the east coast from what I am told due to volume alone mainly.

Enjoy your visit.

[Kirk S]

its a lot dryer and fluffier than the stuff on the east cost, i was out near Crested Butte to hunt and there was like 3 feet of snow but it was before thanksgiving so no resorts were open:( :(