Snowmass - Aspen

So, I want to hear some opinions here. Don't hold back...

I've got a chance to go to Snowmass etc. for a couple of days in the
second week of January. I know nothing about Snowmass, Aspen and
Aspen Highlands beyond what I've seen on their website (which tells
you almost nothing...) and the fact that they are really expensive.
Beyond that, what are they really like? I don't give a damn about
nightlife and shopping, I just want to know about the skiing.

I'm an expert East coast skier, trees and steeps sort of stuff.


How close are the mountains to each other? Across the valley? Long
way down the road? Too far to waste time on?

Is any one of the three head and shoulders more interesting than the
rest?

What kind of person likes each one of these mountains?

Aspen and Snowmass are OK. I like to ski them but have trouble with the
cost. I prefer Aspen Highlands or Buttermilk. They have a less commercial
feel and skiing is at least as good if not better.



"jesse t" wrote in message
om...
So, I want to hear some opinions here. Don't hold back...

I've got a chance to go to Snowmass etc. for a couple of days in the
second week of January. I know nothing about Snowmass, Aspen and
Aspen Highlands beyond what I've seen on their website (which tells
you almost nothing...) and the fact that they are really expensive.
Beyond that, what are they really like? I don't give a damn about
nightlife and shopping, I just want to know about the skiing.

I'm an expert East coast skier, trees and steeps sort of stuff.


How close are the mountains to each other? Across the valley? Long
way down the road? Too far to waste time on?

Is any one of the three head and shoulders more interesting than the
rest?

What kind of person likes each one of these mountains?

(jesse t) wrote in news:74c0dcc7.0312081351.18b2e7b9
@posting.google.com:

So, I want to hear some opinions here. Don't hold back...

snip

I'm an expert East coast skier, trees and steeps sort of stuff.

Highlands has steeps and trees galore. Make sure to take a trip up
Highland Bowl if it's open.

Is any one of the three head and shoulders more interesting than the
rest?

The Highlands.

What kind of person likes each one of these mountains?

Ski bums/local experts like the Highlands.

-T.O.M.-

On Tue, 09 Dec 2003 at 02:52 GMT, Jack Wan penned:
Where do you ski? Jesse?

I was an Eastern skier and have been almost all the Eastern ski areas
from the Pocono's to VT and NH. Maybe I can give you some idea what
Aspen really like other than expensive.

The first impression of Aspen as an Eastern Skier is its size. Each of
the 3 major mountain is the size of Killington. Secondly, the quality
of the snow is much better. You do not get icy moguls(in season).
Thirdly, it is steeper than all the Eastern resorts, especially the
newly added terrain. You call Stowe front 4 are steep, but Aspen is
better. Fourth, tails are longer, more tree skiing etc. Fifth, no
crowds especially for experts like you, other than the morning calls.
Sixth, lots of off piste tails you can go, much more than Killington,
Okemo......

So I have a question here. Thus far, I haven't been good enough to ski
the really steep stuff at most any "real" resort ... but how does Sunday
River, Maine compare to "all the Eastern resorts" and to the West?

I had two week-long vacations at Sunday River (back when I was in
college and could afford to take that much vacation time =P), and both
times it seemed to me that the resort had a lot more in common with the
West than the East. But that was a while ago, and maybe it had more to
do with the attitude than the slopes. To be honest, I'm not sure I've
had enough taste of either East or West thus far to pass judgement.
(And no skiing experience at *all* outside the US -- a tragedy!)

--
monique

(jesse t) wrote in message . com...
So, I want to hear some opinions here. Don't hold back...

I've got a chance to go to Snowmass etc. for a couple of days in the
second week of January. I know nothing about Snowmass, Aspen and
Aspen Highlands beyond what I've seen on their website (which tells
you almost nothing...) and the fact that they are really expensive.
Beyond that, what are they really like? I don't give a damn about
nightlife and shopping, I just want to know about the skiing.

I'm an expert East coast skier, trees and steeps sort of stuff.


How close are the mountains to each other? Across the valley? Long
way down the road? Too far to waste time on?

Is any one of the three head and shoulders more interesting than the
rest?

What kind of person likes each one of these mountains?

Snowmass is a bad Vail if that means anything to you. It is big with
a lot of families and not good skiers. It has the big burn which is a
nice bowl like experience at the top of the mountain. I am not the
biggest fan of Snowmass. It is about 25 minutes from Aspen and
Highlands by shuttle. By the way you want to take the shuttle as I
saw a lot of cars off the side of the road.

Aspen (now they call it ajax) is the real deal. Forget about the food
and clothes ect. The skiing is real. It doesn't have that much
acerage but plenty of good terrain. The great thing about Aspen is
that it isn;t crowded and a 13 minute gondola ride gets you 3100
vertical feel of good consistent pitch. The mountain has good bummps
on the ridge of bell and some trees off to either side. The coolest
thing about it might be ruthie's run, however, one of those must ski
runs before you die. Ruthies also has a high speed double which might
be the second coolest lift in america (the madriver single has to win
out). I must say that I haven't been to Aspen since the snowboarders
so maybe it has changed a bit. Intrestingly, Aspen is the opposite of
most mountains. Everyone will be there at opening, but everyone will
go home by 1:30. The only knock on Aspen is that it isn't a big
mountain experience. As an eastern Skiier though (which i am) should
like it though.

Highlands is the hidden jewel of Aspen. The mountain is about 5
minutes from aspen. No one goes there and I mean no one. Moreover,
you can get in a ton of vertical because all the lifts (well 3 out of
4) are high speed. Thunderball to Golden horn was called the best gs
training run in the world by Stephan Eberharter and I mean that he
called it that for good reason. The steeple chase area has good open
skiing and temerity has good trees. The higlands bowl is truely
awesome if you want to hike. There is also one of those classic bump
runs right above the mid-mountain lodge.

Basically, aside from the price and reputation I see no reason not to
jump at the chance to ski at Aspen and the Highlands.

Snowmass is the best mountain I've ever skied at for some one like me
(prefers blue cruisers and blue trees and modest, non-bumpy (and not treed)
single blacks. It looks like there some great steeps too but I've only
looked since I no my limitations. They look like the sort of thing I'd love
to do when I get improve. (To that end I've added a week of skiing to my
season by getting tix to Whistler in April.) There are also some really
nice single black tree areas I tried a little and they were also really
nice (a bit over my head but I took it slow). Overall,I'd say Snowmass is
the best US mountain I've ever been too and I think that it would be too for
someone more advanced.

There are buses to the various mountains. I took em at night to go into
town for dinner. Never took them to go skiing at the other mountains.


jesse t wrote in message
om...
So, I want to hear some opinions here. Don't hold back...

I've got a chance to go to Snowmass etc. for a couple of days in the
second week of January. I know nothing about Snowmass, Aspen and
Aspen Highlands beyond what I've seen on their website (which tells
you almost nothing...) and the fact that they are really expensive.
Beyond that, what are they really like? I don't give a damn about
nightlife and shopping, I just want to know about the skiing.

I'm an expert East coast skier, trees and steeps sort of stuff.


How close are the mountains to each other? Across the valley? Long
way down the road? Too far to waste time on?

Is any one of the three head and shoulders more interesting than the
rest?

What kind of person likes each one of these mountains?

"Jack Wan" wrote in message . com...
Where do you ski?

Burke Mtn, Jay Peak, Sunday River, Sugarloaf.

Burke and Jay are the two I call home.

"Monique Y. Herman" wrote in message .. .

So I have a question here. Thus far, I haven't been good enough to ski
the really steep stuff at most any "real" resort ... but how does Sunday
River, Maine compare to "all the Eastern resorts" and to the West?

SR is very wide and short. Not much vertical compared to many eastern
resorts, so you end up traversing a fair amount if you want to see the
whole resort. Limited tree and glade skiing also.

The Snowmass trail map reminded me of Sunday River, except the scale
was wrong.

The first impression of Aspen as an Eastern Skier is its size. Each of the 3
major mountain is the size of Killington.

Ajax and Highlands may be the size of Killington, but Snowmass is 3 times as
big. (in acreage, not lift capacity.)



TCS (The Colorado Skier)
Colorado skiing is now under way. Enjoy!

(jesse t) wrote in message . com...
So, I want to hear some opinions here. Don't hold back...

I've got a chance to go to Snowmass etc. for a couple of days in the
second week of January. I know nothing about Snowmass, Aspen and
Aspen Highlands beyond what I've seen on their website (which tells
you almost nothing...) and the fact that they are really expensive.
Beyond that, what are they really like? I don't give a damn about
nightlife and shopping, I just want to know about the skiing.

I'm an expert East coast skier, trees and steeps sort of stuff.


How close are the mountains to each other? Across the valley? Long
way down the road? Too far to waste time on?

Is any one of the three head and shoulders more interesting than the
rest?

What kind of person likes each one of these mountains?

You can find all sorts of terrain at Aspen's FOUR ski areas (you left
out Buttermilk, which you probably would avoid anyway).

You can stay at any of the area lodgings and get to any of the ski
bases via the shuttle bus service. I THINK it's still free. It's
only a few minutes from the town of Aspen to the Snowmass base. You
go past the Highlands and Buttermilk on the way.

If I can remember correctly, I think Aspen Highlands would have the
most familiar terrain to an Eastern skier, but there's plenty of
challenge available at each of the three you listed. Snowmass
probably has the most ski-out, ski-in lodging. Aspen Mountain
probably has the greatest selection of terrain. All will have better
snow than you commonly encounter in the east, along with more
wide-open slopes if you tire of the trees and hucking.