Aspen Mountain

Here we are just a ways away from the top of Aspen Mountain. I took a shot of the trail map as evidence that yes, there exist mountains without any `easy' runs. Mind you, as one of my colleagues at work would say, this trail grading probably suffers a bit from grade inflation: some of the blue, intermediate runs were pretty easy. And it's not like the mountain was devoid of newbies either. But all in all, Aspen is fairly steep, pretty much all over the place, so I suppose perhaps there's some justification for removing the `easiest' runs from the map.

Speaking of levels of difficulty, this pic shows where we're headed today: Aspen Highlands. Just slightly off-center and to the left you'll see the Highland Bowl (I think that's what it's called). Getting up there entails a snow cat ride and then hiking. I'm not into hiking, but I wouldn't mind checking out the snow cat ride. If they'll let us ski there. I hear it's experts only. Corey thinks there may be a test of skill or something. Me, I think there may be at least some strong cautionary words with a waiver of liability perhaps, but I'd at least like to see what's there to assess further.

I don't remember when Corey snapped this pic, but it may have been after we'd skied down to the bottom so that I could change out my rental boots. The first pair I got was killing my ankles. Maybe they were old boots with little padding left. They gave me a newer pair that fit much better. I could only ski about an hour and a half with the first pair. I guess boots may be the biggest trouble with renting. We met a guy from Tennessee who said he did something similar. Having skied Whistler, Steamboat, etc., he just brings his boots along and only rents skis and poles. He says for the small number of times he skis in a year (15 I think he said) it's not worth owning a pair of skis. And every time he rents (year to year) he gets to try out new equipment. I like the latter aspect of renting as well. Right now I'm on a pair of twin-tipped Salomons, 185 cm maybe, and I have to admit these things turn pretty nicely. They're also much wider than my "old man" Volkls, although I'm not quite sure how width affects turning. Anyway, we only ski but once a year, so although he had a good argument for bringing boots along, I'm not sure we ski often enough to justify the expense. Corey lucked out with a fairly new pair of boots and says for the first time she's skiing without pain to her shins. So you never know what you're going to get...it may be crap, but it may be good too.