| Product: |
Skiing |
| Date: |
27/02/03 (127 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Great skiing, Great snow, Generally good weather
Disadvantages: Costly
I moved to Denver Colorado 29 years ago. My wife and I were living in Ohio, where we were both originally from. For some reason, we always thought living in Colorado would be great, even though we had never visited there. In 1971 we took up skiing. The next year we took our first ski vacation to Colorado. The following year we took our second trip, but this time we went to Snowmass (at Aspen). We moved to Colorado the next year and we have been going to Snowmass every year since.
Snowmass is excellent for a number of reasons. First of all, it is far enough from Denver, that you don't get the Denver day skier (like you do at Vail). This keeps the crowds down since you only have destination skiers. Second, I have never found an area that does a better job at grooming the snow. Snowmass, does a great job grooming and does a lot of it. Of the intermediate and beginner's areas it probably grooms 30% or more each night. Snowmass also does a number of little things well. They have a daily map of grooming which you can get at most of the restaurants. They also offer (you have to sign up--there is no charge) "first tracks." If you like to get out on the slopes early, you can sign up and get out before anyone else is on the slopes. It's fun! You will also find them handing out free cider on cookies at the top of the Coney Glade lift.
Snowmass is one of four resorts in the Aspen area. The four areas are Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk, and Snowmass. Aspen Mountain is the most challenging ski area. It's blue runs are like black runs at most ski areas. Aspen Highlands has a lot of vertical on it. Buttermilk (like the name implies) is the easiest area, one designed for beginners and early intermediate skiers. Snowmass is basically an intermediate mountain although it has it's share of black runs and double black diamond expert only runs.
With over 3000 acres, Snowmass longest run is over 5 miles long. Some sta
tistics. Snowmass is 55% intermediate runs (7% beginners, 18% blacks, and 20% double black diamonds). The highest peak at Snowmass is 12,510 feet and it has a vertical drop of 4,406 feet. Snowmass has 20 lifts of which 7 of them are high speed quads. On average, there are 2 people per acre on the slopes.
Snowmass is actually four mountains in one area. The mountain right by the village is Sam's Knob. The front side of this mountain has a lot of the beginner runs. The back side of this mountain (Campground) has a more challenging area with black and blue runs. This area has a lot of vertical. The blue runs tend to be relative mogul free, while the black runs have a lot of moguls. The front and the back are quite different beyond the type of skiing. The front side is very crowded with people coming and going to the village. The back side is like being in a different ski area. It doesnt have near number of skiers as the front side and is quiet and almost seems remote.
If you catch the front side lifts, you can ski down from Sam's Knob to the quad chair lift on Big Burn (the Big Burn lift). Burn is my favorite area and not surprisingly it has my favorite run on it. Early in the morning, right after they have groomed it, Sheer Bliss lives up to its name. I love to cruise down this long challenging run.
Burn in general is a wide open mountain with trails that can be up to 100 yards wide. Burn generally is blue, but it also has access to trails that go down the side of the mountain which are both black and double black diamond runs. At the top of the Big Burn Lift, you can take a poma lift up to this area (Hanging Valley Wall).
It snows a lot on Burn and you can get a lot of wind and cold up there as well. The top of Burn is over 11,000 feet. It has two lifts on it. One (Big Burn lift) is a high speed quad that will take you up the mountain in about 8 minute. The other is a double that takes 14 minutes (the Sheer Bliss lift).
If you skill Sheer Bliss you will need to take the Sheer Bliss lift up, or ski down the mountain taking the Coney Glade Quad up the mountain to ski down to the Big Burn lift.
If you ski down Sheer Bliss you can go back up the Sheer Bliss lift, ski beyond it bearing left and take the Coney Glade Quad back up to the top and then ski down to the Big Burn lift, or ski to the right going to the third mountain, High Alpine. High Alpine is also a fun area, but frequently very crowded. There are four lifts up this mountain, but often only two are open (Alpine Springs and Naked Lady). A third lift is High Alpine that starts at the top of Alpine Springs and takes you up to the very top of this area.
High Alpine has the most personality. The runs here have a lot of curves and bumps. In fact, one run is named "Naked Lady" because of all the curves and bumps on it. Naked Lady is my favorite run on this part of Snowmass. There are a number of places you can do jumps on on this run. Taking that final lift to the very top is also fun. All the runs are black, but if they have groomed any of the runs, it becomes a long steep blue run that is a blast.
You can ski from High Alpine to Elk Camp using a run called Turkey Trot. Make sure as you get toward the bottom to get up a head of steam, because it flattens out at the bottom.
Elk Camp is the prettiest of all the mountains. When you take the lift to the top, you will have the most magnificent view. You overlook an area known as Maroon Bells, and when I first saw and hiked it in the summer, I decided that if the Garden of Eden was in the Western Hemisphere, it would have been in the Bells.
The runs down Elk Camp can be both wide and flat and narrow and steep with lots of personality. There are a number of places you may want to stop for a while and enjoy the view. It is from the top of this mountain to the base village that you get the longest run in Snowmass.
Restaura
nts. The mountain itself has a number of cafeterias and a couple of sit down restaurants that are noteworthy. Finestra (Italian for Window) is found at the top of Sam Knobs. The downstairs cafeteria is call Sam's Knob although it is relatively small is pretty good. Finestra is upstairs and has the most magnificent view of any of the restaurants on the mountain. It is a sit down restaurant with good food and service. Finestra is open only for lunch.
At the top of High Alpine is another lodge with a cafeteria and a sit down restaurant called Gordon's. Gordons is open for both breakfast and lunch. Gordon's has a wide menu with everything from Venison and Buffalo to Salads, egg dishes, etc.
At Elk Camp there is only a cafeteria, but it is rather charming. Called Cafe Suzanne, it has checkered tableclothes, etc.
I enjoy the sit down restaurants. You will pay only a slight premium for a much more relaxed meal.
At the Snowmass Village itself are a number of restaurants. The Tower Restaurant is a nice restaurant which is open for both lunch and dinner. In the bar they have free magic provided by their bartender.
The Stew Pot is a very reasonably priced restaurant that specializes in ....stew. Hearty meals that hit the spot after a long day on the slopes.
There is also a wonderful bakery restaurant named Paradise Bakery. Paradise serves muffins, bagels, coffee, orange juice, etc. in the morning. These are really good. I especially like the low fat rasperberry muffins while Jackie loves the Zucchini Nut muffin. For lunch they have salads, sandwiches, cookies, cakes, etc. They are located in Snowmass Village across from the ticket office. There is also one in Aspen on Hymen Street.
In Snowmass you are about 6 miles from Aspen. In Aspen there are many restaurants, bars, and nightclubs for evening entertainment. Three restaurants we really like in Aspen include The Cantina (mexican), Little Ollies
(chinese), and Der Weinerstub (German). Der Weinerstub is only open for breakfast and lunch.
The biggest drawback to Snowmass is the cost. It runs approximately $65 per day for an adult. Fortunately, living in Colorado, there are a number of discounted programs, and we have been Aspen Classic Passholders for about four years. This gives us discounts everytime we ski.
The bottom line is this is a wonderful ski area.
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