Plenty of snow on top of Aspen
Colorado had been experiencing a nice Indian Summer until midday on Friday when we got about a foot of fresh powder. The trails are no longer dry to run or ride on, the road is a little too wet for road riding and the nordic trails are no where near ready yet. The only thing I came up with for some fresh air and exercise was some skinning and skiing.
Saturday morning I made the drive to Aspen with Penn Newhard hoping the rumors were true that Ajax had received 6 – 8″ in an hour on Friday evening. As we drove into town knowing the bottom third of the ski area had been grass two days before, things looked a little grim. We decided we would carry our skis and hike for awhile but were nicely surprised with the skin track from the base of the gondola. As we gained elevation, the snow got deeper and deeper while the sun worked hard to push the clouds away. Despite one small face plant, we enjoyed some great powder turns and an awesome first day of the season.
I’m not normally one that needs to ski everyday but it was so nice to get out on Saturday that I made Ian and Juniper join me on another skin today. Unsure if Juniper would tolerate being in the backpack for the entire trip up Ajax, we decided to skin up Sunlight in Glenwood Springs. I recruited a few more folks and we all appreciated the exercise, sun and powder. It has been fun to get out with the family and I’m looking forward to more ski days with Juniper this year both with her in the backpack and on her skis.
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