Talk to me about Aspen / Snowmass

[KingsFourMan]

Here now celebrating our daughter's graduation from college enjoying some hiking and biking and really liking the area. First time here, Snowmass and Ajax look awesome. Have been on the hit list for a long time. Will be back soon for sure.

[GlacierBoy]

We have skied there a few times with ski club groups and also on our own on “Tour de IKON Pass.”
The town and many skiers skew heavily to 1% wealth (U..S. And international). It’s a hoot in ski season to people watch the fancy ski outfits of Gucci, Prada, chi chi fashion brands plus many women wear tight ski pants. We were here in February during covid ski season and preferred to stay down the Valley in Grabite or Glenwood Springs as hotel rates are more reasonable

Aspen Ajax Mountain is good skiing but the layout is annoying as most good skiing involves top To bottom
And you the lap the gondola - PITA during COViD rules as line for Gondi was long. Be sure to check out Aspen Highlands. There’s a RItz Carlton there but also much of Aspen’s extreme and expert free skiing is at Highlands. Highland Bowl is their famous expert hike to ski terrain with real head wall

Buttermilk is mellow beginner intermediate terrain and is where the X Games terrain and hits are located

In Aspen town center, check out Carl’s Pharmacy- they carry all kinds of random gift items and is like a mini Walmart for town. Check out the upstairs area

Enjoy! The Maroon Bells mountains are the signature hiking area for Aspen

[brownman]

3 memories from multiple trips there. Fun Town if you have money.

https://www.aspentimes.com/news/aspens- ... age-of-77/
There was no better strudel maker than Greta. The mid afternoon serving at her stone restaurant mid mountain was sensational.

Never forget skiing down to Lil Nels and finding George Hamilton on their sun deck using a neck mirror. Didn’t see him ski at all
1st town we know that deployed Saab 900 turbos as police cruisers

[Downdraft]

Buy your daughter some Gucci and home she trips and falls into a Billionaire.

Little Nell is the spot. For good drinks and food. And Billionaires

[hillbangin]

Nobody goes there anymore. Too crowded...

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[KingsFourMan]

We have skied there a few times with ski club groups and also on our own on “Tour de IKON Pass.”
The town and many skiers skew heavily to 1% wealth (U..S. And international). It’s a hoot in ski season to people watch the fancy ski outfits of Gucci, Prada, chi chi fashion brands plus many women wear tight ski pants. We were here in February during covid ski season and preferred to stay down the Valley in Grabite or Glenwood Springs as hotel rates are more reasonable

Aspen Ajax Mountain is good skiing but the layout is annoying as most good skiing involves top To bottom
And you the lap the gondola - PITA during COViD rules as line for Gondi was long. Be sure to check out Aspen Highlands. There’s a RItz Carlton there but also much of Aspen’s extreme and expert free skiing is at Highlands. Highland Bowl is their famous expert hike to ski terrain with real head wall

Buttermilk is mellow beginner intermediate terrain and is where the X Games terrain and hits are located

In Aspen town center, check out Carl’s Pharmacy- they carry all kinds of random gift items and is like a mini Walmart for town. Check out the upstairs area

Enjoy! The Maroon Bells mountains are the signature hiking area for Aspen

When staying down the valley, where did you park to ski Ajax? I see that there is a parking garage in Aspen but I'm assuming that it fills up pretty quickly. It's also a pretty long shlep to the mountain.

[Stormchaser]

https://skitownallstars.com/products/as ... s-5-colors

asspen.jpg (215.76 KiB) Viewed 1095 times

[Nikoli]

A place where the beer flows like wine. Where beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. I'm talking about a little place called Aspen.

[GlacierBoy]

KingsFour man wrote "When staying down the valley, where did you park to ski Ajax? I see that there is a parking garage in Aspen but I'm assuming that it fills up pretty quickly. It's also a pretty long shlep to the mountain."

Regarding parking at Aspen in winter to ski and not pay big $$ for parking, like a good local ski bum (not dressed in Gucci, stretch ski pants, or relying on shuttles from the Ritz, Hotel Jerome, etc) - So the best we could figure out doing Web research and on Aspen's web site, is this:

- Brush Creek Parking Lot is Main remote parking lot is free - Located on HWY 82 at entrance to main Road to Snowmass. The regional bus service stops here in/out of Aspen. Plusses: Free parking, free town buses stop here. Direct bus to downtown Aspen bus terminal (2 blocks walk to Ajax ski area) and to Snowmass. Minuses - Can't get to Aspen Highlands directly from here. Must bus to downtown Aspen, hop on another freebus to Highlands and same on the return after skiing. Two busses =huge pain in the butt.

- Parking at Buttermilk is FREE - There is a smaller free 15 passenger shuttle with direct express bus to Aspen Highlands. Lots of folks know about this and park at Buttermilk and take this bus to/from ski @ Highlands. There is Limited paid parking at Highlands

[KingsFourMan]

KingsFour man wrote "When staying down the valley, where did you park to ski Ajax? I see that there is a parking garage in Aspen but I'm assuming that it fills up pretty quickly. It's also a pretty long shlep to the mountain."

Regarding parking at Aspen in winter to ski and not pay big $$ for parking, like a good local ski bum (not dressed in Gucci, stretch ski pants, or relying on shuttles from the Ritz, Hotel Jerome, etc) - So the best we could figure out doing Web research and on Aspen's web site, is this:

- Brush Creek Parking Lot is Main remote parking lot is free - Located on HWY 82 at entrance to main Road to Snowmass. The regional bus service stops here in/out of Aspen. Plusses: Free parking, free town buses stop here. Direct bus to downtown Aspen bus terminal (2 blocks walk to Ajax ski area) and to Snowmass. Minuses - Can't get to Aspen Highlands directly from here. Must bus to downtown Aspen, hop on another freebus to Highlands and same on the return after skiing. Two busses =huge pain in the butt.

- Parking at Buttermilk is FREE - There is a smaller free 15 passenger shuttle with direct express bus to Aspen Highlands. Lots of folks know about this and park at Buttermilk and take this bus to/from ski @ Highlands. There is Limited paid parking at Highlands

Thanks, I saw that lot on HWY 82 and figured that was the way to go.

We're usually only good for 3 days of skiing per trip out west so I was thinking 2 days at Snowmass and one day at Ajex but it sounds like Highlands might be worth checking out as well.

Did the Epic pass this year for a variety of reasons but will be doing the Ikon pass next year so it'll have to wait until 22/23.

[Fancypants]

There is a reason they call it Snowmass! Everything is huge! 4400 feet of lift served vertical to boot.

[RENO]

A place where the beer flows like wine. Where beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. I'm talking about a little place called Aspen.

[Nikoli]

[deadheadskier]

If you are an advanced skier, Highlands is the best of the bunch by far.

Ajax skis much bigger than it's reported acreage, but the lift layout sucks

Snowmass is meh in my opinion. Decent low angle trees, but that's about it. The little bit of steep terrain they have is very short on vertical with crappy run outs and a bad lift layout to lap the good terrain.

[machski]

If you are an advanced skier, Highlands is the best of the bunch by far.

Ajax skis much bigger than it's reported acreage, but the lift layout sucks

Snowmass is meh in my opinion. Decent low angle trees, but that's about it. The little bit of steep terrain they have is very short on vertical with crappy run outs and a bad lift layout to lap the good terrain.

Snowmass can be annoying with the lifts, bit there are some fun pockets tucked in all around to explore. Highlands by far is the cream for expert terrain in Aspen. If you hike the bowl and only want to Don t once, don't necessarily just drop the center of the bowl. Extreme boundary skier's right in the trees gets passed up a lot but holds the best snow the longest off the hike.