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Aspen Snowmass from 4/7 to 4/14......
- Thread starter Tonyr
- Start date
Agree to disagree. I'm no expert on Aspen, but I have skied both Highlands and Snowmass 4 times each while 100% open. Highlands expert stuff felt steeper and for much longer, sustained vertical. The stuff at Snowmass while good are in short bursts.
Sure we all have our different opinions and I certainly think the Highlands is a great expert spot to ski, it's definitely better than Ajax mountain for expert terrain. I thought the mountain overall though was very narrow and the vertical on the expert runs are not all that long either as the toughest runs go over the sides of the mountain for the most part.
The Deep Temerity terrain looks like the best lift served area of the mountain and while I didn't ski it because it wasn't open. I did ski right over it. That terrain is steep but it's essential a wide open bowl with trees making it easier to navigate using wide turns going down. The Chutes at the High Alpine and Cirque (known as the Big Burn Cliffs) are much tighter and are of higher consequence if you make a mistake.
There are more than 20 unmarked Chutes off of the Cirque, called the Big Burn Cliffs, and lot's of these Chutes have 20 to 30 to 40 foot Cliff drops that resemble what you see at the Palasides area of Squaw Valley. There is nothing like this at the Highlands or Ajax for that matter....
Also go on Fatmap and look at some of pitches of the random runs below the High Alpine chutes within the Frog Pond and Hanging Valley Glades. There is a ton of crazy stuff back in there. Roberto's, Possible, and Baby Ruth above Frog Pond and Hanging Valley are all marked as extreme terrain although I think that is a little exaggerated!
This is a good read.....
www.google.com
How To Ski Aspen Snowmass’ Extreme Terrain | To The Mountains Blog by Ski.com | News, Weather, Info
Thanks to its varied terrain offerings and gentle green and blue runs, Snowmass enjoys wide renown as a family-friendly ski area, but it flies under the radar as an expert’s mountain when in fact 47 percent (1,566 acres) of the terrain is rated advanced to expert. Moreover, a large portion of...
www.google.com
I just told you I skied there. Haha. Skied all of that stuff. I had a friend and a long time snowboarding instructor as my guide for some of those days. He showed me all the goodies he could at both places while I was there. I'm not Glenn Plake and don't particularly care for cliffs, but if that's your metric, Snowmass wins. But Highlands is steeper for longer and there's some incredible stuff in the bowl that doesn't take much effort.
Ski on friend! We all like what we like
Ski on friend! We all like what we like
jimk
Well-known member
You have to go back to Highlands when it's in full bloom esp since you like gnar. I consider it one of my very favorite ski areas, I like Snowmass and Ajax too. The three are an amazing combo close together. When people ask me my favorite ski area i say the aspen group, esp for a vacationer. Even though I also love Snowbird.
Yes I definitely want to try it there fully opened under good conditions. The closed terrain did look great. Hopefully next season. I've been to alot of resorts as well but not as many as you. I'd say Alta Snowbird has the best overall terrain and Aspen Snowmass has the best overall experience for whatever that is worth.
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Last day at Snowmass today, it snowed about 3 or 4 inches while we were out so we ended the season on a high note. I've never skied a mid April storm, it felt like we were skiing in heart of January. While the new snow was nice it was still crusty underneath but a cool experience none the less. Did a couple of runs off of the Big Burn and High Alpine lifts then called it a season. This run called Cookies was our favorite gladed trail at Snowmass and what we ended our season on.....
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