A Day in Smowmass

Breakfast in the Snowmass Mountain Chalet opens at 7:30. I am usually in line along with Dave, a winter resident from the mid west. Soon members of a D.C. ski club show up for the bacon, eggs, and toast. Eventually we go to our room adjacent to the dining room, put on ski boots, and retrieve our skis from the ski room. The slope is about twenty yard from our hotel. It is cold out as I head down to lift one around 8: 20. The lift opens at 8:30. The Brazilians like to sleep in, so there will be no one on the slopes till 10:00 or so. 

 Others in our group find their way to lift one, and by 8:30 we are all loaded on the 6-man high-speed lift. The upper lifts don’t open until 9;00, so we ski mid mountain runs for a half hour. Eventually we work our way over to The Big Burn, a wide expanse of terrain with open meadows and trails. The snow is good today so we all move quickly through the woods onto Mick’s Gulley, a wide, undulating trail with some steep pitches. I am enjoying skiing near the woods and making quick turns. 

 We run the trails on the burn most of the morning. If Campground trail is open we will go there and run down the backside of the mountain. It is a steep, run at the top and a roller coaster ride on the bottom.  The slopes aren’t crowded and today you can see Vail, some fifty miles away. The air is clear with blue sky. My app says we have skied about 11 miles as we make our way down the mountain for lunch at our hotel.

 Two soups are served every day at the mountain Chalet. In addition there are rolls and fruit along with an assortment of beverages. After lunch we move to another part of the area to ski some new trails. A couple of lifts take us to The Edge, my favorite run.  This run, which begins at the top of the High Alpine lift, is a tumbling, rock and roll black diamond run straight down the mountain. There are many undulations, which are fun to turn on. At the bottom one reaches a steep face, which necessitates caution. When the snow is good, it is fun to take the face with some speed, but too often it is icy.

 After several runs on the edge, we head to the gentler slopes of Elk Camp. The runs there are mostly trails through pine forests. The runs aren’t difficult, but the twists and turns they provide make them interesting and exhilarating.  Toward the end of the day we make several runs into the Two Creeks area. The tops of the several runs are steep, but then the terrain flattens out to cruising runs through enclaves of spectacular mountain homes.

 Around 3 o’clock we head back to the bottom of the hill and take a short gondola ride to our hotel. Following computer time and rest, we head out to Il Poggio, my favorite restaurant in Snowmass Village. Vicki and I spit a salad and pizza before heading back to our hotel and an early bedtime.