Aussies tour the west.
- Thread starter Sbooker
- Start date
We had a good afternoon although the light was pretty flat. My friends found it a bit difficult.
This place has fantastic beginner runs. Probably the longest gentle greens I’ve ever seen. My beginner friend loved it.
Some runs are half groomed and half natural. I don’t know I’ve seen that before. A great idea I think.
This place has fantastic beginner runs. Probably the longest gentle greens I’ve ever seen. My beginner friend loved it.
Some runs are half groomed and half natural. I don’t know I’ve seen that before. A great idea I think.
Attachments
EMSC
Well-known member
Having just skied it today I suspect you could do headwall in the cirque at Snowmass. Decent snow and coverage right now (skied it today), though with a longish run out with some narrow moguls sections near the bottom. I doubt that you would want to do any of the other cirque runs/chutes nor any of the hanging valley.
Much steeper, avoiding rocks in the entries on 40 degree plus slopes with cliff faces, etc...
So basically take poma to the top, turn left and at the first entry which is a ways, follow the poles with orange markers. Not too steep, not steep for all that long, etc... probably easier than rendezvous, though much more remote and less skied.
Much steeper, avoiding rocks in the entries on 40 degree plus slopes with cliff faces, etc...
So basically take poma to the top, turn left and at the first entry which is a ways, follow the poles with orange markers. Not too steep, not steep for all that long, etc... probably easier than rendezvous, though much more remote and less skied.
Happens all the time on those flights Delta runs out of SLC to JH and other ski destinations. Clearly, it's cheaper for them to pay for rental skis hundreds of times every season than to use bigger planes.Sbooker":3ivb7ryf said:
I thought you were on the road from SLC to Jackson to Big Sky. No snowcoach/snowmobile tour to Old Faithful from West Yellowstone? I would think that would be a must-do coming from as far as Australia.
Did you do an one way car rental, then fly Bozeman-SLC-Aspen?
Did you do an one way car rental, then fly Bozeman-SLC-Aspen?
tseeb
Well-known member
I had better luck with Delta yesterday. It was my first time flying a legacy carrier in over 10 years as I've only been on Alaska and Southwest lately. Getting 2 bags from YYC-SJC including a ski bag with two big pairs that they didn't even weigh was just under $60 ($80 Canadian) vs. $40 for second bag on Alaska going to Calgary (where my first bag was free from credit card). Both bags arrived in San Jose within about 10 minutes after I got to baggage claim. I easily made 38 minute connection in SEA as flight from Calgary arrived early even though they had to de-ice and I had to take train two stops to change SEA terminals. Flight was late leaving SEA as plane did not get to gate until after scheduled take-off. Then I got moved from aisle seat on three wide side of row 22 to empty two row side of row 13 with views of Rainer, Adams, Hood, Jefferson and other Cascade volcanos including Three Sisters and Shasta.
Ranier
Adams at left, St. Helen's right of center with Hood barely visible behind the blown-off top
It hasta be Shasta
Ranier
Adams at left, St. Helen's right of center with Hood barely visible behind the blown-off top
It hasta be Shasta
Ski bag??? I had to persuade you guys to buy your own boots. You bought skis too?sbooker":1yffx4hv said:
Tony Crocker":jc1hx9b3 said:
You’ve given me some great advice for which I’m certainly thankful but the best has been to buy our own ski boots. Because of the Delta issue I had to rent yesterday and it was......not great. I did try some Manta M5’s though and they were great in the powder (more on that later).
We bought skis after I came back from Japan where we tested a few models. I really find the rental thing tiring. So we bit the bullet - with great results. I’m happy with mine as is Kylie. I suspect I would be happy with most skis though.
As previously mentioned this trip has had many changes. Yes we went to Yellowstone but did a snow coach tour instead of snowmobile. We’ll definitely bring the kids back to experience that and let them check out Big Sky. They would love that mountain.
We flew from SLC to Aspen. My friends didn’t want to shell out for a flight from Bozeman to Vegas so we took the drive from West Yellowstone back to Utah.
On Sunday night it snowed in Aspen. We spent the day at Snowmass and loved skiing the 7/8 inches of powder. There is so much low angle stuff on that mountain - perfect for those of us who are perfecting powder skiing. There were absolutely no crowds. I was finding patches of fresh snow in the Campground area after 3pm.
My intermediate friends loved Snowmass so much that we went back today. There was still lovely soft fresh snow this morning to my delight. We spent the whole morning on Sheer Bliss lift. My friends lapped the groomers while Kylie and myself skied in between them on the ungroomed so we could share a lift back up.
We’ll go to Highlands tomorrow.
A few pics.
Attachments
Oh. And almost as good as the skiing and touring around is the gourmet beer at bargain prices. A six pack of this (in my new Snowbird glass) is $10. Thanks to the Oz governments ideas on tax that same six pack is $25 at home.
As a side note. We had lunch at Gwyn’s at Snowmass on Monday. They have been there for 40 plus years. Aspen Ski Co are not renewing their lease after this season. Gwyn’s is the last food outlet on the mountain not owned by ASC.
As a side note. We had lunch at Gwyn’s at Snowmass on Monday. They have been there for 40 plus years. Aspen Ski Co are not renewing their lease after this season. Gwyn’s is the last food outlet on the mountain not owned by ASC.
Attachments
I'm fairly sure Bonnie's on Ajax and Cloud 9 at Highlands are independent. I highly recommend both. Bonnie's is more casual but the strudel with homemade whipped cream would hold its own in Austria.
I'm surprised you couldn't find compatible demo skis in Aspen. After all cost is no object if Delta has to pick up the tab. When my skis didn't make it to Austria for 3 days in 2013, I demoed Atomic Alibis in Lech that skied essentially the same as my daily driver Blizzard Bonafides.
I have concluded it is not worth the hassle for me to take skis when skiing Australia or New Zealand. All of my demos there in 1997, 2006 and 2010 were fine. Of course skiing is generally just a fraction of those trips, so there is nuisance value in schlepping skis through tropical locations en route. Sbooker's trips in North America are heavily ski-centric. While I haul skis to my winter Alps trips for the same reason, I probably would not take them to Europe in late spring/summer where skiing would be a small fraction of the overall trip.
South America is the one destination where I had bad luck with rentals and would not trust them there despite other travel hassles.
I'm surprised you couldn't find compatible demo skis in Aspen. After all cost is no object if Delta has to pick up the tab. When my skis didn't make it to Austria for 3 days in 2013, I demoed Atomic Alibis in Lech that skied essentially the same as my daily driver Blizzard Bonafides.
I have concluded it is not worth the hassle for me to take skis when skiing Australia or New Zealand. All of my demos there in 1997, 2006 and 2010 were fine. Of course skiing is generally just a fraction of those trips, so there is nuisance value in schlepping skis through tropical locations en route. Sbooker's trips in North America are heavily ski-centric. While I haul skis to my winter Alps trips for the same reason, I probably would not take them to Europe in late spring/summer where skiing would be a small fraction of the overall trip.
South America is the one destination where I had bad luck with rentals and would not trust them there despite other travel hassles.
Tony Crocker":3qrpc4z8 said:
It was the boots I had a hassle with. They were in the ski bag too. The Volkl Mantras I tried were fine although probably a bit too much for me in steeper sections with bumps under the powder. I ended up buying Blizzard Rustler 9. They offer all the attributes I need without being heavy and burly which would be too much for someone who is at an intermediate level and is also small in stature like myself.
I’ll check out Cloud 9 tomorrow.
This was a lesson I learned the hard way in 2008. I was in France for a week before 4 days in Utah. I had zero luggage for the first three of the Utah days and would have really been in trouble if admin had not kindly outfitted me head to toe in ski clothing. I still had to rent boots and skis, and thanks to the rental boots I declined to hike Baldy and ski Main Chute despite favorable conditions.sbooker":3v3tfrym said:
At the time James and others immediately chimed in about ALWAYS take your ski boots as carry-on. I bought a boot bag backpack and have followed that advice ever since. Liz will occasionally carry-on the boots on the way TO a ski destination but check them on the way home. In 2018 that didn't work out when her ski bag was still AWOL two days after arriving home from the Alps when we drove to Mammoth for the demo event.
Reasonable modifications to the above advice: It's most important to carry on the boots if you have a change of planes and/or it's a small plane flying into a ski town airport like Aspen. Also, as James noted the ski bag is the weakest link of being not being put on the plane. If your boots are in a conventional suitcase their odds of arriving are better than if in a ski bag.
Tony Crocker":1jkczg2o said:
Lesson learned for me regarding boots and carry on.
We skied at Highlands today. I’m more convinced than ever that it’s difficult to progress as a skier unless you can ski semi-regularly with more those more advanced. I shared a lift with a local at about 11am and asked if he thought the snow in the Deep Temerity area would have softened and be skiable for an average skier. He opined that the snow should be fine but wisely (I guess) declined to comment on whether I had the ability to take that run. He was going to hike the bowl and invited me to tag along but I took your advice and opted out.
I took the Sodbuster run (I think) and quickly discovered the snow to be crusty and grabby. I was finding turns difficult and I quickly wished I had not taken the run. It took quite a while to get down and I was sweating buckets by the bottom. I’m sure if I had someone with me I would have handled the situation better. I’m really glad I didn’t take Kylie with me. It would have been messy.
Attachments
Deep Temerity is a candidate for toughest terrain terrain pod in North America. So I'm not surprised by your experience there.
The bowl is equally long and steep but would have had better snow. I'm guessing you understand now why I did not recommend you skiing it after a 45 minute hike at 12,000 feet.
It does not help that primary exposure is east. At that high altitude this is a little early for a spring transition but far from impossible. That's Jackson's primary exposure but Jackson is 2,000+ feet lower.sbooker":1j4cbqmk said:
The bowl is equally long and steep but would have had better snow. I'm guessing you understand now why I did not recommend you skiing it after a 45 minute hike at 12,000 feet.