Full Moon Ullr Fire (photo: Katrina Devore)

The winter season here in Aspen has started on a slower note this year, with a big snowfall before Thanksgiving and next to no snowfall since then.  This has made for a different approach to December skiing.  Upon my arrival back from the East Coast, I’ve been hiking for some turns, mostly just to build up some leg strength for the long season ahead.  The downhill portion of the experience has been a good amount of groomer skiing – about as fast as my baggy Trew Gear will let me go – down runs like the infamous Spar Gulch and Copper Gulch on Ajax.  I’ve seen more carving and racing skis on my friends skis than I’d ever imagine, as the off-piste isn’t really begging to be skied yet.  So, groomers it is and people have just been flying down the hill.

With a dearth of new snow, the call was made to gather atop Buttermilk for a sacrificial bonfire to appease the Norse God Ullr.  With Ullr being the god of skiing and hunting, everything from old pairs of skinny skis to collected bacon grease was offered to the fiery pit, in part with some theatrics to complete the effect.  It is like the mountain town equivalent to the burning of tires and plastic coolers to mark the end of the Indy500, supposedly to appease the race car gods.  We even wrote our wishes down on scraps of paper and burnt them in hopes of their coming to fruition.  Coinciding with the full moon, the hike up and the ski back down were perfectly lit for some early winter antics and some squirrelly turns.  Hopefully, Ullr’s patronage has been sparked, and the snow will start to accumulate in its fluffy depths.

Pat Sewell to Faceplant (photo: Jeremy Swanson)

Just found this photo online from our opening day at Highlands.  We wanted to get some slash turn shots on the cornice at the top of Highlands Bowl for the AspenSnowmass #contentcrew, and after a few slashes Pat Sewell came in oozing with style.  As you can see, it ended well for him – surprisingly there were no rocks – and he got back up grinning like the stoke monkey he seems to be.  Haha…classic!

This week, I’ll be the live-in chef at the POC house in Breckenridge for the first stop of Winter Dew Tour.  We have  some athletes competing in the park and pipe, and I’ll be lending my burgeoning cooking skills to the team.  Bacon, eggs, lasagna, burgers and spaghetti will be the name of the game this week, and after our enormous shopping frenzy at Costco, we should be stocked for the week.  It’ll be great to connect with my jibbing counterparts and maybe I’ll pick up some shred tips throughout the week.  With guys like Tucker Perkins, Joss Christiansen, Walter Wood and more, it shouldn’t be too difficult to learn that backflip I keep thinking about.  After last season’s Freeskier ski test and my first backflip attempt, I can truthfully say I’m at least halfway there!

Top of Highlands Bowl with Maroon Bells in the background

Aspen Highlands officially opened its lifts today to blue skies and warmer temps. Not warm enough to start melting snow, but one could sure feel it on the hike up the Bowl. Yup, that’s right, we formed a #contentcrew posse and hiked up to the top of the Bowl for some afternoon laughs and photos. Pat Sewell, Casey Vandenbroek, Lars Zimmerman, Meredith Mckee, A.J. Hobbs and myself joined Jeremy Swanson for a quick lap in the G-Zones. This north-facing, tree-lined set of steep runs on the skier’s-right flank of the Bowl were the only zones open, and they were a little hairy. Some turns were deep, some had rocks, but I was worried about jamming my ski tip into a stump or under a log. Surprisingly, after a few quick turns down the slope, we had no injuries or even any close calls, and we called it a day with some high fives thrown in for good measure. We even topped off the afternoon with some free beer courtesy of Strafe Clothing at their base of Highlands storefront grand opening party.

Workin it for the cameras...say 'Cheese'!

The Merry-Go-Round restaurant hosted their grand-reopening after a swanky renovation over the summer.  Hundreds of Aspen ski bums and socialites made their way up Highlands’ Exhibition lift for a free lift up to the shindig.  Even then, some cardio-oriented folks were still out hiking and skinning their way up the festivities.  Once inside the historic on-mountain building, the smell of gourmet food and the sound of happy revelers greeted us and people were ecstatic about the new decor.  Pictures of Highlands skiers over the decades filled the only walls that didn’t have huge glass window panes, with Pat Sewell’s likeness just about everywhere one could look.  Yours truly had a few choice shots (thanks Markewitz!), but really, today was about the food.  With the menu prices once again outside of this ski bum’s budget, this was a great opportunity for me and many of my fellow ski bums to taste the gourmet offerings.  Everyone’s hands were full of mini plates chock full of eggplant parmesan, pork loin with sweet potatoes, meatballs, tuna burgers, margarita pizza and more.  Free beer tickets were being passed around like poker chips, and the dessert table was swarmed time and time again as cookies and pastries disappeared like Tickle-Me-Elmo on Black Friday.

After the grubfest, the members of AspenSnowmass’ very own #contentcrew rendezvoused for the one and only lap of the day.  Newcomers Casey VandenBroek and Joe Risi joined veteran members G.R. Fielding, Meredith Mckee and myself for some slap-happy photos and video by the likes of Jeremy Swanson and Matt Hobbs.  As it was late in the day and the sun was quickly disappearing, we sniffed out the last remaining rays of light on the slope and made some early season magic happen.  Nothing like low-incline rollers and some slash turns to kick off a new season of shredding.

Thanks for the iPhone photos Meredith!

Yours truly, bottom right.

The most talked about new feature at the Merry-Go-Round

Skin it to Win it

My first week back in Aspen has been an uphill climb.  Literally.  I’ve been hiking for my turns to begin the winter after a fall season spent as a flatlander back east.  There’s a lot of things I almost forgot about mountain living during my time as a warehouse box-slinger and struggling surfer.  The air is thinner, the nights are cold, and the snow is crunchiest in the early hours of the morning.  Sure, there are lifts spinning on Snowmass and Ajax, but there’s something to be said for slapping some skins on your skis and huffing and puffing your way to the promise of unadulterated speed and glide.

Today, Lane Johnson and I hiked up Ajax and passed the race crew for the Canadian ski team.  They were training for the World Cup races over the hill in Beaver Creek, and were prepping the training course with blue dye and lots of side-slipping.

It’s that time of year again: the colors are changing, mornings are a little bit nippier, and ski magazines are sending out their annual buyer’s guides en masse. With that, winter has once again sunk its grasp into our collective souls and concocted emotions of powder-lust to fill our every waking moment. But alas, the snow has yet to fall and slopes are still replete with the foliage of many an off-season winter destination; mossy logs in British Columbia to the alpine sagebrush in Southern Idaho to the rugged beauty of yellowed aspens in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. With the change in season marks a change for many in hobby, nay, obsession.

For me, I begin to feel that itch. It is an itch that has patiently hibernated since the last time my feet were stuffed in plastic ski boots and found their way into the sky to commune with the wings of birds. As August wanes and September rushes in with all of its lustrous glory, I find myself looking to scratch that burgeoning itch and immerse myself in all that speed and weightlessness which skiing so dutifully affords us. In the absence of snow and ski equipment, I have forsaken my fear of impact and asphalt – the most dangerous of duos if you ask me – to pick up my shorty skatedeck and Sporting Sails to go find some gravity-based excitement.  With a home base in Snowmass Village, there is no lack of elevation to impede this process.

As you’ll see in the following video, I took quite a digger, and it really made me appreciate being prepared for a mission like this.  Having a helmet on for this mission, or any of the paddleboard/raft/bike/skate missions I find myself getting into, is super important; when you have crazy friends, crazy things tend to happen.  Wear a domepiece.  I think I also came away with a better understanding of that seasonal itch and what might be healthy ways to scratch it without disaster.  Jamie helped me film and Ed helped drive, so with the following video I hope to spread the word of helmet safety, but you can bet your bottom that I’ll be back out there sessioning the hill as more and more vacationers make their exodus and the roads clear up.

Product Review:  POC Receptor + multi-sport helmet (find it at Backcountry.com)