Colorado Aspen/Snowmass -- Don't Miss It!!!

[Mike King]

I’d first start in the Cirque. Go up the Cirque lift to the traverse into Ptarmigan and ski to the saddle that forms the lower entrance to AMF. I haven’t skied AMF since Monday but the upper entrance was full of rocks then so go the direction i suggested until you can scope it out. Ski AMF down to the gully. You can the go straight ahead into the dikes — follow the tra+is and be careful about venturing too far afield— there’s rocks in there that can take a ski off. Ski through the trees for some soft snow and nice tree skiing. You can ski the dikes all the way down to the bottom of High Alpine although it gets steeper and tighter the lower you go. If instead you follow the gully down, you can take a traverse on the left side into the lower bit of Rock Island.

This will eventually deposit you at the bottom of High Alpine. There are many gates into the lower Cirque. My favorite is Gowdys. — quite a bit steeper than AMF so it has fewer bumps. Rock Island is also nice. Gowdys had not been open yet this season when I left on Tuesday.

Personally, I would ski the Hanging Valley especially since the exit from the Cirque takes you by the load of High Alpine. Get off and pole your way along the high traverse lookers left as you exit the lift. You’ll come to a gate and an uphill where you take tour skis off and hike a few minutes. You will come to a place where others are putting their skis on. If you go straight, you’ll take the easy route in-Roberto’s. If you hike past the second rope line, you’ll head toward the head wall. Hang far right and stay high. There’s several lines in but watch the rocks at the top. After the short pitch, hang hard right and find a path that suits you.

Mike

 

[Nathanvg]

Long time reader, first time poster here. I appreciate the insight and knowledge shared in previous posts, and am looking at a quick one-day trip to ski Snowmass the first weekend of February with a ski buddy. I visited one this season in December, but it was before much of the double black terrain was open. I have some questions about the steeps/double black terrrain at Snowmass in particular. Is there an area/terrain you would suggest for a first-time visitor that doesn't know all the nooks and crannies of the area? Am I correct in assuming that the Cirque area is more wide open and easier to orient yourself than HV? We are both comfortable with steep, exposed terrain, (CB North Face lift, AB East Wall,etc.) but would prefer to avoid getting cliffed out, if possible. Not looking for secret stashes or insider info, just wondering if its a dumb idea to go poking around HV having never been...

Thanks in advance for any advice/opinions!

You should be fine to poke around with very few cliff out risks that are not obvious. I'm assuming you skied extensively at CB north face which is much harder to avoid getting cliffed out. If however, you only skied a few melow lines at cb and only skied lower east wall at a basin, use a lot more caution.

I love snowmass but if your really looking the steepest stuff, highland is better.

 

[jngsnk]

Thank you both for the insights, I appreciate it! I didn't realize that you could get to lookers left of the Cirque if you drop in Ptarmian or AMF, that is good to know Mike. Is there a gate(s) into Dikes from the Green Cabin trail, or is the only way to lap the Cirque area from the Cirque lift? And Nathan, thanks for putting my cliff fears to rest. We both have skied North Face multiple times (Spellbound, Third), cautiously, and multiple times caught ourselves saying "Wow, glad I wasn't skiing faster because I was headed straight off that cliff". Makes me feel a little better that we won't have to be quite as timid, looking for cliff bands around every tree. I also understand highlands is where it's at for the steeper stuff, but for a one day quick trip to initiate him to the Aspen area, Snowmass and all its variety is hard for me to pass up. The ability to do a lap in the Cirque and then rip the beautiful groomers on Big Burn is too much to pass up! In the HV area, is it possible to enter at the Headwall and make it all the way over to Glade One, Two, etc, or is that a painful side-step/ traverse nightmare? Looking at the trail map, sometimes its difficult for me to figure out which way is "down". Limitations of putting 3D terain on a 2D piece of paper I suppose...

 

[Mike King]

Yes there is an entrance to the Dikes off of Upper Green Cabin. And yess you can get to Glade 1 and 2 from the head wall although it is more direct from possible or Baby Tuth, both of which are usually very rocky. There are cliffs, but they require deliberate choices and likely are not open e.g. burn cliffs.

 

[jngsnk]

Thank you Mike!