Life on the Lee-Side: Phoenix Multisport Aspen Snowboarding Trip

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Phoenix Multisport Aspen Snowboarding Trip

I finally made it on the Phoenix Multisport Aspen snowboarding trip this year. Since I replaced mountain bike racing with sports car racing it's been harder and harder to find my way on Phoenix trips. Last year I made it to Ouray, but a nasty cold forced me into isolation in my hotel room. Mouses hot chocolate was the highlight of the trip.

This year there was no cold and I had a rad time catching up with some of the OG Phoenix crew and making new friends while we shredded some of the best ski-boarding hills in Colorado. Aspen really is the bomb. It's devoid of the Summit County local and tourist traffic and has nearly the vertical drop of Jackson, WY. Even a weekday snob like me couldn't find any complaints with the thin weekend traffic, lack of lift lines, and fresh tracks to be found hidden off the beaten path.

On Friday I mounted up some brand new snow tires, picked up my new friend Dave, and pushed the E30 hard, making it to Carbondale in less than 4 hours in heavy traffic.

Okay that wasn't us, but RWD + high performance snow tires + 2" of fresh on Vail Pass = Driving Bliss. Only I would find snow tires beautiful!

The first day we went to Snowmass. The snow was fresh and the views were killer. Dave and I hiked a mile up a cat track to find a patch of untracked snow and avoid the T-Bar lift line. It was a burner, I was shed to my tee shirt by the top.

Our reward was this patch of fresh.

Followed by lots of mashed potatoes.

And cliffs.

The view off the backside.

The second day we all went to Aspen Highlands. The Highlands might have edged out Wolf Creek as my favorite Colorado ski hill. The first thing we did was hike to the top of the Highland Bowl. We lucked out and caught the first snow cat of the day for the bottom of the hike. The remaining hike was steep, but a piece of cake compared to what Dave and I hiked the day before.