March 11, 2016 Aspen Highlands

It has been 35 years since my last visit to Aspen Highlands. We picked up our 3-day free tickets using our Mountain Collective Passes. To buy a day lift ticket at the window it costs $149. Wow! The views are fantastic: Maroon Bells, Pyramid Peak, and Highland Peak with the Bowl. The 3 high speed lifts and 2 triples provided access to whatever lines you want to get your stomach to start to grumble. There has been a snow drought so the ungroomed black trails were not skied with the current conditions. The area was deserted, and we skied all the groomers and the few black trails that were groomed. We were impressed with the staff and ski patrol folks with whom we talked. For the first 2 hours we thought that we were the only skiers around. The 3000 foot descent had perfectly groomed lines so we felt good about letting our skis perform big slalom turns. After 3+ hours we headed down to do the importance stuff – like hitting the aquatic center for hot showers, shopping for groceries and water, and doing the laundry. Again, we had another great day of spring skiing!