ADKmike
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2020
Thursday was supposed to be an 'off' day, but the forecast was calling for snow, so I was trying to figure out a way to ski somehow. Our plan included heading out of Aspen Wednesday night down to Glenwood Springs, to save some money on the lodging and start working our way back towards the Front Range for the end of the week.
Downtown Aspen Brewery overlooking Ajax
I had purchased a Colorado Gems card, which was $25, and was good for 2x BOGO at each of the participating resorts(mostly smaller ones, but A-basin was on there). I noticed that there was a place called Sunlight on the card. I had looked it up before the trip, and saw it was near Aspen, but didn't pay much attention to it. Given the snow forecast, and trying to scrape together a plan, I mapped Sunlight on my phone and turns out it's actually in Glenwood Springs, about 20 mins from where we were staying. I checked the website, saw it was small, but figured it would still be pretty fun, especially at half-price for $31.50. My wife thought we were sleeping in, but I revised the plan to leaving her back at the hotel, where she stayed until check out, then walked to some hot spring/vapor cave/spa thing in town while she waited for me....and I headed up to Sunlight early for first chair. They had reported 4" overnight. Better than 35 and sun, so I was after that BIG 4" CO Pow day...
Got up to the parking lot, near empty, maybe 5 cars. Walked around looking for someone to hook up on the BOGO with me, found a guy who was stoked to pay half, and $31.50 later I was at this old school ski resort with three chairs and maybe about 30 ppl skiing the whole place.
Mid-morning untouched? - yes please
Don't get to take these kind of photos too often at the big resorts...
Some wind affected
4" was underreported, seemed more like 6" with drifts to 8" or so. Skied about a half day then headed back to town to move on to the next location.
Captured this shot on the way back into Glenwood. Red rocks look cool against the snow.
We didn't really have a plan for the rest of the day other than 'checking out CO', and since I gravitate toward ski related things, I decided we could drive into Breckenridge on our way to lodging in Silverthorne. I kinda wanted to see how crowded it looked compared to where I'd been. I had read that Breck was an old town turned ski town, and it wasn't right off I-70, so I figured it was probably pretty nice to walk around.
Main street view of the mtn
The main street area kind of reminded me of a more commercialized Lake Placid, with stores and restaurants lining it, so many that it was almost overwhelming. I typically am not into these kinda over-built ski towns or villages, but it was actually still pretty nice.
Earlier in the week, I had a beer from Breck Brewery, so I figured it was close by main st., which it was, so after walking up and back and popping into some shops and waiting 45 mins in a line for a crepe (total tourist move), we headed to teh brewery for some drinks, and ultimately ate there cause the food looked reasonable as were the prices.
I could see skiing here in the future, aside from Vail's $175 price of admission which is out of F'ing control.
While at dinner, snow rolled in and it started snowing hard....just in time for A-basin on Friday....which isn't far away.
Downtown Aspen Brewery overlooking Ajax
I had purchased a Colorado Gems card, which was $25, and was good for 2x BOGO at each of the participating resorts(mostly smaller ones, but A-basin was on there). I noticed that there was a place called Sunlight on the card. I had looked it up before the trip, and saw it was near Aspen, but didn't pay much attention to it. Given the snow forecast, and trying to scrape together a plan, I mapped Sunlight on my phone and turns out it's actually in Glenwood Springs, about 20 mins from where we were staying. I checked the website, saw it was small, but figured it would still be pretty fun, especially at half-price for $31.50. My wife thought we were sleeping in, but I revised the plan to leaving her back at the hotel, where she stayed until check out, then walked to some hot spring/vapor cave/spa thing in town while she waited for me....and I headed up to Sunlight early for first chair. They had reported 4" overnight. Better than 35 and sun, so I was after that BIG 4" CO Pow day...
Got up to the parking lot, near empty, maybe 5 cars. Walked around looking for someone to hook up on the BOGO with me, found a guy who was stoked to pay half, and $31.50 later I was at this old school ski resort with three chairs and maybe about 30 ppl skiing the whole place.
Mid-morning untouched? - yes please
Don't get to take these kind of photos too often at the big resorts...
Some wind affected
4" was underreported, seemed more like 6" with drifts to 8" or so. Skied about a half day then headed back to town to move on to the next location.
Captured this shot on the way back into Glenwood. Red rocks look cool against the snow.
We didn't really have a plan for the rest of the day other than 'checking out CO', and since I gravitate toward ski related things, I decided we could drive into Breckenridge on our way to lodging in Silverthorne. I kinda wanted to see how crowded it looked compared to where I'd been. I had read that Breck was an old town turned ski town, and it wasn't right off I-70, so I figured it was probably pretty nice to walk around.
Main street view of the mtn
The main street area kind of reminded me of a more commercialized Lake Placid, with stores and restaurants lining it, so many that it was almost overwhelming. I typically am not into these kinda over-built ski towns or villages, but it was actually still pretty nice.
Earlier in the week, I had a beer from Breck Brewery, so I figured it was close by main st., which it was, so after walking up and back and popping into some shops and waiting 45 mins in a line for a crepe (total tourist move), we headed to teh brewery for some drinks, and ultimately ate there cause the food looked reasonable as were the prices.
I could see skiing here in the future, aside from Vail's $175 price of admission which is out of F'ing control.
While at dinner, snow rolled in and it started snowing hard....just in time for A-basin on Friday....which isn't far away.
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