Highlands Bowl expeditions

Skiing conditions were stunningly good for the visits here of Meghan & Dennis and Duncan & Katy. Air and road conditions were not so favourable . Katy had hoped to get out on Tuesday and ended up getting out ( just ) on Friday . Meghan and Dennis spent half an hour flying over Aspen on their arrival and ended up eventually being diverted to Denver and arriving in Snowmass at 3.30am after a 5 hour hazardous bus journey over the continental divide . Their reward though was a foot of powder snow on the slopes on their first morning which they took full advantage of .

Even the locals have difficulty remembering conditions like those we've been enjoying in last 2 months. Meghan and Duncan had probably the best skiing of their lives with 2 or 3 days of skiing untracked powder up to knee level and above - and what an amazing sensation that is.

The Monday of Meghan's 2nd week was a cracker and stands out . I'll elaborate on the day for the benefit of readers for whom Snowmass Mtn is familiar. For those who aren't you will want to skip this part. It'll serve though as a diary record of a memorable day for Meghan and me. Over a foot of snow overnight ( and it continued to snow for most of the day ) and we were among the first few on the Village Express when it opened at 8.30. We started with 5 different runs off the Sam's Knob chair each one on untracked powder . Then up the Big Burn lift and one run down power line glades . Up the `Burn ` lift again and this time down through powder in and out of trees to west of Sneaky's and continuing down to top of Powderhorn which had been opened minutes before . Thus , again , completely untracked powder all the way to Campground - about 4,500 feet of skiing from top of Big Burn to Campground. Then up 3 lifts to get back to top of Big Burn and down AMF ( courtesy to readers forbids me to explain what that stands for ). After quick coffee and muffins at Gwyns High Alpine, we then did 3 Hanging Valley Walls on the trot coming down different runs - mostly through the trees - on each occasion and each time untracked snow often up to thigh level. Time then for me to drive a bus for 7 hours and Meghan to have 2 more runs off High Alpine before heading back to Meadow Ranch.

The attached gives some idea of what the `bowl ` at Highlands had to offer. Mary also made it to the top a couple of times on two separate days - entails a 40 minute hike from top lift station. House very quiet after the kids' departure - back to bus driving , cider serving, ski corral duties, music practice, skiing and boarding .... and more snow shovelling. Also , have seen a couple of brilliant newly released films in Aspen.

A quiet spell ahead at Meadow Ranch until Graeme and Anna Russell arrive at beginning of March and Nicola and Paul a week or so later. Plans taking shape for next serious bike tour - UGRR from Mobile, Alabama to Cincinatti in April / May and excitingly the maps arrived from Adventure Cycling last week.