Skiing or Snowboarding Aspen Highlands

Steep Terrain in the Shadow of the Maroon Bells

Oct 1, 2009

Known for its steep terrain and more recently, the Highlands Bowl, Aspen Highlands offers an informal alternative for skiers and boarders looking for an alpine challenge.

Aspen Highlands is one of the four mountains in the Aspen Snowmass Resort. Just as Buttermilk is the antithesis of the Aspen experience, Aspen Highlands resists the bright and shiny veneer of the resort's overall image. As a winter destination resort, Aspen/Snowmass is known for its steep and deep terrain, glitzy nightlife, and pricey real estate, however, since its beginnings in 1958, Aspen Highlands has always catered to the local hard-core ski culture. Families, intermediate skiers, and snowboarders willl find a day at Highlands challenging and loads of fun. Those that return day after day to this mountain are looking for an athletic work-out that involves hiking uphill as well as skiing down.

Black Diamond Skiing

A reputation for steep slopes, open bowls, and sparsely thinned forested terrain segregates Highlands from the other three mountains in the resort. At this mountain, less is more; Mountain Hardware, Patagonia and Cloudveil take precedence over Bogner and Kjus ski wear. While Aspen Highlands caters to those who want a challenge, it also welcomes intermediate skiers and boarders. Almost half of the mountain is rated intermediate and most of those runs feed back to the base. Families or friends of differing abilities can ski the slope of their choice and still easily reconvene for a lunch together.

The Bowl

For hardy, and acclimated, skiers and boarders, the ultimate Aspen Highlands experience is a hike to the summit of Highland Peak, overlooking the Highland Bowl. At 12,392' in elevation, this hike is not for sissies. However, those that do make it to the top are rewarded by views to the surrounding Elk Mountains, Maroon Bells and Gore Range, and a challenging, downhill aerobic run through an array of ungroomed, open and forested in-bounds terrain. Dutifully boot-packed in November by an army of local volunteers, the Bowl is carefully monitored throughout the ski season by the highly proficient ski patrol on an hourly basis for avalanche conditions, and lost and/or ill-prepared visitors.

A lap in the Bowl involves a trip to the top of Loge Peak on the chairlift, a 10-minute trip in a snowcat that has been converted to hold approximately thirty people, and finally, a hike of approximately 780 steps. Most hikers use backpacks or bowl-straps, a handy strap that can be looped through the skis for easy backpack-like transport uphill. Hikers do not have to hike to the top of the peak: many opportunites exist along the entire ridge to ski inbounds, into the Highlands Bowl. Upon completion of a lap (or three) in the Highlands Bowl, skiers and boarders ride the fixed grip triple Deep Temerity lift, which comes in adjacent to the Loge Peak lift atop Highlands.

Mountain Terrain

Most of expert terrain exists on the upper part of the mountain. Olympic Bowl, Steeplechase, Deception, and Log Jam Gully make up just some of this remaining expert terrain. More often than not, stashs of untracked powder can still be found in the trees on any of these runs. Helmets are highly recommended for these runs as the trees can be deceivingly close together (helmets are required for children under the age of 12).

The mid and lower sections of the mountain consisit of rolling wide beginner and intermediate terrain. The bottom section of the eastern side of the mountain is dominated by Thunderbowl, a wide and open intermediate run that hosts most of the ski competitions on the mountain.

Terrain: 1,028 acres (easiest: 18%, more difficult: 30%, most difficult: 16%, expert: 36%)

Parking: Vehicles with 4 or more people park for free. All others pay $12 before noon.

Bus Service: The free Highlands skier shuttle runs every 15-20 minutes from various bus stop locations in Aspen. The Castle/Maroon bus is free and runs every 20 minutes. The free Maroon Creek Road shuttle runs every 30 minutes, and a free bus service runs between Buttermilk and Highlands throughout the day.

The copyright of the article Skiing or Snowboarding Aspen Highlands in Colorado Travel is owned by Sarah Shaw. Permission to republish Skiing or Snowboarding Aspen Highlands in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.