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The Mountains of Aspen
Buttermilk is the easiest mountain of the four and the home of Winter X Games VII. Primarily a beginner and intermediate hill, the terrain is perfect for parks and pipes. The 2-mile long Crazy Train park at Buttermilk is famous and will have all the rails and hits you can handle. Just be sure you check the best in the world at the X Games, the action is sick! For many of the events you can stand a few feet from the action. I swear the lift lines are minimal, you can watch the event and ride, maybe even score some pow on Tiehack. The pros also have to ride the lifts up, so you may even share a lift with one of them. Many fans prefer to watch their event of choice at Buttermilk and then head to one of the other mountains to ride. Some of the terrain will closed during the X Games, no prob, hit another mountain. Take a free bus to the X Games, parking can suck! Aspen Mountain's steep fall line runs loom over town. Aspen is famous for its steep bumps and sick groomers but there are so many aspects to the mountain that you can always find good snow. Since the mountain attracts mostly experts the bumps can be perfectly round, kind of like a skatepark through the perfectly spaced trees. The Dumps are great place to look for pow and rocks. There is also Cat skiing off the backside if you got the bankroll. They may have a rail park set up at the bottom this year as well. Aspen Highlands is the "local's area", quite steep and great place to shred pow with your bros. This mountain works up a ridge to the famous Highlands Bowl, huge, above tree line, with angles approaching 45 degrees. The bowl requires a hike to the top and long traverse out, well worth it on a powder day. Steeplechase is also sick on a freshie day. There is no park or pipe but the mountain flows like a natural park. You're allowed to build your own jumps, if they are not in the way of a run. The views from the summit are picture perfect. I was there during the X Games and it was empty. There was a big storm and it was cold, fresh tracks all day, perfect. Could be you this year. Snowmass is huge and has terrain for all. The variety of terrain here makes Snowmass popular with families. Don't worry, there is plenty of steep terrain, trust me, there will be no families up on The Cirque, that stuff is steep. You could ride here all year and find something new everyday. Snowmass also has good parks and a pipe. During the X Games, head here to shred the park and pipe in solitude. Trenchtown is the expert park and pipe and Funnel is great for learning. Snowmass also has the sickest moderate angle tree runs in The Burn. The biggest drawback at Snowmass and Buttermilk are the flat spots, can you say traversearado. On exploring the mountains you will find flat spots but you figure it out.
Website- aspensnowmass.com Phone- (800) 525-6200 Related Photos: Aspen Mountains Gallery Copyright ©2003 ESPN Internet Ventures. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and Safety Information are applicable to this site.
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