The blessing of the waters. In the Shakespeare Garden.

Fairies in the garden...

Signs of spring...

Another off-season photo from a reader...

Hail Columbia, hall of higher learning. (Note statuary).

A different kind of river canyon.

Kings of off-season standing tall.

Send your off-season statuary photos to aspenjournal at gee mail...

Inner sanctum...

Last day of the season prompts "best day" musings

There were some pretty good days this season. Not as many perhaps as the last two seasons, but still, some pretty good days. This one day stands out. Cold. Clear. Fresh snow. The trees frosted in white. No one around, as usual. The snow surface may not have been perfect, but the setting of the day was amazing. That counts, doesn't it? Memorable, in any event.

David Zinman leaves Music Fest

The New York Times reported Friday evening that music director David Zinman has quit the Aspen Music Festival and School, according to an announcement by the Festival late in the day on Friday. The Times reports that Zinman was supposed to conduct five concerts this summer and that Festival CEO Alan Fletcher is now seeking replacements for those concerts as well as a replacement for Zinman. The Times reported that "Mr. Fletcher, who was fired by the festival in October and rehired in November, said that he and Mr. Zinman had disagreed about certain faculty cuts made in response to the recession last year. But he added: 'I have never had any problems with David. He raised the level of everything here and left a great legacy.'" Zinman was a huge part of the Festival. The Aspen Daily News ran several stories about Fletcher's firing, and re-hiring, last fall.

Off-seasons now accepted?

Can we call an end to the long-running false hope of the "four-season" resort? The Reno Gazette-Journal reports today on the three-week closure of the Ritz Carlton in Lake Tahoe this spring. The articles quotes Gary Horvath, managing director of the business research division of the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado at Boulder, as saying about the ski industry, “There’s a lot of seasonality to the industry and you have to be able to react to that if you want to stay in business.” Well, sure. And never more so than today. And he points to the seasonal closures at the Little Nell hotel as an example. And indeed, The Nell will be closed from April 11 through April 30 this spring. "This is just business as usual for many luxury ski resorts," Horvath is quoted as saying. Maybe it is now, but for years resorts have fought back against the reality of off season and were trying to be "four-season" resorts. No more?

Kelly Clark, top Snow Angel in Snowmass, in flight.

Ski fence tracks the eras...

Pick your era, pick your stick, you can find it on the fence above Silver Queen. This little corner on the road near 1A has always made me smile. I've eyed a spot to post my red, white and blue Eldorado snowboard, given all the good days I've had on it on Ajax. 

Of "ridiculous" reports, and meetings

We read with interest today the story in the Aspen Times by Carolyn Sackariason about Aspen City Manager Steve Barwick sending an e-mail to the Aspen Rotary Club complaining about comments from Barwick’s fellow Rotarian Andy Modell.

Barwick’s use of the phrase “another ridiculous newspaper ‘report’” seemed to reveal how he regards local journalism. Here are the two stories about the meeting in question that were published in the Aspen Daily News, one on Feb. 5 and one on Feb. 11. Judge for yourself if they are “ridiculous.”

Barwick is adamant that a closed-door executive session was held with the Pitkin County Commissioners about the Burlingame housing project, but none of the commissioners who were supposedly there can remember the meeting and there is no public record of such a meeting being held, despite the requirement under state law that such a record be produced and kept.

The stories suggest several possibilities: that there was no meeting and Barwick is mistaken that there was; that there was a meeting, but the both city and the county mistakenly violated public records laws by not recording a notice of the meeting or the votes to go into the executive session; or there was a closed-door session held by the city and the county and that it was conducted in secret on purpose, with no attempt to adhere to public notice or public record requirements. We suppose there could be another possibility as well, but we haven’t heard it yet.

According to the Times, the basis of Barwick's complaint to the Rotary Club is that Modell's comments don't meet the standards of Rotary's Four-Way Test, which is as follows: " Of the things we think, say or do:

1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?"

Ode to 1A

So, there's this place, where if one gets the chance, one should spend some time. Especially on a snowy day. It's a great place. Usually a good spot for some quiet time. It is a place frozen in time. And memory.

Evidence of Aspen's fine powder day. Courtesy photo from CSCUSA/Frank Shine photo

It did seem like the snow totals might produce something like this moment...

Just a virtual powder day for some unlucky souls...

Yes, it has come to this, peering at the powder day through the Web cam. See that the maze is getting busy at 8:33...and why wouldn't it, there is a fresh six.

The Mine Dumps, in repose, earlier this season

There is an approach to the Mine Dumps that I've discovered, and likely you have too. It's different than a top to bottom approach. It's a bit like working the Face, but instead of down and to the right, it's down slightly and then way to the left. Instead of swooping around the big pine trees toward the Meadow on the Face, it's about cutting across the open sections of the Dumps and then diving into the stands of aspen trees in between the runs. There is much tricky navigation to be done in the trees, but with repetition, one learns where the welcoming open spaces are. There are also mine pits and holes to avoid, vestiges of man's quest to pull riches from the earth, but soon a pattern emerges that allows for a few turns here and there through untrammeled snow in between the tall trees. And there are these moments that come from pausing, and scanning the horizon, that bring contemplative peace while just standing there, deeply tucked into the aspen forest. The diagonal approach to the Dump runs has served me well through the years, and as I was running today through the photos of this early winter, this particular photo of the Dumps caught my eye. The spacing of the aspen trees on the open slope, carefully left by Zen trail cutters of old, brought me a moment's peace. For while I gave up March 2010 in Aspen for a world devoid of aspen trees and snow, in exchange for the potential benefits of experience and education, the poetry of those trees, set on their hillside, seems more appealing, and just right, than ever.  

A window with a view toward spring in the desert, with fresh snow on the outside.

Count Wachtmeister and Sam Ferguson in between laps on a beautiful day...

According to our field correspondent, these guys were out carving serious turns and enjoying the snow on Thunderbowl at Highlands. They were also soaking up the sunshine and taking advantage of all that gravity has to offer. Good luck keeping up!

Sunny spring day at the Point

There are worse places to find yourself. This photo was taken by one of our loyal field correspondents, out doing a bit of research on local conditions. Understand the beauty factor was high.