"All the fundamentals are still in place," remarked a SkiCo official this morning while standing in a full lift maze at the base of the gondy. It's a good point. If people weren't going to get out and go skiing in Aspen, on New Year's Eve, on a quasi-powder day, in the sunshine, then they probably weren't going to go skiing. But the full maze was an indication that skiers are still skiers and Aspen is still Aspen. Haven't had to second-guess that much in the last thirty years here, but then, this has been 2009. The last day of the year brought a report of six inches to Aspen Mountain, which seemed a tad generous, two inches to Snowmass and Buttermilk and an inch to Highlands. Seems like Highlands might be sandbagging its snow counts this week to discourage people from coming this week. (Sincerely doubt that, but still, but it makes you wonder as the Bowl typically gets so much more snow). There is a 20 percent chance of snow is in the forecast for Friday and another 60 percent of snow is in the forecast for Saturday. But, there is a giant swirling blob of blue on the weather radar, though, so there is reason to be hopeful that 2010 will start off with a fresh approach.
Walking off the hill today, there was a great moment as crews were in the middle of loading in to the Belly Up for tonight's sold-out show with Jane's Addiction. Rock and roll tonight in the old mining town. And there should be twice as much toasting tonight in Aspen to make up for last year's bombed-out party. Cheers!
