Being out of town, and seeing scenes like this, brings back positive memories.

This photo of the sleigh horses at Ashcroft brings back memories of just a few weeks ago, when I went up with my mom for lunch at the Cookhouse. It was a quiet, slow-paced day, just right for a sleigh ride. I saw the area through a visitor's eyes that day and came away with a new appreciation for the beauty of the place. Now, having spent the first two weeks of a six-month sojourn in New York, the beauty of the day seems all the more remarkable. As I was viewing photos of the archive, this scene jumped out at me as being especially quaint, what with the old buildings in the background. I look forward to a return to the valley and the simple pleasures of standing there, taking a deep breath, and really seeing what is in front of me. If you are in the mountains today, you might try a similar exercise. But maybe distance, and time, are important ingredients to raising the appreciation factor. Perhaps that is why so many visitors return year after year. The beauty stays with them, and calls them back for more. 

Copper Mtn pushing the powder today with a nice PR photo. We get the idea.

End of the ski day in the old mining town...snapshot from a friend.

Spring-like day in NYC and back home in Aspen...

...A friend in Aspen said it feels like spring might be coming early. Ah yes, blue sky, white snow and spinning chairlifts. It's been an interesting week, being so far from the hill. It makes the SkiCo's gondy cam like a portal back to another land and another time. The desktop check to make sure the bucket is still spinning has taken on symbolic importance...

Not quite the view of the Elk Mtns, but we're on assignment...

Heard there has been a series of blue-sky soft-snow days pleasant enough to make the young laugh and the old weep. Trust me, those days are still in demand.

Powder day in NYC...

Yes, it's true, we're on leave in the Big Apple, looking for its core. We've left the sanctity of the gondola cars for the subway cars. And rather than hiking up the ridge, we'll be hiking across the avenues. We'll be reading the ski reports with interest...and so you can imagine my chagrin that one of the first city sights encountered was heavy equipment clearing the snow that was thickly laid in recently...

Fresh 3 inches, blue sky, sunshine, you know, the usual mix...

...Fresh snow, delivered daily...

'Nother snowy day in town, with three or four fresh this morning...

...heard from one Ajax pioneer that the snow laid in nicely over the carpet,
making for fine cruising. He said getting out on the board was just the
ticket.

Good conditions for the snowboard in there today...

Bowled over. Early lap down through the kitchen while the massive stash in the woods awaits.

Thick and deep in the bowl today with fog coming in and out. Snowing again now in town. This winter has had a significant change of attitude.

Powder Day. Good one. Deep. Light. Soft. Still has a bottom to it, but it is fading underfoot in many places.

It is a WOW day...

Sure seems like it wants to keep snowing. Another four inches expected overnight. We are believers.

Schedule for Monday? Arise, track, rejoice, and hope for still more snow...

Another view of Bell, awaiting further attention.

Softest, deepest day in some time on Aspen Mtn, busy but not crowded under snowy skies.

Formally stingy lines now opening and revealing themselves in the trees.

Dumping hard in Basalt at 8 pm. Another four inches since dusk. Deep on Sunday we reckon. At last...

Highway is probably one-lane in each direction and surreal...

The snow was deep and thick and fun and welcome and all over the mountain...

...it was good to see the tips of the skis disappear beneath boot-top deep
snow on Ajax and there is no doubt even more snow in the higher environs of neighboring ski fields. Many skiers were out flexing their ski passes on this Saturday.

Skiers were backed up on the stairs at 9:15 waiting for the bucket to open...

...Every skier worth their goggles and gator was out this morning as Ajax called 7 inches of fresh snow and Snowmass called ten.

Four inches easy on the fence rail across from the cabin...

...and it feels like it is meant to keep snowing through the day. Hurray!

Snowing steadily in Aspen now with 3 to 7 in the forecast for tonight and more on Saturday...

...thought this photo of a patroller at Telluride from Colorado Ski Country
USA captured some of the joy brought on by snow in the mountains. Telluride
has gotten ten inches recently. Snowmass is reporting up to 21 inches and
appears to be winning the local snow derby during this latest cycle.

SkiCo powder shots prove its been snowing in Aspen...and more is on the way.