Standing at the base

Standing at the base of the X Games courses, left to right, Slopestyle, SuperPipe, X and Big Air.  To the far left, out of the photo, is the SnoCross course.  The yellow vehicle heading uphill in the middle of the photo is one of the Snocats which grooms the halfpipe.

taken 01.31.10

A little afternoon exercise

Hiking the Highland Bowl on a quiet Monday afternoon

taken 02.01.10

X Games Mono Skier X

 

This year's bronze medalist Kevin Connolly in the final jump of his semi-final run.  Note the broken handle on his right outrigger.  He skied the last third of the course that way. 

taken 01.31.10

Triple A Island

The Triple A Island, between Ozone and B-One in the Highland Bowl on Aspen Highlands

Pyramid Peak

Pyramid Peak as seen from the Olympic catwalk on Aspen Highlands

X Games at night

The view from the VIP tent, left to right, the SuperPipe, the final two jumps of the X course and the Big Air jumps (with the illuminated balloon at the top).  The Skiing SuperPipe High Air Final was taking place.

Ghostland Observatory

Ghostland Observatory performing at the base of Little Nell next to the gondola during X Games weekend.  The free concert was part of the Bud Light Concert Series and drew a good crowd.

From the lift

A section of the X Course as seen from the Summit Express lift during Winter X Games 14.

Iconic

The Maroon Bells and Pyramid Peak from Aspen Highlands

taken 01.12.2010

Second Place, Again

A member of The Humanoid League puts the finishing touches on "Unidentified Freezing Object," the other 2010 Wintersculpt second place winner.

taken 01.16.10

Tied for Second

Wintersculpt 2010 had two second place winners.  One of the two (pictured here) was “I’m Sorry If I’ve Been a Little Spacey Lately” by Frozen Chozen. 

taken 01.16.2010

First Place

2010 Wintersculpt winner

"On a Rug, Sumo Reads 'How to Dance'"

sculpted by the Numb Bums

taken 01.17.2010

Winterskol fireworks

Last night's Winterskol fireworks over Aspen Mountain.

taken  01.16.2010

Winterskol Winterfest

The Air Force Academy Band performing at the corner of Cooper and Galena as part of the Winterskol Winterfest festivities.  Fun times!

Soupskol

The crew from the Aspen Elks Lodge ladles out tastes of their offering at the annual Soupskol competition.

Let the Games Begin!

The Wintersculpt competition began at 4 pm this afternoon. Judging will be at 4 pm on Saturday.  This entry is by Team Humanoid and is titled Unidentified Freezing Object.  It'll be fun to see how it turns out.

The Elks Club

The Elks are pretty patriotic, even with their holiday decorations.

taken 12.30.2009

Earning turns

This is called earning your turns.
The Highland Bowl.
Aspen Highlands.

Set up

Getting ready for this weekend's Winterskol festivities.  There are a number of boxes like this scattered throughout the downtown which will be packed full of snow.  The hard packed snow will  then be fashioned into fantastical snow sculptures in an overnight competition.

Pillows

The Roaring Fork River at Mill Street

taken 01.03.2010

Shimmer

The freshly fallen snow shimmers in the sunlight as a light wind blows it through the air. On Y5 in the Highland Bowl on Aspen Highlands.

taken 01.07.2010

Windy

The Highland Bowl with the wind whipping snow off the peak.

taken 01.07.2010

Above the clouds

Pyramid Peak rising above the clouds as seen from Aspen Highlands

UFO?

No, just a very large bunch of New Years' Eve balloons making their New Years' Day escape. (see below)

taken 01.01.2010

Ice bar

The outdoor ice bar at Willow Creek Bistro at Aspen Highlands

taken 01.03.2010

Contrails?

The antenna tower on Loge Peak at Aspen Highlands.

Deep Temerity Lift

Riding the Deep Temerity chair lift at Aspen Highlands provides a quick lift back to Loge Peak from the Highland Bowl and Steeplechase. The addition of the Deep Temerity Lift in 2005 added about 180 acres of expert terrain to Aspen Highlands.

Ozone

On the approach to Ozone in the Highland Bowl at Aspen Highlands.

Changes

Today's City Daily Photo Theme is Changes.  As I was walking around town this morning, trying to decide what to shoot and thinking about presenting you with one of Aspen's many storefronts in flux, this paraglider flew overhead on his way to landing in Wagner Park.  So I changed my mind . . . 

See Mountain Musings Project 365 Photoblog for another shot of the paraglider landing.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Easy Street

on Aspen Highlands

The Aspen Carriage Company

Waiting for their next customers on this beautiful snowy night.  Magical.

Ajax Tavern

Ajax Tavern, site of the best truffle fries in Aspen, at the base of Aspen Mountain directly adjacent to the gondola and, recently, the dining choice of celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Gerard Butler.

taken 12/24/2009

Buckhorn

Buckhorn on Aspen Mountain

taken 12/24/2009 by a guest photographer

The Highland Bowl

The Highland Bowl, partially obscured by clouds with Highland Peak rising above the clouds, as seen from Aspen Mountain.

taken 12/24/2009 by a guest photographer

The American Way

Bad Billy's capitalizes on the latest headlines.

Christmas in Aspen

is all about the snow.

It's a ski town

This time of year, there are lots of pictures of glamorous people walking around town in fur and cowboy hats.  But Aspen is a ski town and this is a much more ubiquitous, although less photographed, sight.

Stuck in Aspen

Aspen winters are not exactly Porsche weather.  This guy's stuck but good.  He wasn't the only one stuck today.  Because of the all day snowfall, 5 of the 11 United Airline flights from Aspen to Denver today were canceled and the other 6 were delayed anywhere from an hour to four hours.  Flying in and out of Aspen must take a toll on United's on time stats.

Did they fly in?

The reindeer visiting Aspen

Silver City Ice Rink

Yesterday, to kick off the 12 Days of Aspen, the city was offering free ice skating at the Silver City Ice Rink. 

taken 12.20.2009

The Paparazzo

Stalking the celebs at Gondola Plaza

It used to be that celebrities could come to Aspen sans paparazzi but not so much anymore. Of course, there are some celebs who frequent Aspen who seem to welcome the publicity afforded by the photogs. 

Snow Polo

The USPA World Snow Polo Championships are being held this weekend here in Aspen.  In addition to being fun to watch, the event achieved a certain amount of infamy recently due to the unfortunate connection to the White House crashing Salahis who fielded a team last year and stiffed the event organizer for half the entry fee.

Power Outage

We were in Su Casa just finishing dinner this evening when the power went out in downtown Aspen.  We stayed to have another round of drinks in the candle lit ambience and it was all good.  Sadly,though, the opening night performance of White Christmas at the Wheeler Opera House across the street was canceled.

Window dressing

The holiday/winter display at the Ralph Lauren store at the corner of Cooper and Galena

taken 12.03.2009

Holiday Lights

The Independence Square Hotel went all out this year with its holiday decorations.

taken 12.03.2009

Snowy stroll

A snowy Sunday afternoon stroll down the Hyman Ave Mall

taken 12.13.2009

Christmas shopping

Aspen shoppers in front of the Aspen Burberry store.

taken 12/13/2009

Hotel Jerome in its holiday finery

The front entrance of the historic Hotel Jerome decked out for the holidays during today's snow showers.

Summit For Life

The Fourth Annual Summit For Life Aspen Charity Event for Organ Donation took place tonight. Summit For Life is a nighttime uphill race on Aspen Mountain with dinner, awards and live performance by JES GREW at the Sundeck.  Summit For Life is sponsored by the Chris Klug Foundation, which was founded by local Chris Klug, a liver transplant recipient and Olympic Medalist snowboarder.

Sheepskin seat covers?

These seat covers are definitely not sheepskin, although they do kind of look like it.

Snowcapped

A snowcapped holiday decoration outside of Alpine Bank on Hunter & Hopkins

Foreigners Everywhere

Part of the current Aspen Art Museum installation, After Marx April After Mao June by Claire Fontaine. 

Installed on the exterior of the museum building will be a neon sign that reads Foreigners Everywhere in the Ute language.* It belongs to a series of works in different languages that refer to the fact that the concept of “foreigner” is dependant (sic) on context. The light emitted from the neon is a silent reminder of a time when the woods were inhabited only by the indigenous native “Indians”—a time before colonization.

* The Utes are an ethnically related group of Native Americans now living primarily in Utah and Colorado. The native Ute language belongs to the Numic division of the Uto-Aztecan family of languages and is a dialect of Southern Numic. However, most current Utes speak only English.

The exhibit runs through January 31, 2010.

taken 12/08/2009

It dumped all day

This was the scene at the base of Aspen Mountain today around noon.  It's still snowing as I post this.  It's great being here but getting here is the trick.  The Aspen airport has been closed for two days and the Colorado State Police is recommending only emergency travel on I-70. 

Night Scene

Hyman Avenue Pedestrian Mall in the early season snow

Brush Creek Village

A picturesque snow covered setting in Brush Creek Village, which climbs the hills at the intersection of Brush Creek Road and Hwy 82.

In the light of the moon

Aspen Mountain in the light of the full moon.

taken 12/03/2009

Prep work

Prepping Buttermilk for its December 12th opening and prepping the Half Pipe for its late January X Games starring role.

Natural & Artificial Light

The Sardy House Tree on Main Street with the full moon rising over Smuggler Mountain. Lit with 10,000 LED bulbs, at 90 feet tall, the Sardy House tree is the tallest living Christmas tree in the US.

Tractors & Martinis?

Helly Hansen's Moods of Norway.  I wonder how many of these we'll see on the mountain?  Helly Hansen is the official uniform of the Aspen SkiCo . . .

taken 11/28/2009

Liquid lunch?

A table at Ajax Tavern at the base of Aspen Mountain

NorAm Giant Slalom

Laurenne Ross racing in today's NorAm GS on Aspen Mountain.  The NorAm Cup circuit, one level below the Audi FIS World Cup, kicks off the season in Colorado at Loveland and Aspen. The eight stop series will wrap up March 14-18 in New England for the finals.