Aspen Peak - Niche Media - Aspen living at its peak
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to tackle the physical terrain. Nearly all eyes remain focused on what's becoming increasingly more beautiful, pronounced, and perhaps daunting to some: the top of Highland Bowl. Considered a rite of passage for both Aspenites and visitors, "The Bowl" celebrates 15 years of public access this ski season. In 1997 the first flank of Highland Bowl reopened to the public after a tragic avalanche in 1984. Today, it claims 250 acres of accessible expert terrain, with its steepest pitch at 48 degrees. Considered by many as big-mountain skiing without the inherent danger of unpatrolled territory, the ridge of the 12,392-foot summit is only accessible by placing one ski or snowboard boot in front of the other, a 782- foot vertical hike (20–50 minutes depending on fitness level) that, at certain steep aspects, causes some to second-guess their decision to arrive in this storied landscape. The aforementioned snow cat shaves off a slight portion of the hike (many locals forgo the cat and hike the whole way), taking skiers and riders to the first access gate, but in order to descend the gorgeous terrain, one has to seriously earn their turns. And for some, one Bowl hike and ski run serves as the day's workout and reward, a two-for-one with 360-degree views that lift the spirit, too. F or those watching from the top of Loge Peak Lift, the trek to The Bowl resembles ants marching. Yet the march, and the collective reward— adrenaline-fueled powder shots—are irresistible to fans of the steep and deep. Once that virgin hike is conquered, often with the encouragement of seasoned "Bowlers" as they pass by at seemingly impossible speed, the allure of this peak's beautiful bounty is spellbinding. Professional skier and mountaineer Chris Davenport explains, "The Bowl is a special place. Anyone who stands on the ridge feels enlightened and enriched. There's something about the energy up there." The journey to opening the peak to the public, however, has been as rocky as its foundation. The terrain atop Highland Bowl offers an embarrassment of riches, and under the meticulous care of the esteemed Aspen Highlands Ski Patrol, is now relatively safe. Surely, The Bowl is for seasoned skiers only, those entering at their own risk and comfortable on double blacks. Yet a fatal avalanche on March 31, 1984, almost prevented it from ever being skied again. Patrollers Tom Snyder, Craig Soddy, and Chris Kessler were prepping Highland Bowl for a Colorado ski patrol party, and after setting off an explosive avalanche charge, a 1,000-foot fracture claimed the lives of all three. Whipple Vann Ness Jones, the original operator of Aspen Highlands, owned the resort at that time. It was one of the worst avalanche-control accidents in US history, and Highland Bowl was immediately closed to the public. Aspen Highlands Patrol Director Mac Smith, who first joined the patrol in 1973 and has been "beating the drum for 30 years" in regard to opening The Bowl, was present on that tragic day. After years of grappling with the incident and the loss of his friends, he decided they would have wanted it to remain open. After the accident, Smith explains, "Whip decided we weren't going to step in there for a while, or perhaps, in his mind, forever." But Smith's dream to reopen The Bowl to the public "just went to sleep for a bit. When you have a love of something, you might be able to put it away for a while, but it boils back to the surface. So in 1988 we went back up there with a bunch of patrollers from Jackson Hole. We realized it was something 162 ASPENPEAK-MAGAZINE.COM packing program that is crucial to the safety and management of the steep terrain. Today, it garners bragging rites for many die-hard local volunteers, as 25 daily boot packers log more than 2,200 grueling hours over six weeks. With their hamstrings often begging for reprieve, they stomp up and down Highland Bowl, sometimes under less than favorable weather conditions, in an effort to lasso a free full-season ski pass. "One might think Who the hell is crazy enough to do that?" says Davenport. "But the volunteers are clamoring to be up there. They want to do it because it's their ski pass, and it's their ski season training. It's also a rite of passage. Aspen Highlands Ski Patrol is so hard-working and so smart that they figured out how to get a hold of this wild bucking bronco of Highland Bowl." Volunteers must boot pack for at least five days to qualify for the early- season ski pass rate. After that, each subsequent day earns $100 per day toward the price of the pass. "Getting your head up off that pillow on the fourth day is pretty damn hard," Smith quips. The boot-packing program born at Aspen Highlands has been replicated at many resorts across the country and abroad. "We were the first, but only momentarily," he adds. It was 2005, however, that truly placed Highland Bowl on the collective bucket list of in-the-know powder hounds. With the installation of the Deep Temerity triple chair, which shimmies over 1,700 vertical feet in 7.3 minutes, 180 additional acres of expert terrain was unveiled. It eliminated the former, we should continue to pursue. It's the best skiing in North America, to our prejudices at least." In 1993, when Aspen Highlands traded ownership from Jones (who donated Aspen Highlands to Harvard University) to Gerald Hines (eventually ownership was assumed by the Aspen Skiing Company), Smith and snow study supervisor O.J. Melahn launched a detailed study of The Bowl and coordinated a three-member "Bowl Patrol"—Melahn, Peter Carvelli, and Kevin Heinecken—to study its slopes. Just four years later, during the 1997-1998 ski season, the opening of the Y-Zones, Whip's Veneration, and Filip's Leap marked the first year post-avalanche that the terrain was made accessible again to the public, conditions permitting. It stands on the ridge "Anyone who feels enriched." —CHRIS DAVENPORT was during those pivotal years of studying Aspen Highlands' terrain, however, that a remarkable way of approaching snow safety was born. Another slide in the Steeplechase area of the resort triggered a revelation on avalanche control—boot packing. "The shank slide that happened in Steeplechase was actually the birth of boot packing for avalanche control," explains Smith. "This was after The Bowl accident, and the education we were getting from the avalanche community was based on intermountain climate and the maritime climate. Those are two different snow packs from our continental climate. We realized we had to do something different than what Jackson Hole, Alta, or Lake Tahoe did, because our snowpack was different. We learned that we had to pack from the basal layer (at the bottom of the snowpack) and mix every subsequent layer, like a cement mixer. You don't allow anything that has a smooth surface that a fracture can propagate through. That was the premise of things. It was a slow learning curve, as it was breaking down what we were (originally) taught." The "Bowl Patrol" was eventually formed in the winter of 1999-2000, a preseason boot- PHOTOGRAPHY BY DANIEL BAYER