Well, I did it.

Here's the view over the cornice.

About to go into the chute.

Now what?

Mission accomplished.

Here's a view toward the Cirque from the top of the High Alpine lift. I took this photo while hiking up toward Hanging Valley Wall. You can see AMF and Gowdy's, the two chutes down through the cliff face. Wish me luck!

Today the whole gang posed for a group photo at the top of Elk Camp.

This evening, while everyone watched the Oscars (that's George Clooney on the TV), I prepared Swedish Meatballs. And guess what I found in the market here? This little jar cost 7 bucks, but at least we had lingonberries with our meatballs!

Here we are sitting down to eat. The camera wasn't pointed quite right, so Ruth Ann got cut off. Sorry, Auntie Ann!

This morning I went up the Cirque lift again. It stopped when I was halfway up and didn't start again for 10 minutes. So I took a few photos.

The Cirque area.

Another view of the Cirque, to the right of the last picture.

In the foreground are two chutes down into the Cirque. I think the nearer one is AMF, and the more distant is Gowdy's. I might try one of them tomorrow morning.

Today I just did the Cirque Headwall again.

It's actually not as difficult as I thought it might be. The snow was quite okay — a bit windswept and icy on top, but soft underneath.

I skiied around to the left, traverssing all the way around behind the little hill with the trees, so I that I could get a better view of the chutes from below.

This is AMF, as seen from below. It looks do-able.

Here's the view of the West face of the Cirque, as seen from just below AMF. Some people actually jump off those bluffs. They're nuts.

And here's the view down. After the brief narrow bit of the chute, it opens up and you've got as much room as you need. The challenge for me is that it's quite steep. It takes all my courage just to point my skis downhill on a slope like this!

Safely at the bottom of the slope, I took a shot of AMF. It's the little mogul-encrusted chute at the center of the picture near the top. Today I skiied in from the left, just under where AMF empties onto the slope.

Another, perhaps more challenging chute is further to the right on the West face of the Cirque. This one is Gowdy's. No moguls. But moguls can actually be nice on a slope this steep because they give you something to stand on! I watched the two guys in this photo navigate the chute without much trouble. It's narrow, but still wide enough to make turns. I don't know if I have the guts to tackle this one though.

And lastly, here's a view of Gwyn's High Alpine restaurant, as seen from the Cirque.
This has been one of the best ski vacations I've had, and I'm looking forward to one final day of terrific skiing!

This morning I took Powderhorn down from near the top. The trail goes all the way along the West end of the ski area boudary.

From the gate, it looks easy. But after the first rise, you see what you're in for. The trail is moguls all the way down. It's probably at least 3 miles long. I began to feel like a human shock absorber after a few minutes.

Here's the view from the bottom, looking back up at the last stretch.

After the steep downhill bit, there was a road that wrapped back around toward the main ski area. To the left of the road was a near sheer dropoff, with not much in the way of snow cover. As though it were not obvious, the left side of the roadway had signs placed every fifty feet or so, advising skiers ski area boundary.

I met the family for lunch. Afterward, we skiied one run together. I took this photo using the timer delay on my little Nikon. I didn't quite get to the place where I wanted to before the shutter snapped. Oh well.

Then I went my own way and tried to make the best of the afternoon. The sun came out around 15.00, but the wind didn't subside. I had gone up High Alpine in the morning, but I heard from other skiers that the lift was closed around lunchtime due to the high winds.

Once the skies cleared, the views were incredible.

Did I mention the views?

I timed my runs just perfectly today. I caught Alpine Springs up just 2 minutes before it closed, went down to the bottom and caught Village Express up. I then skied down and caught Big Burn just a few minutes before it closed for the end of the day. I took this photo of Snowmass Mountain (the white-capped one in the distance) on the way up the Big Burn lift around 16:05.

Down the valley to the East is the town of Aspen.

My aunt Ruth Ann.

And my uncle Ollie, sititng on the couch while my mom knits.
My aunt & uncle just arrived from Seattle. They'll be here with us for the rest of our stay.

Returning from a long day of skiing.

An after-ski beer is always nice.

I also sat for a while in the swimming pool-sized hot tub. I think I'm going to sleep well tonight.

Hi from Snowmass mountain. Here I am on a trail called Cirque Headwall. It wasn't as bad as the name suggests, but there were lots of rocks.

Here's a view of the slope that I took on the way up the Cirque lift.

The views today were just incredible. The weather was warm and sunny. In fact, it was so sunny that I got a bit of sunburn on my neck.

I returned to Hanging Valley Wall too of course. It wasn't as difficult as I had remembered it being. Maybe I took a different way down this time. In any event, it was fun and the snow was great.

The view down from the top.

Did I mention the views?

Mom & dad.

In the background of this photo, you can see the Maroon Bells.

A few clouds moved in later in the afternoon, but they didn't block much of the sunlight.

The windswept snow and ice at the top of the mountain looked like a scene from another world.

Hello from Snowmass Village, Colorado!

As you can see, we have internet access. And I didn't even need to use my cantenna!

I'm up here in Snowmass for a few days of skiing with my parents and my aunt & uncle from Seattle. Snowmass is a few miles from Aspen in the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado. My family has been coming to Colorado since I was 6 years old. I was here with Lotta three summers ago, but it's been many years since I came here during the winter. It will be fun to see the old familiar places again.