Wolf Creek is a family owned resort about 25 miles east of Pagosa Springs in the San Juan Mountains of Southwest Colorado that gets more snow than anywhere else in the Rockies, rivaling Tahoe in terms of totals. The base is at 10,300ft, with the summit at 11,900 – so not that much vertical. Andy and I rolled in expecting the place to be pretty dead, but were greeted by a huge parking lot that was 99.9% full (I think we literally got the last spot at the end of the lower parking lot).

The snow quality wasn’t quite what I was hoping for, but we made the best of it by hiking the ridgeline up to the peak a couple of times, and definitely got better snow than down below. Although the weather was finally warming up into the 20s, it was definitely a cold day

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After the ass injury, I decided to not rush it the next day and met Adam and Ricardo at Aspen Highlands for a half day. Some delays in meeting up with them due to lack of cell phone coverage (and Andy getting a breakfast burrito), but we got right into things with a warm up run, followed by a hike up to Highlands Peak, with access to the bowl. It was a pretty sketchy hike along a knife ridge to the summit at 12,329ft. You could see the Maroon Bells and Pyramid Peak in the distance, and overall it was an awesome view. The sketchiness came directly from the fact that a misstep would have resulted in a 3000ish foot fall. I looked, but Adam just counted footsteps. We got some decent snow from the top, although it was a little hard to ride with my legs being tired from the climb, and my ass being generally crampy.

Adam and Ricardo on the cat for the first part of the ascent. There really wasn’t much point, but considering the undertaking, we took it. The snow was light and flaky, so a lot was getting kicked up (likely due to the fact that it was 10 degrees outside), and catching the sun.

Adam after not dying hiking the knife ridge. The hike up was just to the left of the red rock, and was quite steep, with just a rope anchored into the rock to save you if you slipped. I think it was mostly just there to make you feel better.

The Maroon Bells and Pyramid Peak are some of the most photographed mountains in the Rockies (world?), so of course we got a shot of Adam peering out at them.

The summit was much what you would expect from a summit, complete with Tibetan prayer flags.

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We arrived in Aspen to a freakishly cold system, and it took a couple of days to get out on the mountain – waking up to a temp of -4 at the base is enough to make you turn over and go back to sleep. The first night we at dinner at Nobu, which was generally overpriced, not that fantastic, and included a very interesting set of dinner guests. A 21st birthday, her 36 year old boyfriend, a 19 year old counterfeit ID maker, and the owner of Zynga, for example. The next day we ate dinner at Tony’s house, which is one of the coolest places I have seen, and the food was excellent. The company was much more laid back and it was an entirely more enjoyable experience (on a side note, Adam and Leslye flew in on Tony’s Citation 10, the fastest non-military jet in the world).

We started out our actual boarding on Snowmass, being the largest of the 4 mountains in the area. The air was pretty cold, but it was sunny, and the snow was really fast. We did venture off piste a couple of times, one resulting in me hitting a rock and land *hard* on my left ass cheek. It was painful enough that I grayed out for a minute, and it took 5 or so for me to come around and be able to ride. Thankfully the rest of the day focused on groomers, which turned out to be one of the better on piste days I’ve had. The limp should be around for a few days before the muscle heals.

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