Corduroy Empire

Wut Up? Skiing is on in Aspen. Click 4 pix.Happy Thanksgiving.  Yaaaaay, the ski season is under way in Aspen.  As always,  the lifts in Aspen started spinning on Thanksgiving Day.  There are plenty of things to be thankful for in Aspen, but awesome ski conditions is not one of them.   Aspen Mountain & Snowmass had very limited terrain open for skiing and riding.  Kudos go out to the snow-makers and groomers who got one run open on Aspen Mountain.  It was an "old school" opening day requiring a ride on the little used Little Nell & Bell Mountain lifts to get to the ski able terrain.   Spar Gulch to Little Nell were the only runs open on Ajax. 

Luckily Aspen Spin got out there early, before the crowds and got some super-tasty man-made corduroy.  Spar to the Bar was the run of choice for many.

This weekend should be fun packed with the Women's World Cup racers in town.  Music, events and parties are on the docket...we'll try to keep up.   We're are breaking out the SNOW DANCE every night, lets hope we get dumped on soon.   In the meantime... 

Click 4 Pix.  CORDUROY EMPIRE

First Tracks on the Corduroy Empire. Aspen Mountain Opening Day. Click 4 Pix.The Bell Mountain Chair lift doesn't get much use anymore, but it was spinning for opening day in Aspen. Click 4 pix.

 When home town hero Chris Davenport talks about going BIG. He means it. In-Store at Aspen Sports. Click 4 pix.

The Coach. Bob Beattie and Mountain Man Mike Marolt at Aspen Business Luncheon. Click 4 pix.

Aspen Community Dinner with Aspen T.R.E.E.

Eden Vardy, founder of Aspen T.R.E.E. with Aspen's Mayor Mick Ireland. Click for pix.Thanksgiving dinner for 1500 people.  Niiiice!!!

Almost 4,000 pounds of food was consumed last night in Aspen. All of it locally grown, all of it organic and sustainable and it was  all free for everyone.  Thank you to Aspen T.R.E.E. (Together Regenerating the Environment through Education) for hosting The 5th annual Aspen Community Dinner.

Click 4 Pix:  Aspen Community Dinner

Nutritious eats were served up "farm to table" hot and tasty at Aspen High School by Aspen T.R.E.E. and a large cadre of volunteers and supporters.  Turkey and all the fixin's was grown and raised entirely right here in the Roaring Fork Valley.  The Aspen Community Dinner has quickly become one of AspenSpin's favorite events.  The free feast draws a very eclectic crowd and feeds people from all walks of life.  It's a true community gathering.  The holiday atmosphere and the "open house" feeling creates a mixture of local families, young people, rippers & shredders, and some folks who live right on the edge here in our Valley as well as some of Aspen's most affluent residents.   It's all in good fun and the room is filled with the smells and sounds of a home cooked Thanksgiving meal along with plenty of smiling faces.

We here in Aspen have plenty to be thankful for.  Our beautiful home is surrounded by mountains that  effectively shelter us from some of the harshities of real life.  Plus we recreate harder than almost any other town in the world.  Thanksgiving means a lot of different things to a lot of different people.  This year I'm especially thankful for our environment...or what we have left of it. Please read my previous article, The Party Farm.   It's a true story about my fears of climate change or global warming..whatever you want to call it.  I explored contributing to an urban farming project in Detroit (my home town) as a way to take action.  Eden Vardy and Aspen T.R.E.E. helped educate me about farming and sustainable lifestyle practices prior to my trip to Detroit.   Eden gave me a crash course,, the twitter version of farming 101.  The Aspen T.R.E.E. and their small farm off Highway 82 just outside of town is an example of what can be.  They GROW, LEARN SHARE and INSPIRE.  Their mission:  Empower Youth and Community through Positive, Solution Oriented Sustainability and Healthy Food-Shed Education.  

Click to learn more about Aspen T.R.E.E.The Farm-to-Table Community Dinner is something Aspen should be proud of as a community. We are leaders in sustainability...and each and every one of us can help spread the word to friends and relatives.   We are on the forefront of the climate war...and make no mistake...the war is on.  

I especially enjoyed the joy and excitement on the faces of those being served and on those volunteers doing the serving.  Taking part in the Aspen Community Dinner made me feel warm and fuzzy all over.  The fact that opening day for ski season is 2 days from now, there's very little snow and it was sunny and 50 degrees today may have contributed to the warm aspect of it.  But it was a great event and we at AspenSpin support the great efforts of Aspen T.R.E.E. 

Click 4 pix:  ASPEN COMMUNITY DINNER

Volunteers worked the kitchen at the Aspen Community Meal hoste by Aspen T.R.E.E. Click 4 pix.Max and Shlomo and the boys getting ready to chow down at Aspen T.R.E.E.'s FREE Dinner. Click 4 Pix.Willie was cracking up at The Aspen Community Dinner. Fun for All. Click for pix.

Pre-Season Scouting Report: Aspen Mountain

It's almost time to ski and ride in Aspen.  Anticipation for ski season 2012/13 is high.  The Aspen Powder Hounds are chomping at the bit.  Aspen Mountain is a very intimate ski hill with only 673 acres (inbounds).  The gondola ride to the top is about 17 minutes.  Non stop skiing top-to-bottom, 3,267 verts takes about 6 minutes (depending on who you are).  Here's a zoom study, 11/17/12.

Aspen Sports & Chris Davenport : Ring of Fire (in store 11/21)

Chris Davenport ,Photo: SpyderAt AspenSpin we may be a little old for hero worship...but Aspen's own hometown hero Chris Davenport has truly earned and deserves all the accolades he receives in the skiing world.

If you know Chris Davenport you know he's a great guy, a family man, friendly to everybody, nice, polite, patient with the fans and a true ambassador to skiing. Not to mention... he's a ripping skier.   Dav comes from a skiing family and was a ski racer in college at The University of Colorado.  Later, after moving to Aspen he won the World Extreme Skiing Championships, an X Games medal, the 24 Hours of Aspen and competed in many other contests and World Class competitions.  Today, he is one of the most accomplished BIG MOUNTAIN Skiers in the World.

In 2006 when Dav hiked and skied all 54 of Colorado's 14,000 foot peaks in less than one year he became a ski mountaineering legend.  Since then he's bagged numerous highly technical first descents, hiked and skied peaks all over the world, including Antarctica.  Chris has been in more than 30 ski movies and appears in all the ski mags.  He's also a highly regarded TV commentator and an author.  Perhaps his greatest work is with POW (Protect Our Winters) a non-profit organization that has mobilized the winter sports community to take action against climate change.

 Davenport's athletic ability and skill along with his complete attention to detail and safety has allowed him to carve out a spectacular career as a professional skier.  He creates his own adventures now.   Last spring, Chris and a bunch of his friends tooled around the Great Northwest hiking and skiing all the Volcano's they could find. 

It became known as:

The RING of FIRE Tour.

WEDNESDAY November 21 at 6 pm at ASPEN SPORTS (Cooper Street Mall location), Davenport will be giving a brief talk about The RING of FIRE Tour.   You'll have a chance to meet & greet Chris Davenport and hear about all his BIG MOUNTAIN exploits. We'll assume there will be posters, autographs and plenty of swag from Spyder.

See all the details by clicking:

ASPEN SPORTS and CHRIS DAVENPORT / RING of FIRE (in store).

Chris Davenport doing his thing. Courtesy Photo: Photo by Christian Pondella.

*AspenSpin recieved promotional considerations for this post.

Helmet Band-Its: Safe & Stylish on the Slopes

Helmet Band-Its. Safety Meets Fashion.According to SIA (Snowsports Industry of America) 67% of skiers & riders in America now wear helmets on the slopes.   That figure is up considerably from the 25% who wore helmets in 2002/03.  AspenSpin has been advocating helmet use and skier safety for many years, ever since a helmet-less Andy Party collided head-on with a BIG Aspen tree at high speed.  The tree did not move, but luckily A. Party was not seriously hurt.

In Aspen...everybody wants to look super-stylie on the slopes...and sometimes ski helmets can create a style quandary.   Not so any more with the advent of Helmet Band-Its.

 Helmet Band-Its allow safety and fashion to work together.  Helmet Band-Its are a modern fashion accessory that allow thrill-seeking fashionistas to combine substance and form and convert their plain old safety helmet into a trend-setting headpiece.

Click to Shop for Helmet Band-Its

Robin Dorman created Helmet Band-Its after sustaining serious injuries in a ski accident...without a helmet.  As a result she developed Helmet Band-Its, a full line of sleek, easy to use, modern fashion accessories to make any helmet look chic.  The Helmet Band-Its line includes both premium fur and faux fur and comes in a wide variety of styles and colors.  Helmet Band-Its are versatile and interchangeable accessories that can be stylishly worn with your helmet, as a headband or as a shawl.   They can also be matched with wrist cuffs to complete your elegant look.  Helmet Band-Its are made in the USA and only use the finest European faux and premium furs.  Women, teens and children can all look their best while staying safe with Helmet Band-Its.

Helmet Band-Its. Click to Shop.Skiing in Aspen is all about style.  We are exposed to all the newest, coolest and most exclusive winter  fashions on our slopes...from duct tape to mink.  Helmet Band-Its allow skiers and riders to look dashing, cultured and in vogue while still protecting their most important body part...their brain.

See the full line and SHOP:

HELMET BAND-ITS

Chic, Stylish and Practical.  Helmet Band-Its allow you to go from Snow to Show...and still remain safe.

All images and promotional considerations provided to AspenSpin by Helmet Band-Its.