Aspen | CO

Great spring ski day on a sunny and very warm Aspen Mountain catching up with Geoff Stump, G.R. Fielding from my hometown ski area who lives in the Aspen area and "Tats" Tatsuno, a rather legendary "ski bum" and great skier in the truest sense and a crew of other Aspen locals. So nice to ski and rip around on Ajax after a few years.

Many may know that for me growing up it was all about Aspen, looking at the ski magazines and seeing the town, powder, mountains, wild locals (of which a few legends were from my home town) and of course girls skiing in bikinis. Vail was not quite on the radar. When I finished my last college class at DU in October 83, I got in my truck, with all I owned, and headed straight to Aspen. On the way as I approached the Vail I-70 exit I figured I would stop in and see if there were any jobs... ideally a ski shop. Parked, walked over the covered bridge into the first and most famous shop Pepi Sports. 15 minutes later I had a job. Never made it to Aspen. I always wondered "what if?"

To this day every time I arrive back in Aspen (only 65 miles away) and make that left turn on 82 to Main Street I get a bit emotional, yesterday was no different. What a great mountain, vibe and still holding onto some of the old soul of skiing that we seem to have lost here, the town not so much.