Day 1 at the Aspen Highlands was about learning to ride down a mountain of ice. Apparently it hadn't snowed in Aspen in over a week. This is me about to go down Gunbarrel.
We had dinner that night at Olives, the restaurant at the St Regis. Best meal of the week. We had the mountain chowder (made with smoked trout), steak crudo ( their version of steak tartare), smoked peasant ravioli ( best and most unique tasting ravioli I've ever had), duck with lentils and the best vanilla souffle ever!
Luckily for us, I started snowing. And it snowed and snowed and snowed....!
Day 2 we went to Snowmass and spent most of our time at the Elk Camp area of the mountain. The trail down Bear Run is really pretty- a very wide run with interspersed trees. It gave the feel that you were going through natural country, not an artificially cleared ski slope.
Night 2 we had dinner at Pinions. Actually there was dinner served with my conference at the St Regis and we stopped by and had some appetizers first- the salmon sashimi was very good. I think Pinions is way over rated! Both the fried oysters and the elk was very disappointing. They were not very interesting preparations and the oysters were all batter, no oyster!
Day 3 we went to Aspen Highlands in the morning and then to Buttermilk in the afternoon. It was a beautiful sunny day but turned quite windy in the afternoon. It was my favorite day of boarding. That evening we went to Little Nells Montagna for dinner. Loved the chicken liver pate ( was a good as any foie gras torchon I've ver had)! The aggplant that came with the home made mozarella was very yummy ( the mozarella itself was so-so). We then had a sampling of their homemade pastas, one ia an elk bolgnese sauce and the other in a cream sauce with crab and Maine lobster. Their pasta dishes were good but did not equal the ravioli at Olives.
Day 4 was blizzard day. We went to Snowmass. Spent the morning at Elk Camp again. In the afternoon we took Park Avenue across to the Naked Lady area. It was snowing so hard that when I fell I was afraid to sit too long for fear of being buried in the snow. Had my first experience of boarding in deep deep powder down Naked Lady. Lessons learn- get speed or you'll get stuck, don't fall or you'll never get up, and just keep you body and knees really loose and go with the flow.
On the way down the mountain, go stuck in waist deep snow and took me forever to dig my way out Bear Grylllis style!
Had dinner at Matsuhisa on that last night. The sashimi dinner was delectably presented in and igloo! The miso black cod and miso eggplant was yummy and so was the new world style wild salmon sashimi ( where they pour hot oil over the raw fish). Nevertheless, I'd still take Ebisu over Matsuhisa if it was to be my last meal ever.
Last day in Aspen: went to Buttermilk. The landscape at Buttermilk is rather different. There are fewer pine trees and many bare branches of deciduous trees. A very barren landscape that has a charm of its own. At times I felt like I was snowboarding in a desert. Spent the morning in West Buttermilk ( the easy green runs). I took advantage of the fresh snow and spent most of my time going down the ungroomed powdery green trail that ran right under the ski lift.
For lunch , we went over the the Highlands to eat at the Cloud Nine restaurant. We had the elk ragout and buffalo tenderloin. It was the best stew I've ever had, and I normally don't even like stew. The buffalo tenderloin was also delicious but how could it not be with the creamy cheesy sauce they poured over it.
The is the view from the deck of cloud nine restaurant.
After lunch, I went back alone to Buttermilk as Mike was too tired. Spent it exploring the Blue trails on the Tiehack side of Buttermilk. Great mountain views on this side and quiet trails with few people. The blacks on this side look pretty easy. Maybe I will try them the next time I return to Aspen.
