Snowmass Trip Report
by Kelly Frizzell
We actually got to go on our annual family ski trip this year! Woo Hoo! Last year we weren't so lucky due to the start of the pandemic so I guess it's our "almost annual family trip" now. We went to Snowmass March 13-20 for Spring Break.
We had 21 participants on this trip, ranging in age from 4 to...let's just say older. On our fourth almost annual family trip were The Lynn Family, The Reedy Family, The Frizzell Family, Steve L., Anne and Jim W., Ron and Nelson T., Friederike S. and Sandy H. We were able to meet up to ski/snowboard together several days, have several meals together and had a great time! The start of our trip was a little rocky however.
The "snow storm of the century" was predicted to hit Denver upon our arrival Saturday evening so SportsAmerica, our tour operator, shifted our flights to leave Nashville Saturday morning as early as possible to try to avoid as much of it as we could. We all (except the Reedys...more on that later) arrived safe and sound to Denver without incident. Upon arrival, there wasn't any snow on the ground but it had already started west of Denver and in the mountains. They had split our group into two for flights from Denver to Aspen. One of those flights was delayed and the other was cancelled. Since we had a bus on standby, thanks to SportsAmerica's proactive thinking, we all met and decided we needed to just get on the bus ASAP or we wouldn't make it through the pass. Thankfully we made it through and Daniel, our driver, dropped us at the Aspen airport to get our bags. He immediately headed back to Denver before he ran out of driving hours for the day so couldn't take us to our condos. Unfortunately, upon our arrival to Aspen airport, we discovered that the Lynns were missing about half of their luggage, including their ski pants, some of their coats and all of their regular clothes. Boo! The people at the airport assured them their luggage would arrive via bus that night so we left the airport and headed to our condos.
We reinstated our transfers from Aspen airport to Top of the Village with Aspen Transportation Company and made our usual liquor/grocery store run. Upon our arrival to TOV, bellmen were waiting to take our luggage to our rooms. Then we got settled in and watched several inches of snow fall! The Reedys missed out on all of this fun as they had decided not to chance it and left Sunday from Nashville to Chicago and direct in to Aspen. They landed before 10 pm Sunday night and arrived at TOV around 11pm after the shuttle from Aspen was unable to take them to the condo due to being stuck about an hour out from the airport and had to find alternate transport.
The group was thankful that we had gotten on the bus when we did! They closed Vail Pass and Loveland Pass as well as several miles of I-70 just hours after we got through due to lots of snow falling in some locations. No bus with the Lynn Family's luggage came however. The flight some of us were supposed to be on finally made it through but most flights were cancelled. No flights would land in Aspen from Denver for the next few days. That included the flight that was then supposed to have the Lynn Family's luggage on it. The person at Aspen airport was incorrect that their luggage was on a bus as they had stated, which would have made it through at the time they were told that but not after. Unfortunately, since conditions deteriorated towards Denver, they kept the interstate closed and flights grounded for days so they didn't get their luggage until late Tuesday night.
On Sunday, the Lynns, the Frizzells and Sandy Hill went to Aspen proper to do some shopping for clothes for the Lynns and general wandering around town. We had purchased 5 day lifts so had one day to take off anyway. We decided with the snow still falling and the lack of clothing for the Lynns, that Sunday was that day off. We got everyone what they needed and a few things we didn't, had a delicious lunch and went back to the village. The rest of the crowd decided to make some runs that day and enjoy the fresh powder. Aspen "only" got about 8" so not the several feet experienced north and east of us. That night we all met up at Base Camp and had a great dinner and fellowship!
As I said previously, we stayed at The Top of the Village property. It is ski-in/ski-out and all of the units were equipped with a full kitchen, washer/dryer and large living area. There was a hot tub which we took advantage of and the kids swam in the outdoor heated pool several times. The TOV shuttle took us where we needed to go. We stayed in the village or the mall area right down the hill from us for all of our meals so there was no need for much travel. We could have skied to dinner if we wanted and even walked a few times.
The kids all had a blast in ski school and/or skiing with each other and so did the adults! There are multiple tree trails for the kids, including a Bat Cave, Woolly Mammoth area, Prospector trail and then lots of fun jumps. We all had fun visiting the places the kids had seen during their two days in ski school. Sydney gave everyone a heart attack when she attempted to barrel down a blue accidentally and Samantha had to literally tackle her to keep her from going over a cliff. Mom of the Year award goes to Samantha!!! Sydney (and Galvin) stayed in ski school all week after that. The rest of the kids skied with the adults and, though we made LOTS of stops, everyone had fun and made it back in one piece! Even when Friederike got t-boned by an out of control snowboarder who never stopped and screamed "Sorry" as he careened down the hill out of sight, she continued skiing the rest of the week. Kathy decided to do a knee to the face trick over a mogul and busted her lip the first day skiing but you could barely tell and she hid it well. Outside of those few incidences and me dying laughing not being able to get my ski back on while coming down an ungroomed run, it was just good runs, good friends and good times!
For the most part all of us skied together. Jim, Friederike and Sandy usually started the day off together and then joined us. Even Steve and Nelson joined the craziness of the large group of kids and adults some. I am quite sure we slowed them down but maybe we offset the slowness with some fun. We are pretty entertaining if nothing else. Plus, Steve gave a few of us some helpful tips and Nelson showed us his cool snowboarding moves. Ron took it easy and only hit the slopes a few hours a day.
The second half of the week was perfect spring skiing! Not a cloud in the sky, upper 30s to low 40s and mostly (haha!) groomed slopes. Only one thin layer on and we were still sweating. Our face masks, that were required everywhere, were all that we wore on our faces. No gaiter or any kind of fleece needed.
Restaurants were still at 50% capacity and no tables of more than 10 so we weren't sure how our dinners would go, but it was actually pretty "normal" outside of those parameters. Hooray! We were able to go to dinners most nights and enjoyed Base Camp, The Edge, Big Hoss Grill and Slo Groovin Chophouse. I would recommend all of them as they were all delicious and accommodated us well!
I would like to thank everyone that came on this trip. I truly enjoyed each and every one of you and hope you had as much fun as I did! I am already looking forward to our next trip!!!
Click on the Photo Gallery tab at the top of the page to see photos from this trip.