The Edge

In the mornings, Rash says he likes to go to the Main Street Bakery & Cafe (201 E. Main St.) for breakfast. "They have baked goods and a regular breakfast menu," he explains. "My favorite thing to get there is the huevos, because they use real black beans. They don't use those brown beans with lard between them. It would be kind of hard to get on the slopes after that kind of meal."

General Information: 1-970-925-1220.
Snow Report: 1-888-277-3676.
Location: 219 miles west of Denver via I-70 and Colo. Hwy. 82.
Opening and Closing Dates: December 12 to April 5.
Hours: 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

Terrain: 20% beginner; 33% intermediate; 17% advanced; 30% expert. 619 skiable acres with a 3,635' vertical drop. Base: 8.040'; top: 11,675'; longest run: 3.5 miles.

Lifts: 2 high-speed quads, 5 double chairs, 1 Poma lift.
Lift Rates: Adult full-day $59; child 7-12 full-day $35; child under 6 and senior over 70 free.

Rentals: Rental center at base of mountain.
Snowboarding/Cross-Country: Snowboarding welcome. Cross-country call 1-970-923-2145 for information.

Special Events: Aspen Highlands Day Wintersksl, Jan. 16; KSPN 28th Annual Blitzenbanger, Feb. 28. See also Aspen Mountain.

Aspen Mountain
Sunni Simpson came to Aspen intending to stay for a year. It's now been five. "I love living here," Simpson, who grew up in Denver, says. "I think it's so nice here, because there are so many mountains to choose from, and there's something for every kind of skier."

As to what kind of skier Simpson is, the 26-year-old says, "Crazy should be a category. I'll ski anything." And mostly what she skis is located on Aspen Mountain. "It's a lot of bumps and steeps, and there's so much you can get your legs burning on," she explains.

When she's really looking to do that, she just heads over to Bell Mountain. "The speed bumps and more shallow bumps that aren't real steep--you can just haul on them," she says. "Then you start skiing down the Face of Bell and keep cutting over and cutting over, so you're really skiing down the shoulder of Bell, or they call it the clavicle--isn't that what's between the face and shoulder? Those bumps will just burn your legs like crazy."

To go the bumpy route, Simpson heads to either Bell or, on a powder day, Walsh's, which is "even steeper than Bell, and it can get bumped out. On a powder day it's awesome," she says. "But all of Bell is bumps." She also names the blue Dipsy Doodle and, directly under the lift, Dipsy Wall, as other good bumpers, "but be aware that they're double diamonds when it's groomed," she cautions. "Go straight down that, and as it comes out, take a right and go straight back down to the chair. It's awesome."

When she wants to go on a ski cruise, "if it's not crowded, Spar Gulch, which is where they do the 24 Hours of Aspen, is really fun," she says. "And in the morning, before people get on it and it turns icy, Ruthie's Run is a really fun cruiser. That's where the World Cup Downhill is done." To ski the trees, she hooks up with Gentleman's Ridge, and she divulges that there are also "secret stashes" at Pandora's Box, the local nickname for the run to skier's right of Walsh's. She adds that Walsh's, too, doesn't get much traffic, nor do Hyrups and Kristi, because "a lot of people don't ski those unless there's really good conditions, and you have to hike out to them."

One more good place for some alone time is off the so-called "couch chair," what locals call Chair 4 (also known as Little Nell Lift) because it's so slow. "If you're tired at the end of the day and want a long lift to rest on, this is it," Simpson says. "There are good cruisers under and around the lift. There's never a line at that lift, either."

The locals also like to hit a secret tree line that goes from Walsh's to the Ridge of Bell, Simpson says. "There's no sign there, and you have to look for it. That's where the Elvis shrine is, where people have hung all these pictures of Elvis from the trees." After the Elvis shrine, Simpson likes to hit Bell Mountain, then cuts across Spar Gulch and then over to Chair 1 (Shadow Mountain Lift) for some "total bump skiing all the way down," she says. Another shrine, this one to the Grateful Dead, is over by Ruthie's Run. "You'd never find it unless someone showed you," she says. "I'm not into it, but sometimes people hang a little pot from the trees, and that's where all the stoners go to toke. People have even carved out a little seat there."

The best steep skiing, according to Simpson, can be found at the Dumps, off the lift called S1. "The Dumps are great skiing. It's the steepest run, but only when there's snow. A lot of times it doesn't have enough snow, though," she adds. "But on a powder day, they're killer."