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A fun distraction

Allyn Harvey

If we refocus our lens on the X Games from “Action Sports Figure” to “Gay Ski Week Guy,” things still look pretty darn good.

Two guys from Detroit were riding in the gondola yesterday, and one said to the other, “That’s going to be the highlight of my day.”

An accidental turn put them on Gentleman’s Ridge, which didn’t turn out to be a problem for the speaker, who fessed up to being an advanced intermediate and more comfortable on the blues. (The original plan had been to ski Cooper Bowl, Aspen Mountain’s quintessential blue-square run.)



His friend agreed it had been a great run, but added, “Nothing can beat Sunday at Snowmass.”

One thing that made Sunday at Snowmass so great for this guy from Detroit was the fact that there was about a foot of fresh powder and nobody in the lift line. For that matter, there was nobody on the hill to chew that powder up, because practically everybody was either standing outside at Buttermilk or watching TV at home, hoping to see the Moto X best trick contest at Winter X Games VIII.




An early afternoon squall forced ESPN to postpone the best trick contest, which involves crazy guys on motorcycles launching backflips off 90-foot jumps. By the time the event was scrapped at 1:15 p.m., it was too late and too cold to go home from Buttermilk, dress for skiing and head out to Snowmass.

The guys from Detroit didn’t make it out to see any of the action sports figures at The Milk, but one said he appreciated the X Games for what they were: a fun distraction that kept people off the hill, even on a powder day

Although the Aspen Skiing Co. was reporting no new snow overnight, by noon there was a layer blanketing the mountain. On the Hill estimates 1 to 2 inches of fairly moist, slightly heavy snow on Ajax.

Heavy and wet is just what was needed. It brewed up perfectly with the hardpack that was beginning to take over the mountain and turned everything buttery and sweet.