High Points: A ski town

“YOU get powder!  YOU get powder! And YOU get powder!”

It was as though Oprah Winfrey herself came to Aspen and bestowed at least a foot (and more) of fresh cold snow this week on all four mountains, giving skiers two of the best powder days of the year.

It began with a big blow on Monday, big enough to shutter the Silver Queen Gondola for the day. The 45-degree afternoon temps began to fall by the late afternoon, and a storm from the Pacific Northwest started to puke snow late that night. By the time it ended, just about 24 hours later, the town of Aspen was once again wearing a white dress, and the ski mountains were once again covered in frosting.

Just the way it’s supposed to be.

Tuesday was a day for those with magic goggles. The wind howled and those who braved it were rewarded with piles and piles of snow. Wednesday dawned without a cloud in the sky and the temps dancing in the single digits. It was a powder morn the likes of which we have not seen this season and a day for glacier glasses. The queue in the Gondola Plaza showed the appetite skiers had for breakfast turns. The Dumps, Nose, Face and Back of Bell, as well as the newly-minted Hero’s runs, got the refreshers they have been needing for most of the month. It was an august end to a tepid February and hopefully a precursor for a lively March.

All of that serves as a prelude to the return of the White Circus as the Audi FIS Ski World Cup comes to Aspen with a pair of men’s giant slaloms and a slalom race beginning Friday morning at 10 a.m. While I’m sure the foot of fresh snow made the task of prepping the courses a bit more difficult for Chief of Race Jim Hancock and his stellar crew, I’ll bet they dug it as well and got some first tracks in before getting back to laying down that icy layer between the gates.

This weekend, we have a chance to see the world’s best racers take it to our slopes, including the 26-year-old Swiss star Marco Odermatt, who incredibly has already won the World Cup title for the third straight season. He’s won all seven GS races this season and holds the lead in the standings in giant slalom, super-G, and downhill, as well. His has been one of the most dominant seasons in FIS history. Oh, and last year he was victorious here in Aspen in the super-G.

If there is a wild card to root for to catch him this week, it would have to be River Radamus who just finished 3^rd in the giant slalom on Sunday in Palisades Tahoe in California. It was his’ first podium finish in his nine-year career on the World Cup circuit and comes just as the Edwards, Colorado, native heads back to the Rockies. There will surely be a large contingent of his fans who watched the popular Radamus grow up in Vail, and he will be the American favorite this week.

Not only are the races, part of the Stifel Aspen Winternational, a great way to start March, but so are the festivities surrounding the event. Wagner Park is ground zero as it will host parties, U.S. Ski Team autograph sessions, and three nightly concerts.

We sometimes forget that, in its heart and at its core, Aspen is a ski town. There’s nothing like a foot of powder and the best skiers in the world to remind us.