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On the hill: 20,000 vertical, then the Enemy

Bob Ward
The Aspen Times
Aspen, CO Colorado

ASPEN – The wife and kids are out of town, so I promised myself I’d go big while they were gone.

Now, “going big” for me means something entirely different than it did when I was young, stupid and reckless. What I really mean, I guess, is that I planned to have more fun than usual – ski a little harder, have a drink with a friend, maybe go out for a movie or a concert.

Which is exactly how I spent my Sunday.



First, I slept as long as I wanted that morning and took my time making eggs, toast and coffee. Three friends and I left for Aspen Mountain around 10 a.m. and skied hard for five hours with one short break: Three runs in the Dumps, three more on the Face and Shoulder of Bell, two on Walsh’s, one on Keith Glen, two in the Glades and more than 20,000 vertical feet total, according to my counting-obsessed buddy.

Bumps, bumps and more bumps, all afternoon. It was great.




The endorphins lasted through the beers, onion rings and chips at Aspen’s Double Dog Pub, and I was still feeling happy when I sat down for a spaghetti feed at Counting Man’s place later that evening. We stuffed our faces full of pasta and salad, then topped it off with dark coffee around 9:30 p.m.

Why get jacked up on coffee at 9:30 on a Sunday night? In order to carpool upvalley again and see Public Enemy at Belly Up, of course.

Honestly, I think we were starting to fade by the time Chuck D. and Flavor Flav started raging against the machine around 11:30, but I couldn’t wrench my eyes and ears from the audiovisual explosion on-stage. These kings of hip-hop were in their prime some 20 years ago but, as Counting Man commented while walking back to the car, “they left nothing on the table.”

I crawled into bed around 2 a.m., ears ringing and far too wired to sleep. I crawled out of bed around 7:30 Monday morning, unrested, discombobulated but still happy.

Monday wasn’t my most productive day at work, but at least I went big on Sunday.

bward@aspentimes.com