Among Aspen’s four mountains, Aspen Mountain offers the most straightforward, efficient powder skiing. The high-speed top-to-bottom gondola services all of Aspen Mountain’s 3,267 feet of vertical right from downtown. Though smaller than Aspen Highlands and Snowmass, Aspen Mountain skis much larger than its 673 skiable acres. The key is to traverse and work multiple fall lines. You’ll find plenty of challenging steeps, fall-line trees and sneaky alleyways and gullies (check out the interactive trail map and follow along).
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Load the double chair and exit right to ski the Dumps, steep, east-facing aspen trees that might offer your best turns of the day. If you stay skier’s right, you can catch F.I.S. lift for another run, but the longer shots like Zaugg, Perry’s and Last Dollar will drop you below the lift, onto lower Spar Gulch.
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Take the gondola back to the top and pick one of the steep runs on the east side of the resort, facing Independence Pass. You can’t go wrong with Walsh’s, Hyrup’s or Kristi’s, but a personal favorite is the skier’s left side of Kristi’s. All of these runs empty onto a cat track that brings you to the base of “The Couch,” or Gent’s Ridge Lift.
