Spring Has Sprung

It’s always a little sad when the end of ski season is just around the corner. Although when the weather is as nice as it’s been lately it’s hard not to be excited about all of our favorite spring and summer activities. Much like the rest of the U.S.A, we have experienced a prolonged period of near record temperatures and minimal precipitation over the last few weeks. The ski conditions held up very well due to the hard work of the Aspen Skiing Company’s efforts to preserve the slopes and most reports from guests said that they had a great time and enjoyed the weather. The early start to spring has put the entire Roaring Fork Valley way ahead of schedule in terms of the breadth of outdoor recreation available. As of today a visitor of Aspen would have the option of skiing/snowboarding, road biking, mountain biking, climbing, golfing, hiking, rafting, climbing, or snowshoeing. All of Aspen’s most popular road biking destinations are completely clear and as you can imagine, they are not busy compared to peak season. Reports from local fishing enthusiasts say that the fishing is excellent from Carbondale to Aspen, and beyond. In fact, while writing this post, our mail carrier, Gary, just informed us that he caught 6 nice fish yesterday in an hour and a half on the Roaring Fork River just outside of Aspen. As far as mountain biking goes, all the popular rides in Basalt and Carbondale are completely dry and in great shape. Many of the popular mountain bike rides in Aspen are still snow covered or too muddy to ride, though many people have been riding up Smuggler and a ways beyond just to get a good workout. For all the hikers out there, both Sunnyside and Smuggler are completely dry. We need to do some more reconnaissance to be sure, but we guess that Sunnyside may possibly be dry up to four corners which is a fantastic hike that’s not usually useable until mid to late May. As previously stated it’s always sad to see winter leave a ski town, though now we have other fun activities to look forward to. There is a reason that there is a saying in town the many locals “came for the winter, but stayed for the summers.”