Aspen - Slack Country Skiing

**FrostedFlakes** · 01-04-2019, 07:53 AM

Good Morning All,

I'm heading out to ASsssspen for the first time ever and I wanted to inquire on some slack country routes. From some recon I'm doing using maps, books etc, it seems like there's some goods to be had skiing from either the top of Ajax or continuing from the Highlands Bowl towards 15 and 15a. The question that I have is this... #1 ) is there anything that I need to stay away from for safety reasons that is not evident . #2) Is there Uber there that I can call, and/or do people give rides back if I try to hitchhike ? Finally, if I have to walk or trek back how bad is it ?

I truly hate asking these Q's on the web, and I don't really want a detailed response (unless someone is willing to PM it to me). I much rather buy a maggot a case of beer and maybe share some turns in return. And as it's the norm here, of course I'll exchange pictures of my wife for the information.

Also, I see they have Cat skiing from Ajax, do they also offer Dog Skiing ? I'm allergic to cats.. I once tried strapping cats to my skis and they tore up my Helly Pants to shreds, I really don't understand why they don't use dogs...

Disclaimer: For the random on looker, any information here you should know that this is regarding backcountry, you should not go without knowledge on how to navigate the backcountry and how to read snow conditions.

**alpinevibes** · 01-04-2019, 09:30 AM

The East side of Ajax options are the most mellow and most skied. You can skin/skate back into the resort depending on your line.

The majority of ski terrain off RR gets skied regularly by various groups; cats, dogs, Freaks, etc. Most lines are skin-back-up.

Going off Highlands ridge is quite a bit more committing. You're not walking back to town from Conundrum TH, and while there is Uber in the RFV, you wont have signal. Better to pre-arrange a taxi or hoof a mile out to CC Road with your thumb. I'm not aware of anyone skiing those lines yet this season.

When are you coming?

**FrostedFlakes** · 01-05-2019, 12:21 PM

Thank you for the information, I'm flying in Wednesday, skiing Thursday - Saturday.. weather wise it looks like your getting a mild storm tomorrow into Monday then a smaller one on Thurs. My plan was Ajax on Thursday, highlands Fri and sat base it on what I like better.

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**Shredhead** · 01-06-2019, 07:33 AM

Our snowpack is even funkier than normal and there’s not a ton of it down low. Thus many of the slack country exits haven’t been set yet.
If you don’t know where your going, you can end up in BFE.

For you first trip, you should just stick to the Bowl and the gated terrain on Ajax and Snowmass.