A Day Atop The Mountain

A Day Atop The Mountain

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I’ve been in Aspen the past few days.  Originally I had just planned to do a simple ‘Things I Wear’ post on what I’ve been wearing snowboarding.  However, yesterday turned out to be a rather adventurous and I feel like elaborating a bit more, and if you are the skier or snowboarder type you may appreciate (but if you just want the TIW part scroll to the bottom).

Friday I hit Snowmass and yesterday Aspen Highlands and Aspen.  A friend advised me to go up to the Highland bowl at the top of the Highlands.  Thankfully, I took his advice.  To get to Highland Peak you must partake in a rather lengthy and exhausting hike (about 25 minutes).  Going from roughly 11,700ft to 12,400ft atop a ridge of varying width and varying steepness (as you will see in the below photos).  Anyway, Once the summit is reached the view is quite astounding, and the descent down the mountain side is possibly the best bit of terrain I’ve been on here out west.  A lot to say; considering Park City, Squaw Valley, Telluride, Vail and Whistler are the comparisons.  So if you find yourself out in Aspen I definitely recommend you make the trek up to the peak.

highland bowl aspen
Highland Bowl. The peak is the very small dot way off in the distance.
narrow passage
Following in the footsteps of those before. Best to not go too far off the path…
hiking highland bowl aspen
Ascension.
back from where we came
The starting point is somewhere back in the whiteness.

The hike is enough to put most people out of breath but at 12,000ft the air is thin.  I felt like I was starving for air, and I probably was.  I have no idea what my pulse oxygen level was, but certainly lower than normal.  This results in the muscles not getting as much oxygen as they would like which makes them tire faster.  It always wears away at mental acuity.  All I could thin about was the scene in Spaceballs where Mel Brooks takes a can of Druidian air out of his desk.  Oh, how I wanted one of those cans for myself…  All the meanwhile the Rolling Stones’ The Last Time and Nine Inch Nails’ Discipline were on competing loops in my head and sweat running down my back and legs.  I couldn’t help but debate whether the hike was harder than the marathon I ran last fall.  At the top I looked back, but couldn’t even see what I came from, a somewhat eerie feeling.  But also one of accomplishment.

Once the summit is reached the view is quite astounding, and the descent down the mountain side is possibly the best bit of terrain I’ve been on here out west.  A lot to say; considering Park City, Squaw Valley, Telluride, Vail and Whistler are the comparisons.  So if you find yourself out in Aspen I definitely recommend you make the trek up to the peak.

atop highland peak
This is some sort of radio tower atop the peak, I thought the flags on the wires were a nice touch. Note the sun trying to peek through the clouds.
back country highland bowl
The view of the backside from the peak.
highland peak bowl
This way to the bottom.

highland peak aspen

But now on to the style part.  I bought the pants and jacket together, with the obvious intention of wearing them together.  I like how the orange and navy contrast and the charcoal adds a nice dimension.  Both are from The North Face.  The thing around my neck is a Turtle Fur, which keeps the neck extremely warm.  The helmet is from Smith.  The goggles from Oakley, and on a day like today I had to switch to a low light lens.  The sunburn and windburn courtesy of Mother Nature.

Shred Respectfully,

Justin L Jeffers

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