Beyond Thunderbowl

Aspen’s resorts have been pushing big-air progression in skiing and snowboarding this year like never before, and not just at the Winter X Games, where Torstein Horgmo’s triple back flip at Buttermilk in January raised the bar and won the gold. “We’ve been working with the core magazines and top...

By Colin Bane

April 21, 2011

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Aspen’s resorts have been pushing big-air progression in skiing and snowboarding this year like never before, and not just at the Winter X Games, where Torstein Horgmo’s triple back flip at Buttermilk in January raised the bar and won the gold.

“We’ve been working with the core magazines and top film crews, and we’ve had athletes coming from all over the world this season,” says Aspen/Snowmass spokeswoman Meredith McKee, alluding to moments like snowboarder Mark McMorris’s trip to Snowmass last month to stick a backside triple cork 1440 for the TransWorld Snowboarding: Park Sessions video. “The Aspen resorts have become a home base for the progression of these sports.”

It’s only fitting, then, that they’re going big today at Aspen Highlands as part of the “Put a Little Spring in Your Steep” closing week-end. The Big Air Saturday competition takes to the skies near the base of Thunderbowl at 3 p.m., where skiers and snowboarders will battle it out for cash prizes and glory while the après-ski party on the viewing deck builds to a crescendo.

Registration is $20, and lift tickets are cheap: $49 or $39 with a season pass from any other mountain. For other closing-weekend festivities — and lodging deals as low as $25 per per person — visit www.aspensnowmass.com/aprildeals.
Sat., April 23, 2011

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