Fallen Friends Memorial (& BIG Air)

Crocodile Dundees 3 peated at Fallen Friends. click 4 pix:The 5th Annual Fallen Friends Memorial was held at Aspen Highlands on Saturday.  Fallen Friends is a tribute to those skiers and riders who are no longer with us.  It's a celebration of the mountain lifestyle and a remembrance of those who have lost their lives in the mountains. Fallen Friends is an athletic competition, a party and a fund raiser for AVSC scholarships, but most of all its a reminder of the fragility of life. 

18 teams in full costume ripped laps down the modified slope-style course on Scarlett's run, just above The Merry Go Round restaurant.  Guys, gals, kids, adults...everybody threw tricks off the kickers and rails and natural features on Scarlett's.

Click for pix:  FALLEN FRIENDS (& BIG Air).

Every year, those of us that live in Aspen are exposed to death in the mountains and within the community.  Every ski season lives are lost in a variety of ways in the Rocky Mountains.  Fallen Friends memorializes the brothers (and sisters) who have paid the ultimate price and did so pursuing the life they loved in the Rocky Mountains.   Every Spring the Fallen Friends event brings the skiers and snowboarders together to throw down...to remember the good times...and to honor the lives of our Fallen Friends.

On the same night on Aspen Mountain the KickAspen BIG Air contest was held.  An 80 foot kicker was built at the base of Ajax on the Little Nell run. Athletes from near and far were sending their biggest tricks in front of a packed house.  Skiers and Snowboarders alike were hucking their meat under the lights for cash and prizes.  Everybody was whipping out the 720 corks and 1080's from their trick bags.  The best BIG Air specialists around were going for broke on the BIG Stage in Aspen.

Click for pix:  FALLEN FRIENDS (& BIG Air)

They gripped and they ripped at Fallen Friends 2013. Click for pix.The Ghost Riders at Fallen Friends 2013. Aspen Highlands. Click 4 pix.White Trash at Fallen Friends. Click 4 pix.Berkel & Tae went HUGE over the 80 foot kicker at KickAspen. Click 4 pix.The kicker was enormous on Aspen Mountain. Photo: Aspen/Snowmass Clcik for more pix.

Apres Ski Cocktail Classic

Apres Cocktail Classic: click 4 pix.Aspen/Snowmass played host to the first ever Apres Ski Cocktail Classic.  Festival producers Joe Lang, Laura Albers, and Kim & Kevin Haasarud teamed up with several with super-star mixologists and about 100 liquor brands to present a variety of programs and tastings in Snowmass. The Apres Ski Cocktail Classic culminated with a St. Patrick's Day Pub Crawl in Aspen.

Click 4 Pix:  APRES ACTION

The Westin Snowmass Resort and the Wildwood Snowmass Resort rolled out the red carpet for the craft cocktailers and their fans.  From the morning smoothie bar to the Haute Hot Chocolate Snowmass was alive with apres ski action.

See the full schedule and learn more at APRES SKI COCKTAIL CLASSIC.

AspenSpin snapped some siiiiiiiick pic at the festive opening night party at The Wildwood. 

Click 4 pix: Apres Action

Apres Ski Cocktail Classic, Opening Night Party. Click 4 pix.Joe Lang, fest producer and Debbie Rizzo P.R. guru at the Apres Ski Cocktail Classic.Retro partiers invaded The Wildwood in Snowmass. Click 4 pix.

Love, Peace & Snow: The Brotherhood 40th Anniversary in Aspen/Snowmass

Love, Peace and SNOW. Click 4 pix.The National Brotherhood of Skiers (NBS) is in Aspen/Snowmass for their 40th Anniversary.  NBS, a.k.a. The Brotherhood is one of the largest affiliated ski groups in the USA.  NBS has over 3000 members from 60 ski clubs in 43 cities.  Almost 1500 skiers, riders, families and friends made it to Aspen (one of the whitest towns in America) to celebrate the NBS 40th.  The Brotherhood is composed almost entirely of African American winter sports enthusiasts...people of color.  Maybe you've heard the often repeated stereotype that Black people can't ski.  The Brotherhood dispels that notion all over the world,  everywhere they go.  Ski clubs like Jim Dandy Ski Club (Detroit), Inner City Ski Bums (Cleveland), All Seasons Ski Club (Oakland), Chicago Ski Twisters (Chicago), Black Ski, inc. (Washington D.C.) and Sno-Burners (New York) showed up in Aspen to slide down the slopes and enjoy all the extra cirruicualars that come with that.  The Brotherhood is one of the friendliest, most fun loving and jovial groups that we see in Aspen/Snowmass.   That is as long as nobody schralps my lines.   It's always fantastic to see people enjoying their lives to the fullest and getting after it on the mountain.

Click 4 Pix: LOVE, PEACE & SNOW

Most of the NBS crowd stays in Snowmass.  So on a beautiful bleubird Colorado day, Andy Party made an unusual trip past the traffic circle to Snowmass in order to ski and BBQ with the Brotherhood.  It's been well over a year since I've skied at Snowmass.  I forgot how HUGE that place is.

Snowmass has 3300+ acres of terrain vs Aspen Mountain's 675 acres. There were powder stashes everywhere.  The Mall and the Village Express lift were mobbed with Brothers...but once I cleared the mousetrap at the bottom...it was a POW POW Party.   After a few runs up top I straightlined a groomer past several Brothers and cruised to the BBQ at the Spider Sabich Cabin.

Many of the Brotherhood picked up skiing late in life...as adults.  The group's skill level ranges from first-timers to intermediates and a few experts. The Brotherhood may not be the most talented ski group in Aspen...but they sure know how to BBQ.   Over 500 attendees ate & drank and grooved to the music.  I mention the music because it was so refreshing to hear old school funk & soul.  Not the sampled beats I'm used to hearing today. The Brotherhood was spinning classic easy to dance to grooves... the music that I love so much.  Dancing in ski boots is not my forte...but lets just say the white boy has a few moves left. All the Nubian Empire skiers were cheering me on.  The Temps., Smokey, James Brown, Sly, The Four Tops, The Isley's etc.etc.  It was great to see old friends  bonding and new friends being made and an unbridled passion for skiing and riding.

Each club has their own distinctive and colorful ski parkas complete with their club logo on the back and often with an embroidered nick name on the front.  Much like motorcycle gangs, The Brotherhood members take great pride in their "colors".  

The members of The Brothehood have as much fun as anybody on the mountain. They are passing their love of winter sports onto the next generation.  Here's to 40 more years of POW POW for the NBS. 

Click 4 pix:  LOVE, PEACE & SNOW (The Brotherhood)

The Jim Dandy Ski Club from Detroit. The first African American Ski Club. Click 4 pix.

Early Bird Special - Aspen Style

An EARLY OPENING DAY in Aspen/Snowmass??  Sounds good right?  Sign me up for that. Ski Season 2011/12 is here.  In Aspen, ummmm Snowmass the lifts fired up and the ropes dropped 5 days early.  Snowmass Mountain was primed for action.  Plenty of early season snow storms up top created an early-bird treat for the locals.  AspenSpin and many others officially kicked off the 2011/12 ski season on November 19, 2011 at Snowmass. 

Click 4 Pix:  EARLY BIRD SPECIAL - ASPEN STYLE

AspenSpin doesn't get out to Snowmass very often, but we jumped on the opportunity to click in EARLY and RIDE.  Turns out it was POW day (sort of). Super-freaky high winds on Thursday and Friday blew most of the snow off of the Big Burn...but it was still open for business. There was even some freshies. Ankle deep in spots...but we can't tell you where.   Another 3-4" fell during the day.

Our commute was extended a wee bit, but it was "all good" on Saturday.   Being "steps away" from the Gondy on Ajax spoils us. It makes the high speed 20 minute ride on Owl Creek Road, free parking (nice) and the 2 lifts to the top seem a litlle management intensive.  For the record, AspenSpin loves FREE PARKING.  Forgetting your boots in town is not a good way to kick-off, but we realized our false start before the round-about.   It was AWESOME to get out there on the mountain and do some figure 11's.  It was pretty cold and windy...that's why they call it Winter, but we were skiing... and it was fun to have the breeze and snow in your face again.  Plenty of people were ripping at high speeds on the variable early-season conditions.  We avoided any and all human-on-human collisions and we didn't eat any wood... which is always good.  The speed, the freedom, the physical activity... there's a reason people are passionate about skiing and riding.  In Aspen, ski season is officially upon us and it came 5 days early this year.

Friday Night kicked off the weekend in style at THE WHEELER OPERA HOUSE with a screening of ALL.I. CAN. from Sherpa Films and the locally shot movie,  IF YOU WANT TO FLY from Vital Films.  Both flicks were AWESOME and helped raise money and awareness for ALPINE INITIATIVES a non-profit that strives to get action-oriented people to take action against climate change.  Click their link to learn how you can help take action.  ALPINE INITIATIVES.  The Siiiiick after party at THE RED ONION went all night long.

Turns out AspenSpin is 2 legit 2 quit. We're hoarding a bunch of new equipment from KJUS, KASTLE, HESTRA and others.  GORSUCH even tuned up our rock skis (just in case) and THE ASPEN CLUB's ski-conditioning class definitely paid dividends.  

So we'll see ya out there...almost every day. We're doing the snow dance right now. Let's get it on, Aspen.   Click 4 Pix  EARLY BIRD SPECIAL-- ASPEN STYLE

V.P. of Marketing Christian Knapp samples the goods. Photo: Jeremy Swanson / ASC.Torin Yater-Walace shows his opening day form. Photo: Jeremy Swanson / ASC. click 4 pix.

NEPSA VIDEO AWARDS 2011

Dav & Trav staying classy @ NEPSANEPSA is Aspen spelled backwards. The Nepsa Video Awards is a fierce competition among Aspen's local filmers hosted by Aspen / Snowmass.  NEPSA awards cash prizes and it's a chance for the homies to show their stuff and claim bragging rights for the upcoming ski season.  Last night was the 9th incarnation of NEPSA and per AspenSpin its the "unofficial kick off to ski season in Aspen".  All the usual suspects were there. This year a new fresh face took the top prize at the NEPSAs.  Not a new face to skiing, or to Aspen, or to stylie ripping on film, but a guy who's new to the new school....wait for it, The NEPSA goes to... 92 year old living legend Klaus Obermeyer. Klaus can add another trophy to his overflowing case... NEPSA WINNER.    Klaus starred in filmmake Geoff Stump's masterpiece  AN EXTREME NEPSA featuring RICK DIXON which took home the top prize.

Click 4 pix:   NEPSA VIDEO AWARDS     and     D & E on the CATWALK

Fit 4 Real. An Excellent FilmThe coveted runner-up vid. was awarded to the ladies. The docu-drama FIT for REAL from Jacqui Edgerly and her crew of Erin, Megan, Lula and Rachel was nasty (in a good way).  The new Secrets of Aspen were filmed getting fit all around Aspen in their leotards and neon ski outfits.  RIGHT ON!!

The third place NEPSA went to BIG Mountain Skier and B.A.S.E. Jumper Ted Davenport for his auto-biographical flick HEY LOOK at ME...and my MUPPETS.   Ted is on the mend from two broken legs...so he rolled to NEPSA in his chair. The good news is he'll be back on his sticks soon.

The NEPSA Audience Award.. always a highly contested category, and perhaps the most important NEPSA went to High Society's own Nate Berkel, D & E team rider Tae Westcott and the highly technical Matt Hobbs for THE TOP 5 SECRETS of ASPEN.

NEPSA always attracts an over-confident (skiers) and rowdy (snow boarders) element to the Historic Wheeler Opera House, but the super high-quality video entertainment kept the animals in their cages.   NEPSA hosts Chris Davenport and Travis McClain cleaned up their acts and rented tuxes in an attempt  to increase their KLOUT Scores (don't ask).  Dav & Trav scored BIG with their "staying classy" style.

The after-party included a sick D & E FASHION SHOW (tons of models) and entertainment from ROBOTIC PIRATE MONKEY out of Boulder.  Click the pix... you won't regret it.

NEPSA VIDEO AWARDS         &      D & E on the CATWALK                        

Geoff Stump and his Posse took home the top prize at NEPSA. Click 4 pix.Do u like Models?? Click for pix...u won't regret it.