Aspen Snow Cat Powder Tours

It was one of those days in the mountains where the whole world is described in myriad shades of white and grey. The only exception was the bright yellow Bombardier BR350 Snow Cat touring us around the glades on the back side of Aspen Mountain.

I’d been trying to get myself on to one of these little yellow machines for 5 years, when I first moved to Aspen and started working at the Highlands’ ski school, but invariably had been unlucky with weather or snow conditions and had to cancel the trip. Every day I skied at Highlands I’d look across the Castle Creek Valley at the wide faces of untouched snow and the open glades, and they would beckon me. Fellow instructors would come back to the locker rooms with smiles on their faces and stories of bottomless champagne powder and deliciously smooth spring corn.

All the waiting was made worthwhile last Tuesday, when fellow Aspen Demo Team member Tim Cafe and I loaded the gondola early in the morning, along with friend and client Simon Bennet and his motley crew of ski buddies from New Zealand. We were on our way to meet our guides and Snowcat at the top of the mountain. It had snowed over 28 inches in the prior 48 hours, and we were in for an epic day. The excitement was palpable, and visible everywhere; in people’s faces, in their voices, and in their movements.

It was a magical experience, and everything each of us had hoped it would be. Guides Chet and Dan, and driver Greg, did a fantastic job. We felt safe and looked after at all times, the terrain selection was excellent, and by the end of the day we had skied 13 runs of totally untouched powder, for a total of about 15000 vertical feet of fresh tracks.

The best way to give you a sense of what it’s like out there is to show you, so please watch this short video (and then book your very own Aspen Powder Tour!):