Snowmass mountain was my favorite of the three mountains we skied while in Colorado (the other two being Ajax and Breckenridge). It suited my intermediate/advanced level perfectly, and more importantly, it had snowed 5 inches the night before, so the conditions were, to put it mildly, incredible. Locals were saying that these were just about as perfect as conditions could get. Lucky us!
The first thing you realize when looking at a map of - or driving up to - Snowmass mountain is how HUGE it is! It's truly overwhelming. You don't really know where to start, but we asked some folks and found that there are two main preferred areas: one is called Big Burn, the other, Alpine Springs. We did Big Burn in the morning, and loved every minute of it.
Unfortunately, there's no gondola and it takes three separate lifts to get you to the summit. But once there, you could spend a full day just exploring Big Burn, which is filled with long, wide, well-groomed and beautiful slopes, and fun twisty trails that snake through the trees. If you're a mogul fan (which I am not!) you'll also have plenty to choose from here. My favorite run was called Sneaky's, which takes you past breathtaking scenery - massive peaks in the near distance and millions of snowy pine trees blanketing the hills.
The lodges at Snowmass didn't seem to be as high-end as the Sundeck Lodge on Ajax Mountain, rather more like your typical ski lodge: cozy and cute, with basic amenities and food. Fine with us. There are also lots of restaurants on the mountain including a pizza joint at the top of Big Burn.
We headed to Alpine Highlands in the afternoon, via a verrry long, snaking trail crossing the paths of dozens of slopes. I'm glad we made it, though, because we squeezed in a few last runs on some nice trails includung Naked Lady and Coffee Pot. The lifts close at 3:30, too bad, since we'd have loved to fit in an extra run or two!