{"id":2457499,"date":"2020-04-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=324688"},"modified":"2020-04-22T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T06:00:00","slug":"sean-beckwith-chasing-the-20-20-20-20-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/sean-beckwith-chasing-the-20-20-20-20-club\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean Beckwith: Chasing the 20-20-20-20 club"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"413\" height=\"620\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/03\/beckwith-atd-032719pdf-1.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/03\/beckwith-atd-032719pdf-1.jpg 413w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/03\/beckwith-atd-032719pdf-1-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 413px) 100vw, 413px\"><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">Like LeBron James being cut short of a shot at another title, I, too, was cut short of a chance to achieve relative greatness. Instead of another magazine cover announcing my glorious accomplishment, the ski season was prematurely closed by COVID with my end goal in sight.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">In reach of the 20-20-20-20 club \u2014 tallying 20 days on each mountain in Aspen Skiing Co.\u2019s quiver \u2014 I was at 15-15-15-12 when the order came down to uphill or chill.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">In the same vein as Bill Walton winning the MVP despite an injury-shortened regular season, impressive stats feel empty if you don\u2019t get a chance to defend your title.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">However, I still picked up a few things during my pursuit of arbitrary greatness. So in honor of what would\u2019ve been the last week of lift-served skiing, here\u2019s a report on a season unfinished.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\">\n<div class=\"row at-donation at-donation-mobile p-0\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/at-banner-paypal.jpg)\" class=\"col-xl-8 p-3 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/donate\/?utm_source=article&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=donation&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_content=mid-article\">Donate<\/a><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">Getting to know you<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The reason I started this whole venture was because I finally downloaded the Aspen-Snowmass app, which breaks down how many days you visited each ski area. I spend about 80% of my time on Aspen Mountain, according to the data. No wonder T to B\u2019s and hot laps on 3 and Ruthie\u2019s were becoming routine \u2014 still fun but routine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">I\u2019ve never been a \u201cSprint to Highlands on a powder day\u201d or \u201cTiehack is actually a lot of fun\u201d local but I have been a Snowmass Brat and an Aspen aficionado. Now that I got a taste of those approaches, they make sense because each mountain offers different incentives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">If you catch Highlands on a sneaky powder day, Deep Temerity is one of the best powder playgrounds anywhere. Parking right at Tiehack and having a bigger, emptier and better groomed version of High Alpine (sans the Wall and Dykes) is a fantastic way to spend a sunny afternoon off. And you get to throw back apr\u00e8s at the two best base-of-mountain eateries: Highlands Alehouse and Home Team BBQ.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">Commiserating over commutes<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Proximity and convenience definitely dictated why I went to Aspen at such a snobbish rate. I mean seven-minute bus to the gondola or 15- to 30-minute trip anywhere else?<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">I don\u2019t have any scientific proof of this but there\u2019s something gratifying about putting on and taking off your boots right before and after riding. The drive also is oddly satisfying.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">More or less living on Aspen Mountain requires a lot of dragging your shit around town because apresing at the base of AJAX is a rich person or \u201cI know someone who works at the Tavern\u201d thing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">You do have a little of that with the Highlands bus, especially if you\u2019re trying to connect with the Hunter Creek bus. (Tip: Take the Castle Maroon bus, not the direct, get off at the Shell station and you can get on at the Hotel Jerome stop with little wait. You\u2019ll be sprinting after the HC bus if you catch the direct. It always arrives just after :00, :20 and :40. And running in ski clothes sucks.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">The \u2018It\u2019 Lift<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Each ski area outside of Aspen has the \u201cIt\u201d lift. We all know which lift I\u2019m talking about. On Snowmass, it\u2019s High Alpine; on Buttermilk, it\u2019s Tiehack and at Highlands, it\u2019s Deep Temerity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">On a powder day, get to those spots early because they\u2019ll be skied off late with the possible exception of Tiehack because, you know, it\u2019s Buttermilk. Anyone who has watched snowboard porn within a week of a substantial storm thinks their GoPro footage of a falling leaf down St. Moritz is going to get them sponsored.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Yes, you can get untouched on the Wall, if it\u2019s open yet. If not, you straight-lined to High Alpine for maybe a nice run or two through Reidar\u2019s trees. There\u2019s plenty of great terrain at every mountain and a lot of it doesn\u2019t get touched until the \u201cIt\u201d lifts get tracked out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The key to the perfect powder day is knowing where and when to hit certain runs \u2014 and also to check to see if wind closed the top half of Snowmass.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">Best of\/worst of<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Aspen Mountain: Bell Mountain is iconic but I still think I have the most fun in the Dumps and on Gent\u2019s Ridge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Occasionally the Sundeck feels like a reunion for the \u201cReal Housewives of my Worst Nightmares.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Aspen Highlands: I alluded to this before but if you can catch a sneaky snowy day that has you saying \u201cI didn\u2019t realize there was this much snow up here,\u201d then chances are you\u2019re lapping DT and smiling through face shots.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Other than the catwalk over to Thunderbowl on a slow snow day, I would say the DT line on days when the \u201cI only ski on verified powder days\u201d people are out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Buttermilk: Sunny, bluebird days ripping groomers with lunch and beers at Home Team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The worst would be, I don\u2019t know, riding West Buttermilk when it\u2019s a powder day and you\u2019re stuck teaching friends who aren\u2019t good.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Snowmass: I would say a whiteout day where you can\u2019t see a thing but sideways snow and it ends with you drying out over Zane\u2019s wings while watching the snow continue to pile up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The worst is getting there early to sully untouched snow only to have the lifts closed due to wind.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">I would have more to report from my pursuit of the infamous 20-20-20-20 club, but the ski season ended in March, this isn\u2019t the Aspen Times Weekly and I\u2019m out of space. Happy offseason!<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\">Sean Beckwith is a copy editor at The Aspen Times. Reach him at <a href=\"mailto:sbeckwith@aspentimes.com\">sbeckwith@aspentimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/opinion\/sean-beckwith-chasing-the-20-20-20-20-club\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Like LeBron James being cut short of a shot at another title, I, too, was cut short of a chance to achieve relative greatness. Instead of another magazine cover announcing my glorious accomplishment, the ski season was prematurely closed by COVID with my end goal in sight. In reach of the 20-20-20-20 club \u2014 tallying [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2457499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-17 20:08:05","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2457499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457499\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2457499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2457499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2457499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}