Dust from the last two storms has been laid bare on local slopes in recent days, and we may get more. Another dust-laden storm is said to be bearing down on Aspen Wednesday night.

Somebody flipped a switch on Saturday night, turning it real cold and sucking all the moisture out of the snow, giving skiers and boarders true winter conditions for Highlands closing day (until two weeks from now, that is).

Snowfall was wet and heavy all day Saturday, but with every turn skiers and snowboarders turned up a layer of red dirt that had blown in at the beginning of the storm on Friday night. A good 8 inches had fallen atop the dirt, making for pleasant deep turns in the Aspen backcountry.

Highland Bowl was steep and pleasantly deep for early April on Thursday, as seen from this skier's perspective from atop the appropriately named Steep N' Deep. Highlands closed for the season on Sunday but will reopen for the weekends of April 18-19 and April 25-26.

Aspen Highlands is opening for two bonus weekends on April 18-19 and April 25-26, the Aspen Skiing Co. announced today. Highlands will close for the
season as scheduled on Sunday, April 6, and then re-open for the Saturday and Sunday of those two weekends.

It’s a classic sleeper day on Aspen Mountain, and those who ventured out despite the report of a measly 3 inches were psyched.

Yesterday’s hard surface underneath softened considerably, and combined with the 11 inches that have fallen in the past two days made for a true blue pow day. It’s still cold out there but considerably warmer than yesterday.

Single-digit temperatures paired with strong wind gusts turned the top of Highland Bowl into what seemed like middle of winter, but the turns reciprocated what one would expect out of January storm. Few people and wind-loaded slopes over in the G Zones meant fresh tracks for everyone. And, over on Temerity early morning skiers were greeted with deep and soft snow.

I got on the bucket close to 10 a.m., and powder hunting was easy. You could be on groomers with chopped up snow and make a quick turn into a patch of trees for fresh track and face shots. The snow was a bit heavy underneath with a top layer of light and fluffy powder. The snow just kept coming.

—Heather Rousseau

Baker Boyd (pictured above) and Kevin Frazezier, both of Aspen, took first in the second annual Helly Hansen Battle in the Bowls on Sunday, March 29. Forty-six teams skied the many bowls of Aspen Highlands on a course designed by Helly Hansen and Aspen/Snowmass team athlete Chris Davenport. Athletes could take any route they desired as long as they completed every run listed on the course.

Just after 3 p.m. on Sunday the sky got gray. It had been mostly sunny and windy all day, with sustained gusts of up to 45 mph.

The wind shut down the Silver Queen Gondola and the Bell Mountain lift for the day.  Skiers used Little Nell, 1A and Ruthie’s to reach the top, which was skiing well.