In Praise of Resort Skinning

At first, there are only a few. In the dim glow of predawn, shy beams of light steadily move up the shadowy white slopes of Aspen Mountain. These are the diehards, the ones who start skinning by 5am either because they have a job to get to or, more likely, they’re trying to squeeze in as many laps as possible before the gondola starts spinning at 9am.  As light grows on the mountain, so do their numbers. Scattered clumps and one-off skinners, some on skinny skis, others on splitboards, many on the midfat family of 90mm+, a few outliers in traction spikes. The true speed demons are easy to spot—slender bean poles on 65s that silently glide past the rec crews, too intent on uphill momentum to mutter “Good morning.”  By 7:30, the mountain is light and covered in dark figures marching up a snow ribbon, arms, poles, and legs rhythmically pumping like pistons on a train. They look possessed. Probably some are. Why else would they be here? This could be any morning on Aspen Mountain (or Ajax, as the locals say), an 11,212-foot peak that sits smack dab in the core of a town that once aspired to become the uphilling epicenter of the United States. Uphilling at Ajax (or any of the Aspen Snowmass resorts) is nothing new, though it has reached new heights with the advent of lighter touring gear and the ski area’s marketing. Each of the four Aspen Mountains has its own uphill policy, and for the cost of $69 for a single day or for the whole season, you can skin up any one of them. Aspen Snowmass doesn’t keep an exact count, but in recent years ski patrollers on Buttermilk––the beginner mountain where uphilling is allowed all day—have reported upwards of 600 uphillers on a single day. Skinners take to the slopes of Ajax. On any given day, there could be a hundred or more heading uphill before the gondola starts at 9 am. Photo: Manasseh Franklin. Ajax has limited beginner terrain and a strict cutoff for uphill traffic to reach the Sundeck Restaurant at the top by 9am. The one route up is 3300 feet of STFU. The surface is smooth thanks to its nightly snowcat manicure, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. A handful of steep pitches routinely send novice skinners sliding backward, skis and poles stuck out at all desperate angles. Though the seasoned fitness junkies may glide up with apparent ease, for many making the morning sojourn, it’s a miracle they get even close to the top. I once stopped to help a girl outfitted with ancient Dynafit All Terrain skis and worn TLT7 boots. She straddled the slope, her legs in a backward V, her skins unattached and lifeless. When I picked up a skin to help her put it back on, I found the glue side covered in dirt and cat hair. “I dunno if these are going to do it,” I said while rubbing the […]