Aspen Highlands Closing Party
This year’s Highlands Closing Party was my first experience. I have heard ridiculous stories from previous years, so I was eager to see what the fuss was all about. On Sunday April 13, the day of the party, the town of Aspen woke up to Rain. After talking to some friends and discussing the possibility of skipping the party due to the unfortunate weather, I was quickly assured there was no way I missing the event. Needless to say, I was glad I didn’t.
As I walked to the base of Highlands that morning, I could feel goose bumps begin to rise from the pounding music, I was excited. Being that it was the last day, I felt obligated to take a few more laps. Going up the Exhibition lift you could hear the music bumping from the Cloud 9 restaurant, this was our first stop. We showed up to a mess of flashy costumes, an all-star DJ, and some daring skiers and snowboarders hitting a jump next to the deck of the restaurant. After dancing around in the snowstorm at Cloud 9, it came time to try and make our way down the mountain to the party at the base.
Cloud 9 was fun, but nothing compared to the scene at the base. I am unsure of the total count of people that attended the party, but it had to be over 1,000, all packed on the deck of the Ale House. The thumping music fostered an all out dance party. As I unstrapped from my snowboard, I looked across the venue and you could see the deck of the Ale House flexing up and down from all the dancing, it baffles me as to how the deck battled through the entire party, and the many before. Looking at the deck was one thing, trying to walk across the rippling structure was another. Imagine a rolling wave off the back of a cruise line ship, that is how I can best describe trying to walk on the deck towards the DJ. Once my friends and I established a spot to set up camp for a couple hours, it was an all-out dance party from 3 – 7 PM with bottles of champagne to be popped and sprayed amongst the crowd, other adult beverages to be consumed and flashy costumes to laugh at and enjoy.
I took a couple dance breaks throughout the day, when I sat back and actually took in everything around me, the word to describe the party that kept coming to mind was; EPIC. This has to be one of the most amazing and renowned closing ski parties in the world. I would like to see others that rival it. Fortunately for me, I have this opportunity. This weekend, on April 20, both Aspen and Snowmass will have their closing parties. I will be attending the Aspen closing party at Sky Hotel this weekend, I am eager to see how it matches up with last weekend’s shenanigans. That being said, if anyone has the opportunity I would strongly recommend making your way to Aspen or Snowmass this weekend to check out the festivities. Although, Aspen is holding their closing party this upcoming weekend, the mountain is opening what locals like to call “Bonus Weekends”, meaning they will be opening each weekend until May 4 for all die hard skiers to get a last few enjoyable laps on the mountain.
As I walked to the base of Highlands that morning, I could feel goose bumps begin to rise from the pounding music, I was excited. Being that it was the last day, I felt obligated to take a few more laps. Going up the Exhibition lift you could hear the music bumping from the Cloud 9 restaurant, this was our first stop. We showed up to a mess of flashy costumes, an all-star DJ, and some daring skiers and snowboarders hitting a jump next to the deck of the restaurant. After dancing around in the snowstorm at Cloud 9, it came time to try and make our way down the mountain to the party at the base.
Cloud 9 was fun, but nothing compared to the scene at the base. I am unsure of the total count of people that attended the party, but it had to be over 1,000, all packed on the deck of the Ale House. The thumping music fostered an all out dance party. As I unstrapped from my snowboard, I looked across the venue and you could see the deck of the Ale House flexing up and down from all the dancing, it baffles me as to how the deck battled through the entire party, and the many before. Looking at the deck was one thing, trying to walk across the rippling structure was another. Imagine a rolling wave off the back of a cruise line ship, that is how I can best describe trying to walk on the deck towards the DJ. Once my friends and I established a spot to set up camp for a couple hours, it was an all-out dance party from 3 – 7 PM with bottles of champagne to be popped and sprayed amongst the crowd, other adult beverages to be consumed and flashy costumes to laugh at and enjoy.
I took a couple dance breaks throughout the day, when I sat back and actually took in everything around me, the word to describe the party that kept coming to mind was; EPIC. This has to be one of the most amazing and renowned closing ski parties in the world. I would like to see others that rival it. Fortunately for me, I have this opportunity. This weekend, on April 20, both Aspen and Snowmass will have their closing parties. I will be attending the Aspen closing party at Sky Hotel this weekend, I am eager to see how it matches up with last weekend’s shenanigans. That being said, if anyone has the opportunity I would strongly recommend making your way to Aspen or Snowmass this weekend to check out the festivities. Although, Aspen is holding their closing party this upcoming weekend, the mountain is opening what locals like to call “Bonus Weekends”, meaning they will be opening each weekend until May 4 for all die hard skiers to get a last few enjoyable laps on the mountain.
