Fallen Friends Memorial (& BIG Air)

Crocodile Dundees 3 peated at Fallen Friends. click 4 pix:The 5th Annual Fallen Friends Memorial was held at Aspen Highlands on Saturday.  Fallen Friends is a tribute to those skiers and riders who are no longer with us.  It's a celebration of the mountain lifestyle and a remembrance of those who have lost their lives in the mountains. Fallen Friends is an athletic competition, a party and a fund raiser for AVSC scholarships, but most of all its a reminder of the fragility of life. 

18 teams in full costume ripped laps down the modified slope-style course on Scarlett's run, just above The Merry Go Round restaurant.  Guys, gals, kids, adults...everybody threw tricks off the kickers and rails and natural features on Scarlett's.

Click for pix:  FALLEN FRIENDS (& BIG Air).

Every year, those of us that live in Aspen are exposed to death in the mountains and within the community.  Every ski season lives are lost in a variety of ways in the Rocky Mountains.  Fallen Friends memorializes the brothers (and sisters) who have paid the ultimate price and did so pursuing the life they loved in the Rocky Mountains.   Every Spring the Fallen Friends event brings the skiers and snowboarders together to throw down...to remember the good times...and to honor the lives of our Fallen Friends.

On the same night on Aspen Mountain the KickAspen BIG Air contest was held.  An 80 foot kicker was built at the base of Ajax on the Little Nell run. Athletes from near and far were sending their biggest tricks in front of a packed house.  Skiers and Snowboarders alike were hucking their meat under the lights for cash and prizes.  Everybody was whipping out the 720 corks and 1080's from their trick bags.  The best BIG Air specialists around were going for broke on the BIG Stage in Aspen.

Click for pix:  FALLEN FRIENDS (& BIG Air)

They gripped and they ripped at Fallen Friends 2013. Click for pix.The Ghost Riders at Fallen Friends 2013. Aspen Highlands. Click 4 pix.White Trash at Fallen Friends. Click 4 pix.Berkel & Tae went HUGE over the 80 foot kicker at KickAspen. Click 4 pix.The kicker was enormous on Aspen Mountain. Photo: Aspen/Snowmass Clcik for more pix.