What Are The Maroon Bells And Where Are They?
The Maroon Bells are a pair of 14,000ft+ mountain peaks near Aspen, Colorado. They are located in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness of the White River National Forest in Colorado. The Maroon Bells area is a very popular place for hikers. One of the best sunrise photo spots around Aspen is Maroon Bells from late spring through autumn. The road up to the Maroon Creek area where most Maroon Bells photos are taken is closed in the winter.
In order to easily see and photograph the Maroon Bells during the winter, you’ll need to get a ski pass for Aspen Highlands ski resort and bring your camera up on the slopes with you. If you’ll be skiing multiple days at Aspen, you’re best bet will be to get the Ikon Ski Pass.
What Is It Like To Travel To And Photograph Maroon Bells From Aspen Highlands?
For those of us without unlimited funds, the biggest challenge to photographing the Maroon Bells from Aspen Highlands ski resort is of course the cost or getting to, staying there and then skiing at any of the Aspen ski resorts.
First you’ve got to be a skier or snowboarder and a pretty good one at that. Next you have to get there, find a place to stay and get lift tickets.
If you plan to fly you can fly into the Aspen Airport, the Grand Junction, Colorado Airport or possibly the Denver Airport if you don’t mind the sometimes harrowing drive along I-70 in the winter time. I-70 is an awful drive in the winter. Whether you fly or are on a road trip, the drive from I-70 down Colorado 82 is usually a pretty smooth drive on a road that is well maintained in the winter.
If you’re going to stay in Aspen, there is nowhere cheap to stay in the winter. If you’re on a budget and want to stay in Aspen, even a hostel bunk and the St. Moritz lodge will cost you about $100.00. The prices for anything else go up from there. If you don’t mind taking the bus into Aspen each day you can stay at the Glenwood Springs Hostel for $30/night in shared bunk rooms. You can also drive down to Aspen and back each day but you may get stuck having to pay for parking depending on where you park. If you can get a spot at the Aspen Highlands parking garage, it will cost your $5.00 an hour up to $25 on weekdays and $35 on weekends. Other hostels in and around Glenwood Springs are cheaper than their Aspen counterparts but will still cost a fair amount.
Once you get your lodging, transportation ans ski tickets figured out, you’ll be ready to hit the slopes at Aspen Highlands. Pack a decent camera in a backpack, head up the chairlift and go seek out the stunning views of Maroon Bells from the slopes of Aspen Highlands Ski Resort in Aspen, Colorado. You’ll want at least a semi clear day for the best photos and views. A storm day will be great for skiing but there is no sense in taking your camera if the skies will be dumping all day.
What Does It Take To Get A Wall Art Quality Winter Photo Of The Maroon Bells In Aspen, Colorado?
If you want to get a wall art quality photo of the Maroon Bells in winter from the slopes of Aspen Highlands Ski Resort and can make all the arrangements and stomach all the costs to get there, getting the photo is pretty straight forward.
Watch the weather and look for a day that will probably not be the best skiing day in the world. If it will be snowy or really overcast, the views of Maroon Bells from Aspen Highlands will probably not be that great. They may not be there at all on snowy days. Since you’ll be looking for a nice bluebird type of day, chances are the crowds will substantially less than on a storm day.
Once you’ve got that partly cloudy to clear day locked in, you’re ready to go. Take the bus to Aspen Highlands or splurge for parking in the garage if it is available and head out on the slopes.
What Is The Best Gear For Photographing The Maroon Bells In Winter At Aspen Highlands?
When you head up to Aspen Highlands Ski Resort to photograph Maroon Bells in the winter you’ll want to have a decent DSLR or mirrorless camera with you. A standard 24-105 lens will probably give you all the zoom range you need but you might want to take something as wide as 16mm or 17mm if you want a really wide angle shot.
A camera with a large sensor will facilitate making larger prints if you want to have a really large print of this scene hanging on your walls. Chances are you won’t want to haul a tripod up on the slopes with you and you really don’t need it. If you go on a partly to mostly sunny day the landscape will be very bright and there will be no need for a tripod to stabilize the camera.
It is advisable to to take a circular polarizer with you. The polarizer will help make the blue skies a little bit bluer and help create an overall more pleasing scene.
What Is The Story Behind This Photo Print Of A Winter View At Maroon Bells?
In the spring of 2019 I headed west from Pittsburgh with the Ikon Ski Pass and the National Parks annual pass in the Subaru Outback for what would be about a 10 month road trip. After a stop in Bloomington, Indiana to see a relative, I proceeded west via I-70 through Kansas. Kansas is the single most boring state in the country. Unfortunately I got stuck there for about a week.
The spring of 2019 was when I first heard the term “bomb cyclone”. As I was passing through Kansas a bomb cyclone hit the front range of Colorado and a bit of western Kansas. Driving I-70 trough Colorado is pretty awful on a good day and there was no way I was going to try to drive through it during a bomb cyclone or in the immediate aftermath.
At the time the bomb cyclone was rolling into Colorado I was about halfway through Kansas in the town of Salina. There isn’t much in Salina, Kansas but there were a bunch of Choice Hotels that each cost about $45/night at the time. Choice Hotels had their stay twice and get one night free (or get 8,000 points) promotion going at the time. Each of the 6 nights I was stuck in Salina, Kansas I made my way to another Choice Hotel in or around Salina. They weren’t very nice places but I just needed a bed and wifi and a safe place to crash each night. Those six nights netted me 24,000 Choice Hotel Points.
When the bomb cyclone and the aftermath had been cleared up, I continued on my way and racked up more Choice hotel points at a few more Econolodge hotels on the way to Boulder and just outside Boulder while I skied a few days at Eldora. I’d paid for 8 nights and had 4 more free nights worth of bonus points in the bank.
After leaving the Boulder, Colorado area I passed by Copper Mountain and spent a day skiing there before continuing on to ski Aspen.
Along the way I discovered the Glenwood Springs Hostel online and decided to stay there while I skied at Aspen. The first night there I was exhausted and didn’t go anywhere except to the grocery store the following day. That gave me time to learn the lay of the land, try to understand the bus schedule and figure out a plan for skiing Aspen that was somewhat convenient but also reasonably affordable.
The second day I drove from the Glenwood Springs Hostel down to Aspen and ended up at Aspen Highlands. At that time, the Aspen Highlands parking garage was free if you pulled in after 12 noon. I got there about 12:15 and pulled out a bit after 4pm and the parking was indeed free! Quite a bargain for Aspen!
Once I got parked and figured out where to go and how to get to the slopes, I grabbed the ski gear, threw the camera and a couple lenses in the backpack and headed to the slopes. This wa the first time I’d ever been to Aspen. Prior to getting the Ikon pass, I never even considered going to Aspen or thought I’d ever ski there because it is so absurdly expensive to get anywhere near the place. Regardless of that, here I was.
I took a few lower mountain warmup runs and then headed higher up the hill. It was a beautiful bluebird day with nice snow conditions. Like most western ski resorts, there are incredible views everywhere you look. As I took a leisurely run down one of the upper slopes at Aspen highlands I stopped, paused and noticed Maroon Bells glistening off in the distance. As first I wasn’t totally sure I was in fact looking at Maroon Bells because I’d only gone to see sunrise at Maroon Bells from the Maroon Creek area near the campgrounds.
I took a few runs in the area and stopped each time to snap a few more photos of the Bells from the Aspen Highlands slopes. When the lifts shut down at about 3:30pm, I took my last run down the mountain, headed back to the car and drove back to the Glenwood Springs Hostel for the night. I was lucky enough to be able to check off one more experience I never thought I’d have, one of hundreds if not thousands over the previous 9 or so years.
After this first day at Aspen Highlands, I got a little bit lucky and got to spend some time right in the town of Aspen and got to ski Aspen Mountain and the other Aspen ski resorts.
What Formats Is This Maroon Bells Winter Art Print Available?
This print of Maroon Bells in the winter seen from the Aspen Highlands Ski Resort is available in sizes up to 40×60 inches and comes on canvas, paper, acrylic, wood and metal. If you’ll be hanging it in an area with really bright, direct light or exposed light bulbs nearby you’ll want to go with a matte paper or canvas finished print to minimize the glare and reflections on the print.
If you’ll be hanging it in an area with diffused lighting then any type of print will look great. Anything with a metallic or shiny surface will look very vibrant while anything with a matte finish will look great but will have a bit more subtle, subdued look to it.
If you’d rather have something more along the line of home furnishings then a high quality, durable shower curtain could make a great choice and may be paired with matching bath towels. For the bedroom or living room, a Sherpa fleece blanket has a great look and feel. They are perfect for the living room, bedroom or even the dorm room.
If you need a permanent solution to replace the plastic shopping bags that are increasingly hard to find at grocery stores and elsewhere, a nice solid and durable canvas tote bag can make an excellent choice. If you’ve got a new cel phone that would look good with Maroon Bells on the case, those are available too!
Finally, you can choose a 500 or 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. They come nicely boxed and feature the image on the box in case the person working on the puzzle would like a visual to reference while working on the puzzle.
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