At the end of World War II, Aspen was just another Colorado mining town gasping toward ghosthood.
The population of the once-proud silver producer had dropped 90 percent, and the nearest doctor lived miles away. The community had no fire trucks, no sewer and the drinking water was questionable. Only Main Street was paved. Aspen’s surviving hotel, the once ritzy Jerome, resembled a boarding house where transients stayed for 50 cents a night. Apart from snacks, only a saloon served food, and that tasted mediocre at best.
Aspen might have become simply another specter haunting the graveyard of mineral-depleted boomtowns. Fortunately, snow forestalled the undertaker.
The community sits along the Roaring Fork River, high in the central Colorado Rockies. Peaks embosom the town with the rounded mound of Red Mountain dominating the north and the conical crags of the Elk Range jutting to the south. Between them fall some 300 inches of fluff annually.
It comes light and deep, covering slopes and stuffing chutes with seemingly bottomless powder. It’s the kind of snow that makes skiers salivate and part with masses of money to experience. Like Dr. Frankenstein’s lightning, snow jolted the moribund Aspen, transforming it into a mutated cross between Beverly Hills and Tirolean Alps. The hardscrabble hills became a meld of Gucci and Gore-Tex.
Glitz and glamor have become Aspen’s cliche trademark. With an average sales price of $3.5 million dollars, homes are so expensive that doctors have been offered subsidized housing to move there. Streets are awash with $70,000 Range Rovers, local banks offer private concierge service and the airport looks like a shopping mall of private jets.
One local resident who could not get satellite reception at his mountain-hemmed mansion supposedly bought a place in town just so he could pull in Lakers games. Yes, wealth abounds here.
But there is another side to Aspen. The majority of people walking its streets are neither celebrities, nor are they close to reaching the Forbes 400 list. They come not for the opulence, but in spite of it. For many, Aspen offers the illusion of a mountainous Utopia that combines stunning scenery, crisp skiing, gourmet dining and Victorian panache. This is a place where culture meets history, which is how it all started.
The initial attempt to lure downhillers’ dollars occurred in the late 1930s. Government crews from the Works Project Administration (WPA) cleared a run down Aspen Mountain and installed a cable-pulled sled to ferry skiers upward. Developers planned more, but World War II interrupted.
At the start of hostilities, the Army considered leasing a nearby basin for its mountain warfare training center. It ultimately chose a location near Leadville, 82 miles away.
The distance didn’t deter soldiers from making Aspen a favorite leave locale. They came to party and ski, often sacking out on the floor of Hotel Jerome. After slaloming slopes, they would hit the Jerome’s J-Bar to slam down glasses of Aspen Crud–thick milk shakes laced with 90-proof bourbon.
A few discharged GIs returned after the war. One of them was Friedl Pfeifer, who had been director of the Sun Valley Ski School. Pfeifer envisioned a great ski resort in Aspen.
When dreams meet money, fantasies breed reality. Chicago business tycoon Walter Paepcke loved the valley and bore very deep pockets. Pfeifer and Paepcke joined, spawning the Aspen Skiing Company. In the summer of 1946 bulldozers began moving dirt for a 15,000-foot, two-section chairlift. Opening in the winter of 1946-47, it elevated world-class skiing into the heart of Colorado.
That first lift has multiplied into 39, and the original area has mushroomed, spreading over a quartet of separate mountains. Where miners once tunneled for silver, homes now stud hillsides. Their collective value exceeds the mineral wealth ever extracted from the valley.
People move to Aspen because they like what it offers, and they will battle to keep it that way. Most earned their fortunes elsewhere, so for them there is little allure in ripping up meadows to plant Wal-Marts. Growth-fighting Aspenites opposed widening the highway into town and voted down an airport expansion that would have allowed 737s to land. In affluent Aspen, even the size of new mansions is now being limited.
Downtown Aspen today is a blend of old and new. Authentic and replicated Victorian brick buildings stand beside pseudo-Swiss and contemporary structures. Shops line brick-laid pedestrian malls that loop the town’s center. Storefronts run the gamut from designer shops and galleries to T-shirt emporiums and souvenir outlets. Restaurants aromatize the air with scents of savory sustenance. Some claim they cook the finest cuisine between the coasts.
Night-life includes a full range of bars and nightclubs, some exclusively for members and others packed with tourists and locals.
Aspen is a laid-back community, moneyed but not exclusive. While the elite may hang out in designer jeans and mink moon boots, normal folks stroll the streets in Kmart clothes and still feel welcome. The cultural commingling offers a great venue for people watching.
“Aspen women come in two styles,” says local observer Mary Lou Bendrick.
“One is the socialite, assembly line woman. She wears a fur jacket, sports a blond pony tail and has an older man in tow. The other is the Aspen-athletic, who goes everywhere in a mountain parka and climbing boots.
“The men are either rich or rugged,” she smiles. “Occasionally both.”
Whether clad in chinchilla or fleece, Aspenites share a sense of community. They live here because they want to and are proud of it. Most seem to believe in the Vibram-soled, “friends around the campfire” philosophy of John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High,” even though the singer lived in the luxury of Aspen’s gated Starwood subdivision.
A respect for nature extends even to the activities of the Aspen Skiing Company, which claims to be the only Colorado ski area to support a recent wilderness bill. New lifts are constructed so as to not interfere with wildlife mating and nesting periods. When a mountain-top restaurant was rebuilt, the former structure was stripped and ground into soil-enriching compost. Its new 3,700-square-foot deck was made from recycled materials. In addition, the company is beginning to use natural, chemical-free beef in its restaurants. The practice supports local ranchers and provides visitors with healthier food.
On a snowy winter’s day, another characteristic links Aspen’s residents and guests. They pay what is typically Colorado’s loftiest lift-ticket price to ski their choice of four distinct areas.
The valley’s original ski area, Ajax (name change from being called Aspen Mountain made official this year), offers challenging skiing on slopes that tumble to the very edge of town. Two-thirds of its trails garner “most-difficult” or “expert-only” ratings, and only here are snowboards banned. The Silver Queen Gondola ferries skiers to the Sundeck where views of the town spread far below. The runs down are fast, steep and bumpy enough to scare wayward novices into soiling their expensive Bogner suits.
Beginners do better at nearby Buttermilk Mountain. A third of its terrain ranks “easiest,” making the area ideal for kids and downhill rookies.
To free parents for more serious pursuits, Buttermilk provides transportation and instruction for their skiing offspring.
Twelve miles down the valley, the sprawling Snowmass Ski Area features more than 3,000 acres of snow-covered terrain. Largest of the four, it possesses something for every skiing level, including those addicted to long runs. One series of trails stretches over four miles top to bottom.
The final area, Aspen Highlands, presents a blend of topography in an intimate setting. Typically uncrowded, Highlands is the favorite place for locals. “You don’t wear designer duds there,” says Aspen waiter Greg Murray.
“Highlands is a place to ski in secondhand clothes held together by duct tape.”
For those who need a break from downhilling, Aspen offers other forms of winter fun. Snowmobile tours varoom over snow-closed roads to view the towering Maroon Bells, two of the most photographed mountains in North America. Dog sledders mush on runs led by a local kennel. For the vertically inclined, there’s winter parasailing and hot air ballooning. Walkers can take guided snowshoe strolls on Ajax.
For free-heelers, Aspen serves up some of the most gorgeous cross-country and telemark skiing in the state. Tracked trails lead past historic buildings in the nearby ghost town of Ashcroft. Two systems of mountain huts offer rustic, uncatered lodging for self-equipped backcountry explorers. Most visitors, however, prefer to spend their Rocky Mountain nights in more comfortable surroundings.
Travelers to Aspen can choose among an array of condos, inns and hotels.
With package prices starting at $408 for five-nights lodging and a four-day lift ticket, skiing in Aspen can be as affordable as any major ski area. For those with more bucks in the bank, Aspen boasts a trio of luxury establishments. All invite inside gawking, even if the budget won’t permit an overnight indulgence.
Largest of the three, the St. Regis, formerly the Ritz-Carlton, oozes with opulence. Valets and bellmen dress in long woolen overcoats, and a uniformed staff greets guests with gracious amity. Bronze statues adorn a lobby that’s trimmed in wood and stone. Paintings from 19th Century and contemporary artists hang from its walls.
The Little Nell, the town’s five-star, five-diamond hostelry, abuts the base of Aspen Mountain, a minute’s walk from the gondola terminal. The lobby has a light airiness that bestows a contemporary feel. Many local diners say the hotel’s restaurant, unimaginatively named “The Restaurant at the Little Nell,” serves perhaps the best food in town.
It is Hotel Jerome, the venerable Aspen classic, that most cries for a stop-by visit. Built in 1889, the three-story brick edifice was the most elegant in town. Restored and renovated, the hotel again embodies Victorian grandeur. Its lobby resembles a parlor with overstuffed sofas and antler-legged coffee tables. Walking the corridors is like sauntering through an open museum filled with antiques and historical photographs.
This grand hotel has hosted many stars, beginning with the performers who graced the stage of the elegant Wheeler Opera House in Aspen’s silver-mining heyday. Albert Schweitzer stayed at the Jerome when he attended Aspen’s Goethe Bicentennial Celebration in 1949. Jerome historian Martie Sterling claims Gary Cooper sat in front of the hotel and girl-watched with the locals. Lana Turner and husband Lex (“Tarzan”) Baker used the Jerome for escapes. Hedy LaMarr downed many a drink at the hotel. According to Sterling, even John Wayne boozed and brawled there when he visited town.
Through all that has happened to Aspen, Hotel Jerome’s vintage tavern still remains. Called the J-Bar, it sports a pressed tin ceiling, and its cherry-wood counter dates back to the original structure. Still a favorite apres ski haunt, the place today looks much the same as it did when the first downhillers arrived in Aspen.
In the past half-century, however, one significant change has occurred at this Aspen classic. The J-Bar no longer sells Aspen Crud.
IF YOU GO
WHEN TO GO
Aspen Mountain and Snowmass Ski Areas will open Nov. 18 and are slated to close April 22. Buttermilk and Aspen Highlands Ski Areas will open Dec. 16 and close April 1. One lift ticket covers all four mountains. For various prices, call 800-525-6200.
For current snow conditions and other recorded information, call 888-ASPEN-SNO or check www.skiaspen.com. Aspen’s area code is 970.
GETTING THERE
United Express (800-241-6522) flies to Aspen from Denver International Airport, and other airlines occasionally offer direct air service from major cities. Check with a travel agent for availability.
Several major airlines offer limited jet service to Eagle County Airport, 70 miles from Aspen. Colorado Mountain Express (800-222-2112) can provide transportation to town.
Amtrak (800-USA-RAIL) serves Glenwood Springs (42 miles northwest of Aspen). Roaring Fork Transit Agency (925-8484) provides inexpensive bus service from Glenwood Springs to Aspen.
Motorists reach Aspen by driving Interstate 70 to Glenwood Springs, then following Colorado Highway 82 to town. The portion of Colorado 82 east of Aspen over Independence Pass closes in winter.
ACCOMMODATIONS
Prices vary greatly during the ski season, but are generally lowest from opening through mid-December. They vault upward around the Christmas holidays, then decline for the remainder of the season.
Lodging can be found for as low as about $85 per night during early December and about $125 after the Christmas holidays. Packages featuring five nights accommodations with four-day lift tickets start at $409 (per person, double occupancy) for early season skiing, increasing to $643-$859 after the holidays. Call Aspen Central Reservations (800-262-7736; www.stayaspen.com) for reservations and availability.
Hotel Jerome (330 E. Main St.; 800-331-7213; www.hoteljerome.com) offers deluxe king rooms at $365 per night in early December, $710 during the holidays, and $525 thereafter.
St. Regis Aspen (315 E. Dean St.; 970-920-3300; www.stregisaspen.com) features superior rooms starting at $519 per night in early December, $1,000 through the holidays, then $545 after Jan. 2.
The Little Nell (675 E. Durant St.; 800-525-6200; www.thelittlenell.com) provides town-view rooms at $375 per night during early December, $775 during the holidays and $525-550 thereafter.
DINING
Aspen is stuffed with approximately 100 restaurants offering a variety of cuisine choices, including Mexican at the Cantina (411 E. Main St.; 925-3663), French at Cache Cache (205 S. Mill St.; 925-3835) or Italian at the Mother Lode (314 E. Hyman St.; 925-7700).
Free lists of restaurants, can be found nearly everywhere in town.
INFORMATION
Contact the Aspen Visitor Center (800-262-7736, www.aspenchamber.org) or Aspen Skiing Company (800-525-6200, www.skiaspen.com).
— D.L.
