Finding your Aspen adventure will be as individual as yourself, writes Phil Osborn. Perhaps no name is more synonymous with a luxury ski holiday than Aspen Snowmass. But within the Aspen environment, you quickly realise, Aspen’s real character lies within the people who call this place home, the stunning natural environment and the visitors who come from all over the globe with a shared passion for snowsports.
The authenticity of the original mining town has rubbed off on the character of today’s Aspen town. Perhaps the key to Aspen’s incredible success was the vision of Walter and Elizabeth Paepcke, who set up the Aspen Institute after the troubles of the second world war in 1949. Their humanistic vision for a better, more progressive society has fostered and encourage deep thinking on how to improve the lives of everyone in the world. If you open your mind in Aspen, embrace the diversity of people you meet along the way, there is a fair chance you are going to have a ski trip of a lifetime and take home the progressive Aspen spirit into your everyday life.
Our Aspen family ski holiday journey, was literally in the middle of two major events on Aspen’s annual calendar. We arrived just as Aspen’s Gay Ski Week was finishing and the X-Games was firing up. The diversity and flamboyancy of Gay Ski Week sits easily in a progressive community like Aspen, where inclusivity is celebrated. On the flip side, the X-Games brings the youthful grunge, the swagger of the world’s best skiers and snowboarders and the media hype that follows their every move. Aspen is welcoming. You are free to be yourself in this town. Once you strap on skis or snowboard, you become part of the tribe. Perhaps no better example of this was being in the lift line on Aspen Mountain, when my 11 and 13 year old daughters nudged me and said, “hey that’s Kim Kardasian”. And we all just kept skiing and snowboarding, without any fanfare.
Aspen Snowmass – Four Mountains
Aspen Snowmass has four unique mountains; Aspen Mountain, Buttermilk, Aspen Highlands and Snowmass. Each mountain has it’s own appeal.
Aspen Mountain, is the closest mountain to the town of Aspen. We were really lucky to have expert skier, Sonia Bekhaazi, Aspen’s International Marketing Manager, show us around this mountain. What we loved about Aspen Mountain was the length of runs versus time on lifts. Somehow you feel like you are flowing around the mountain more than sitting on a lift. With Sonia’s expert knowledge of the mountain, we discovered the 9/11 Shrine, the Elvis Presley shrine and John Denver shrine. Interestingly, these shrines are placed here by individuals, not by Aspen. They are personal tributes hidden in the trees. These are just a few of the many shrines dotted throughout the forests. If you are skiing through the trees, you start to get a picture of the storied history of Aspen through these many shrines. As we were skiing around Aspen Mountain, Sonia provided so many valuable insights into the Silver mining history and how the ski resort and town evolved into today’s incredible ski town. She has now called Aspen home for 25 year after coming to work in Aspen from Australia on a CCUSA program.
Aspen Mountain is best suited to intermediate to advanced skiers and snowboarders. Once you find your groove on Aspen Mountain, you quickly realise it’s a fun mountain to ski or snowboard. The new Heros’ Lift opens up the north facing terrain this season.
Snowmass was another favourite for our family. It’s a huge mountain, with incredible ski-in, ski-out properties. The zone we loved the most, was the rolling terrain off the Elk Camp lift. You could easily spend a lot of time at Snowmass discovering all the mountain. It’s well serviced gondolas and high speed lifts, eliminates lift lines quickly. You can catch a free public bus regularly between Aspen town centre and Snowmass. So whether you stay in Aspen or Snowmass, the ability to move around without a car, is easy. For our family, we loved the easy and free bus network around Aspen.
Buttermilk is perfect for beginners and interestingly is home to the X-Games set-up. At Buttermilk during X-Games, you have Scotty James and the rest of the world’s best skiers and snowboarders hitting the beefed up super pipe and maxed-out slopestyle courses. The town buzzes during X-Games
Aspen Highlands is popular with advanced skiers and snowboarders. The most notable aspect of Aspen Highlands is the hike-to Highlands Bowl – which has a backcountry feel. If steep skiing is your thing and you don’t mind a hike, put Aspen Hightlands on your to-do list.
The town of Aspen:
We arrived just as the snow had fallen over the mountains and wrapped the town in a stunning white blanket. The variety of designer shops and cosmopolitan restaurants nestled at the base of Aspen Mountain is like no other mountain town in the world. The fairy lights on the trees in town, give the streetscape a magical feel. The full moon during our trip, helped light up the mountains behind the town, creating a spectacular vista. Aspen is a walkable town, you don’t need a car. Just rug up and enjoy people watching and window shopping. If you are feeling in the mood for designer ski or après gear you will be spoilt for choice. If you are looking for something quirky, perhaps some old Aspen ski memorabilia, or barely used designer ski gear, check out the Aspen Thrift shop.
How to get to Aspen?
Flying:
Getting to Aspen is easy from Australia. You can fly into Aspen Airport from various points in the US, including the popular gateways of Los Angeles LAX airport and San Fransico SFO. To acclimatise to the higher elevation, we can recommend staying a couple of nights in Denver. In Denver, you can check out live sports games with some of the best US teams, including the famous Denver Nuggets basketball team. It’s worth exploring Denver’s vibrant city’s arts and food scene. There is loads to do in Denver and it just helps you settle into the higher altitude of Colorado coming from Australia.
Driving:
Driving from Denver is approximately 3.5 hours. Just be aware, the challenge of driving the I70 in a blizzard is hazardous and the road can be closed, or have slow moving traffic. You can get a shuttle service from Denver to Aspen, which is another good option.
We drove up from Telluride, picking up a hire vehicle from Montrose Airport. From Telluride it was approximately 4 hours of driving. We had clear conditions on our driving day which made it a pleasant and enjoyable journey. I love being able to check out the countryside of Colorado with the stunning Rocky Mountains blowing our minds with their beauty.
Where to Stay?
We stayed at Limelight Aspen. The hotel is centrally located in the heart of Aspen and underwent extensive renovations two years ago. The lobby and dining / lounge area has excellent views of Rugby Park and Aspen Mountain. The Limelight Hotel includes a fantastic breakfast in the hotel package. Your hotel stay also includes airport limo transfers and drop offs and pick-ups from any one of the four mountains, complimentary use of an Audi for 2 hours, excellent spa, pool and gym.
Other notable hotels in Aspen include Hotel Jerome, the oldest hotel in Aspen. And the Little Nell, Aspen’s only 5 star hotel.
Eating out:
Aspen has so many dining options to suit every occasion and budget. Travelling with a family, we find the best value and popular meals with our kids are usually Italian, Mexican or burger meals. We can highly recommend Mezzaluma Aspen, Las Montanas Aspen and if you want a quiet night in – Limelight Hotel has an excellent dinner menu.
Is Aspen Snowmass worth visiting?
Aspen is 100% worth visiting. Travelling with a young family, Aspen ticked a lot of boxes. It’s a fun place, with a vibrancy that is inclusive. You can find your own groove in Aspen. We loved the mountain terrain and the town of Aspen is a lot of fun. Make sure you visit Aspen, you’ll have the time of your life.
Meet the team from Aspen Snowmass in May for the Snow Travel Expo 2024 in Melbourne 19 May and Sydney 26 May.
For more information on visiting Aspen Snowmass from Australia go to: aspensnowmass
