Aspen: How is the luxury ski resort – 06/28/2023 – Tourism

On a Wednesday morning in March, anyone disembarking in Aspen would find a row of private jets alongside commercial airliners. It didn’t matter that the winter season at the favorite ski resort of the famous was already in its final days – the movement of well-heeled people was constant in the small wooden airport between the snow-capped mountains of Colorado.

With just 7,000 inhabitants, a number that reaches 27,000 in high season, the small town in the central region of the United States is a charming and very expensive meeting point for the world’s jet set interested in winter sports and partying. The mountains around Aspen have dozens of trails for skiing and snowboarding, from the easiest to the impossible levels, and the city has a selection of jewelers, watch shops, designer clothing stores, art galleries and star hotels of envy many metropolises.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Alessandra Ambrosio and other celebrities frequent the low-rise, exposed-brick streets of this former mining village, but Aspen’s visitor list doesn’t just include showbiz stars. After the Americans themselves and Australian tourists, Brazilians are the group that most go to Aspen, according to Lea Tucker, a publicist who worked for years promoting the destination to foreign markets.

As Aspen is a very expensive status symbol and those who go there want to see and be seen, most Brazilians stay at Snowmass, a ski resort from the 1970s located a few kilometers from Aspen, but part of the same complex. Located at the foot of the mountain of the same name, Snowmass, with its more affordable hotels, shops, restaurants and bars, all around a central square, welcomes families and groups interested in more relaxed activities.

On the square’s ice rink, children skate before eating free hot marshmallows. Meanwhile, movement is constant in the ski rental space, as Snowmass is the largest of the region’s four skiable mountains and the only one offering trails for all skill levels. The other mountains are Butter Milk, Highlands and Aspen, known as Ajax.

The popularity of Snowmass is also due to the fact that this is the only one of the four peaks where beginners have classes at the top of the mountain, a plateau that is reached after several minutes going up in the cable car and enjoying a carpet of snow as far as the eye can see. Those who have never skied learn on a small track attached to the trail where the most experienced practitioners pass at full speed.

For beginners, the challenge begins with attaching the skis to the feet —as if you are on ice, the blades slide more than you imagine and the first fall is just around the corner. The plateau where classes are held is not exactly flat. When pushing off the poles for the first time on the incline, this reporter was very tense, his legs and torso rigid in an attempt to control how much the skis slipped, but the lack of bouncing obviously resulted in a fall.

“Skiing is sliding on the ice. You need to relax”, instructor Danisa Guardatti told me. After two days of full-time lessons, I was able to let go and feel the wind in my face and the sense of freedom of descending on a sloped area. If your goal is to go down the entire mountain, it takes a few days of learning, a lot of effort, several falls and a prepared pocket — a day of private lessons for two people costs more than US$ 1,000, or about R$ 5,000, not including the daily pass to access the cable cars, around US$200, or R$1,000.

Breaks are spent in the bars and restaurants high up in the mountains, where you can sunbathe on outdoor loungers. But the hype starts even after 4 pm — “après”, from the French after, is the after-ski happy hour with drinks and food. The lobby of the Limelight hotel in Snowmass, for example, has a house party atmosphere, with a DJ playing and groups of friends spread out on the sofas with glasses of wine in hand. At Little Nell, the most expensive hotel in Aspen, the bar is packed, the music is loud and the vibe is flirtatious.

Those who want a more classic “après”, or even a late-night drink, should visit the Jerome’s grand living room —it is in the social areas of this downtown Aspen hotel founded in 1889 that much of the city’s social life takes place. Old black and white photos in the decoration, deer heads high on the walls, a lit fireplace and low light create the ambience in which you will show your best look while drinking a negroni.

Because it’s a mountainous region and offers the possibility of hiking and mountain biking in the summer months, Aspen received many visitors during the pandemic, says Carol Breen, of the city’s promotion agency. However, she adds, many tourists did not have experience with outdoor activities – for example, they were not prepared for the lower amount of oxygen at the peaks – which led to a series of situations in which people needed to be rescued.

“We don’t want to say ‘don’t come to Aspen,’ but we do want the right people to come,” says Breen. This means, according to her, tourists who are informed about the city, are respectful of nature and are interested in the cultural activities that Aspen offers, such as the exhibitions at the contemporary art museum or the shows in the space dedicated to the work of the painter and modernist graphic artist Herbert Bayer. “It’s not ‘come and take your selfies.’

When to go
Ski season in Aspen begins November 23 and runs through April 21, 2024. The local airport is Aspen/Pitkin County, which only accepts domestic flights. More information here.

The journalist traveled at the invitation of the Aspen Skiing Company, the company that operates the Aspen/Snowmass complex