Aspen hasn’t looked back since the first lift opened just after WW11 and has grown to become one of the most well known and popular ski resorts in North America. Favoured by many celebrities who tend to keep a low profile and enjoy themselves, you will definitely feel at home here in this picturesque old mining town. There are direct flights to Denver then a small connecting flight drops you off right in Aspen which means no long transfers. Families will also enjoy Aspen as there is plenty to do such as the Tree House Kids Adventure Centre.
Aspen Ski Resort Apres Ski
Aspen is filled with loads of great bars and excellent restaurants to choose from. Here are just a few..
Aspen Ski Resort Bars
When the lifts start to close there are a few good bars at the foot of the slopes. Iguanas at the Highlands and the Ajax Tavern in Aspen are good. If you like your beer, try Hops Culture which has a great variety. You can grab some live music at various venues around town.
Aspen Ski Resort Restaurants
The dinner/bar scene in Aspen is great fun to be part of and you never know who you might bump into in the evening as there are plenty of celebrities who favour Aspen for their ski holidays. For fantastic fresh seafood and great wine try the Pacifica. The Elevation restaurant also comes highly recommended for its great food and bar. If you fancy a pint with the locals then head to Coopers bar as it is well priced and good fun with great burgers as well! The world famous Alpine Bistro is well worth a visit.
Resort Activities
There is something for all budgets with plenty to do off the slopes, however, if you plan on a spot of shopping definitely bring your gold credit card as the prices are high. There are various art galleries to meander around and plenty of shops and jewellery stores to spend your dollars in or just to window shop. Outdoors you can go horseriding, tubing, ice skating, snowshoeing and much, much more.
Aspen ski resort is made up of three main ski areas called Aspen Mountain, Buttermilk and Aspen Highlands. There is also Snowmass which is 19Km away from Aspen and easily reached using the regular bus service. Aspen Mountain has lovely long cruisy blue runs and some challenging steep black runs off the ridges. Buttermilk is the smallest of the 4 areas and is best suited to beginners. Aspen Highlands has a great mixture of easy and intermediate slopes and some very steep black runs at the top. There is also a bowl that is graded double black. Snowmass is a huge area over 3000 acres of piste to play on and something to suit all gradients. Aspen ski resort was home to the Winter X games until 2010 so has a different type of terrain park on each of its ski areas. It does boast a park that claims to be the longest in the world at 3Km long.
Intermediates will find most of the runs on Highlands and Snowmass to be the best. Snowmass certainly has the most variety to suit intermediates. For more advanced skiers and boarders all of the mountains, except Buttermilk, offer fantastic challenges both on and off piste. It is a good idea to join one of the organised groups if skiing or boarding the area for the first time to take advantage of the best places to ski.