No matter where
you are in the USA, you aren’t far from a ski resort that's suitable
to a winter break. Whether you’re a beginner on the bunny slopes,
an ex-Olympian reliving your glory days, or even a non-skier sipping
rum toddies in the lounge, you’ll find a perfect place to spend
your winter week or weekend not far from your desk.
Go West young
skier for the best slopes in the USA. Every American skier wants to
ski the Rockies and with cause! From Aspen
to Telluride,
Colorado has some of the
best skiing and most beautiful scenery in the world.
Aspen is also a super site for spotting celebs. If you really want
to catch a moving movie star on the slopes, Aspen is your kind of
town. If you are heading that way this winter, check with us well
in advance for room rental, Aspen is among the most expensive and
hard to book destinations in the USA.
A Tale of Two Ski Resorts
by Margaret Malsam
 Aspen
and Vail boast some of the best skiing in the world, but winter
isn't the only season to visit. The cities boast a unique blend
of history, culture, festivals, sports, restaurants and music,
which makes these famous Colorado towns very special world-class
resorts. Famous celebrities flock to Aspen and Vail to ski in
the winter and to vacation in the summer. Who knows what famous
celebrity you might bump into walking down the street.
These two
ski resort giants are as different as salt and pepper. Aspen dates
back to the silver mining days in the late 1800s, and Vail was
born as a European-style ski village in the '60s. Both contribute
handsomely to Colorado's colorful reputation. The late John Denver,
a favorite son of Aspen, immortalized "Colorado, Rocky Mountain
High" in song and spirit.
People-watching
in Aspen and Vail is free entertainment, but that's only a portion
of the free things to do in these towns, including outdoor concerts,
musicians and festivals on the mall and streets, dance performances,
window shopping, lecture series, gallery exhibitions and walking
tours.
Restaurants
run the gamut -- from inexpensive fare at Aspen's historic Red
Onion and Vail's The Daily Grind to gourmet dining at "in"
spots such as the Little Nell in Aspen and Sweet Basil in Vail.
For sports
other than skiing in these mountain villages, there's rafting,
mountain biking, jeeping, horseback riding, paragliding and ballooning.
If you like fishing, some of the best trout fishing in Colorado
lies near these two towns.
ASPEN
Aspen offers
a depth and breadth of entertainment in music, drama and arts.
The town hosts world-renowned artists, dance festivals, community
theater, the Aspen Filmfest, arts and crafts fairs, workshops
for writers, photographers and artists.
Hotel Jerome,
an old Aspen landmark in the National Register of Historic Places,
is a showplace of Rocky Mountain history. Its original Victorian
opulence has been recaptured by a magnificent restoration.
If you yearn
for a movie and some good popcorn, Aspen has two year-round movie
theaters, plus the Wheeler Opera House and Paepcke Auditorium,
which features foreign films. The Aspen Historical Society's Wheeler-Stallard
House Museum offers a wonderful exhibit on Aspen's history. Art
lovers can browse through any of Aspen's 35-plus galleries, plus
the esteemed Aspen Art Museum. Visitors can take free tours of
the old Wheeler Opera House. The Joan and Irving Harris Concert
Hall hosts symphonies, chamber music, choral, opera and jazz performances.
The Anderson
Ranch Arts Center in nearby Snowmass Village displays works of
famous artisans. And nationally known artists lead workshops in
crafts and visual arts.
VAIL
Vail Valley
recently hosted the World Alpine Ski Championships this past winter
on its renowned international course on Vail Mountain and the
newly completed Birds of Prey course at nearby Beaver Creek.
Even before
the snow melts on North America's largest ski mountain, this Alpine-style
village is blooming with color -- mainly from the town's many
hanging flower baskets. One of the most colorful places in Vail
is the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens, which contains more than 1,500
native and mountains species of plants.
At the Gerald
Ford Amphitheater, visitors can be entertained with classical
concerts, popular music and dance performances. The New York City
Ballet, the Paris Opera Ballet and the Royal Ballet perform here.
Colorado Ski
Museum, which contains the Colorado Ski Hall of Fame, details
the history of skiing. Those who have helped Colorado make great
advancesin the sport of skiing have been inducted into its prestigious
gallery. Visitors can see many skiing innovations, such as leather
lace-up boots of yesteryear which didn't offer much comfort or
protection against the wet, frigid weather of the high country.
Nearby Beaver
Creek has opened its Vilar Center for the Arts. Designed after
a turn-of-the century theater in Munich, it combines creative,
underground architecture with classic, curved seating for an intimate
atmosphere. The Vilar Center's lobby showcases collections of
public art.
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