Ask a crowd of non-skiing Americans to name a ski resort, and you can bet a bundle that Aspen will be one of those, though they will probably know more about the rich and famous who frequent the resort than about its equally notable skiing. With four mountains within 12 miles of each other (one of those, Snowmass, is detailed separately), offering 44 lifts and more than 5,246 skiable acres, a trip to Aspen just for the skiing would be well worth it. But Aspen has much more.

Aspen fits a niche unique among North American ski resorts. Sure, other resorts attract wealth, but Aspen’s wealth glitters and sparkles with a “look-this-way” flamboyance. Here, the well-to-do seem to want everyone else to know it. You’ll see the newest ski and city fashions on beautiful women as they pass turn-of-the-century brick façades. Private jets wait for their owners on the airport tarmac. Paparazzi aim their lenses at every celebrity in town so that supermarket tabloids can keep their pages filled.

Don’t head to Aspen purely to observe celebrities, however. You may not find any. They are most common during the Christmas-New Year holidays and March’s sunshine days, but they are difficult to spot when in ski clothes. If you want to mix with the upscale crowd, stay close to the Aspen Mountain gondola base, where the fanciest hotels and shops are clustered. You’ll find a mixed crowd here, which combines expensive and reasonably priced restaurants and bars. Beyond downtown, the outward signs of wealth disappear.

If all your information about Aspen comes from People magazine, you probably think you can’t afford to ski here. True, lift tickets are among the priciest in America, but it’s a little-known fact that lodging and restaurants have a wide price range, starting out with inexpensive dorm accommodations and topping out at stratospheric luxury suites.

Perhaps due to Aspen’s glamorous reputation, its adventurous nature is sometimes overlooked. Aspen also draws skiers and snowboarders who couldn't care less about the off-mountain scene. They come for the slopes, which have received rave reviews for decades. Aspen Mountain challenges intermediate through expert skiers and snowboarders and boasts a green reputation. Among other efforts, Aspen has built the state's first wind-powered chair lift. Buttermilk is the perfect beginner and cruising mountain, plus it’s home to the ESPN Winter X Games and the and the Crazy T’rain Terrain Park. Highlands is the most varied for its size, with terrain for experts and beginners, cruisers and bumpers. In the 05/06 season Highlands unveiled Deep Temerity Lift and 180 new acres of advanced, expert and extreme terrain. This year more than 40 more acres opened in the area, bringing the total acreage for Highlands to1,010.

If you’re determined to see celebrities at Aspen, three sightings are guaranteed on Aspen Mountain. Look for shrines for Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Jerry Garcia. The Elvis shrine is in a grove of trees just below Back of Bell 3. Marilyn’s shrine is on a cat track above the Elvis shrine and Jerry is memorialized in a grove of spruce trees to skiers’ right on Ruthie’s Run after you unload from the FIS chair. Ask an Aspen ambassador for directions and be sure to take your camera. For a little romance, check out the Valentine’s shrine between Walsh’s and Hyrup’s on Aspen Mountain, where you’ll find a secluded “porch swing” to canoodle.

Aspen Region Facts
Dining: +++++
Apres-ski/nightlife: +++++
Other activities: +++++

Address: Aspen Skiing Company, P.O. Box 1248, Aspen, CO 81612
Area code: 970
Ski area phone: 925-1220
or (800) 525-6200
Snow report: 925-1221 or
(888) 277-3676
Toll-free reservations:
(800) 262-7736 or 925-9000
Fax: 925-9008
E-mail: info@aspensnowmass.com (ski info); or info@stayaspensnowmass.com (reservations)
Internet: www.aspensnowmass.com (ski area); or www.aspenchamber.org (visitor information); or www.stayaspensnowmass.com (lodging)
Bed Base: 7,750; 13,050 within 10 miles
Nearest lodging: Slopeside, hotels, condos
Resort child care: 8 weeks and older
Adult ticket, per day:
$87 (07/08), good on all 4 hills.

Aspen Mountain Facts
Summit elevation: 11,212 feet
Vertical drop: 3,267 feet
Base elevation: 7,945 feet

Number of lifts: 8—1 gondola, 1 high-speed quad, 1 high-speed double, 2 quads, 3 doubles
Snowmaking: 31 percent
Skiable acreage: 673 acres
Uphill capacity: 10,775 per hour
Expert: ++++
Advanced: +++++
Intermediate: ++++
Not recommended for beginners and first-timers

Buttermilk Facts
Summit elevation: 9,900 feet
Vertical drop: 2,030 feet
Base elevation: 7,870 feet

Number of lifts: 9—2 high-speed quads, 3 doubles, 4 surface lifts
Snowmaking: 25 percent
Skiable acreage: 435 acres
Uphill capacity: 7,500 per hour
Parks & pipes: 2 parks, 1 pipe
Expert: +
Advanced: ++
Intermediate: ++++
Beginner: +++++
First-timer: +++++

Highlands Facts
Summit elevation: 11,675 feet
Vertical drop: 3,635 feet
Base elevation: 8,040 feet

Number of lifts: 5—3 high-speed quads, 2 triples
Snowmaking: 14 percent
Skiable acreage: 1,010 acres
Uphill capacity: 6,500 per hour
Parks & pipes: None
Expert: ++++
Advanced: +++++
Intermediate: ++++
Beginner: +++
First-timer: ++