WHY WE SKI ASPEN Aspen, Colorado: elevation 2,438 metres, 41 lifts, 2,298 skiable hectares. Put on the map by Jerome B. Wheeler, an 1870s industrialist intent on riding the silver mining boom. Blank canvas of Walter P. Paepcke, “maker of modern Aspen”, whose post-WWII community vision was to nourish “the whole man” through art, sport, music and thought. Home of hippie celebrities, notably: gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, who once firebombed the sky to wish Jack Nicholson a happy birthday; and Stevie Nicks, who sang at commencement ceremonies at the local high.
Aspen: Sixth on an online list of top names for golden retrievers—immediately preceded by Summer and Maui. Namesake of at least one car: a 1976 Dodge sedan. A town described alternatively as “candy-ass” and “the cocaine capital of…