Aspen may be known for its downhill skiing, but the Nordic Skiers are just as competitive. Come check out some legs and lungs in Colorado’s largest cross-country ski race, the Owl Creek Chase, this Sunday, February 12, 2012. This race has been one of the state’s premier cross-country ski races since 1985. The 21K freestyle race course starts in Snowmass Village at the Snowmass Cross Country Center and takes racers through exciting terrain with beautiful views along the Owl Creek Trail and wraps up in Aspen at the Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club. This will be the best place to cheer on the racers at the finish line. The race begins at 11am with a mass start for each wave: Elite Men, Elite Women & Citizen. Standard $50 registration closes today, February 8, 2012. There is no race day registration.
2012 Aspen Nordic Festival Schedule of Events:
Sat. Feb. 11, 9am - AVSC USSA SuperTour Classic Sprint Qualifier, Active USSA/FIS license holders only
For all of you football fans out there, fear not, although Aspen is a ski town its football friendly too. If you don’t have a flat screen in your hotel room, or just enjoy a little atmosphere, there are several places to enjoy good food and the big game. The 9-7 New York Giants meet the 13-3 New England Patriots at 4:29 p.m. local time. Be sure to get your skiing in early to get first dibs on the best seats. A few choice locations for viewing and specials are:
Brunelleschi’s features a 92″ projection screen and as always has pizza, pasta and salads.
Matsuhisa’s upstairs lounge features “Super Roll” Sunday. Doors open at 3pm w/food, sake, sushi and beer specials.
Cantina features 2 giant HD screens and 6HD TV screens with $7 wings and quesadillas, $10 pitchers of Coors Light and $15 bucket of Bud/Bud Light, among other special
Zane’s Tavern is local favorite with reasonably priced bar fare.
In the mood for an après ski that you can really sink your teeth into? The Aspen Writer’s Foundation is kicking off its 15th annual Winter Words this Tuesday, February 7th at 5:30 p.m. at the historic Wheeler Opera House with acclaimed author Ann Patchett. Patchett is the author of novels including, Bel Canto, Run, The Patron Saint of Liars and her most recent release, State of Wonder. Grab a ski and a snack and head over to the Wheeler for a little brain stimulation that includes an author reading, talk, Q&A and book signing. The cost is $20, for general admission seating.
If you’re craving more time with the author and want to join AWF they have paired up with Aspen Peak to present a private Author Salon at a downtown Aspen Art Gallery where guests can enjoy a chat with the author as well as a private viewing of the Gallery. This offer is exclusively for members of the AWF and SOF. The Author Salon featuring Ann Patchett will be held at the Baldwin Gallery. These exclusive member only tickets include reserved seating for the public event at the Wheeler AND entry to the private fete and are just $50. And if you feel like signing up for the entire Salon series the cost is just $250. To become a member and support the AWF, please call 970.925.3122 or join now.
Aspen Show Tickets at the Wheeler is the official Winter Words box office.
The skies are dark tonight after four days of glow which was reminiscent to that of a full moon. Alas, the lights were merely those of Winter X Games 16 right here in our own backyard. The Games came to a close yesterday, but not without four full days of heart-thumping, adrenaline pumping excitement, including its first ever perfect score in competition from Shaun White. Winter X brought an estimated total of 108,000 people through its gates over the course of four days here inAspen.
Aspen and its visitors were witness to numerous feats of athleticism inlucing: Heath Frisby’s first ever front flip in Snowmobile X Best Trick, Mark McMorris and Torstein Horgmo’s first triple corks in Winter X Big Air, as well as seeing Shaun White throw down a first ever perfect score in Men’s Snowboard SuperPipe Winter X competition by nailing a frontside double cork 1260 in competition for a perfect 100 and subsequent fifth Winter X Gold in the Men’s Snowboard SuperPipe.
Friends, family, Skiers and snowboarders also paid tribute to the life of free skier Sarah Burke Thursday night with a candlelight ski-down vigil in the SuperPipe.
The week surrounding the games, was and always will be an exciting addition to mountain living here inAspen.
Are you still looking for a way to ring in the new year in Aspen? As we quickly approach 2012, Aspen’s packed schedule of parties and options for New Years festivities promises something for everyone.
From drink specials at the Aspen Brewery to commemorate the 12th day of Aspen and screening of the Academy Award-hyped film, The Iron Lady, to a DJ spinning beats in Wagner Park and a breathtaking fireworks show booming from Ajax, tonight is THE night to be out on the town in Aspen.
Here are a handful of ideas for you and your crew to enjoy tonight:
5:00-7:00pm
12 Bars of Aspen: Holiday Drink Special ■ The Aspen Brewing Company
5:30pm
Aspen Film’s Academy Screenings: The Iron Lady – $15 ■ Harris Concert Hall
6:30pm
New Year’s Eve at Ajax Tavern: Prix Fixe Menu – $68pp ■ Ajax Tavern
8:00pm-12:00am
DJ & Bonfire ■ Wagner Park
8:00pm & 12:00am
Fireworks ■ Aspen Mountain
8:30pm
The David Bromberg Quartet – $49.50-$59.50 ■ Wheeler Opera House
9:00pm-close
New Year’s Eve at the Terrace Bar: DJ, Dancing, & Champagne – $175pp ■ The Little Nell
The Aspen Historical Society is expanding opportunities to learn about area history while skiing local mountains.
For three seasons, the society has offered ski history tours on Aspen Mountain, but this year, the tours are being offered at Snowmass and Aspen Highlands as well.
Aspen Highlands tours are every Monday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., starting at the guest services hut near the Merry-Go-Round restaurant; Snowmass tours are on Tuesdays at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., meeting at the top of Sam’s Knob; Aspen Mountain tours are every Friday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. meeting at the guest services hut at the top of the mountain.
Check out the Aspen Historical Society's ski tours on Ajax, Highlands and Snowmass.
Mike Monroney, history coach at the society, has been leading the Aspen Mountain tours since their inception. More so than any of the other mountains, “the mining history is right underneath your feet while you are skiing,” Monroney said of Ajax. The tour focuses on the early development of skiing in Aspen, as well as some of the visible evidence throughout the mountain of the mining days. For example, the tour makes a stop at the Tourtelotte Park run, where there was once a small mining town.
The Aspen Highlands tours goes through that mountain’s history as the one-time “black sheep” of ski hills, which remained independent of the Aspen Skiing Co. until the 1990s. Whip Jones, the mountain’s founder, made a unique mark on the sport, hiring Stein Ericksen to run the ski school in the late 1950s and embracing freestyle skiing early on. Highlands tours are lead by Jane Click.
Snowmass tours take participants up the Big Burn lift to overlook the whole valley. The area’s ranching history, Native American past and the recent ice age discoveries are the focus of the Snowmass tours, led by Alexander Hunter. The tours will work their way down the Sneaky’s side of the Big Burn.
Each tour lasts about an hour, Monroney said, although the length can be tailored to whatever the group wants.
Are you hanging in Hollywood and longing for an Aspen getaway? Maybe you’re stuck in traffic on the 5 and dreaming of arching turns on Aspen Mountain? Does the apres-ski scene in Los Angeles not really do it for you—is there an apres scene in LA? Then pick up the current issue of Los Angeles Magazinefor a how-to-guide on Aspen! Erin Rottman, contributor at LA Mag, wrote an awesome piece on “how to do Aspen on the cheap!”
“Viewing Aspen through the lens of Frette and Fendi,” writes Rottman, “celebrities and second homes is to see only part of the image. Carpeted with white-trunked aspen, the three-and-a-half-square-mile town lies in a box canyon between three mountains—Red, Smuggler, and Aspen—and is framed in the near distance by peaks that rise like spirits more than 14,000 feet above sea level. Once among the country’s most productive silver mining camps, the area has become one of the glitziest ski resorts. But there are still ways to enjoy the town—and the ESPN Winter X Games at the end of the month—without the $800 hotel room and $22 burger.”
Check out the pages straight from Los Angeles Magazinebelow, grab a copy of the issue on newsstands or CLICK HERE to purchase a digital version of LA Mag.
A reader of Outside Magazine recently asked the mag’s editors, “what are the most eco-friendly ski resorts?” Surprise, surprise—Aspen is one of them. Here’s what they had to say:
“The ski industry has a built-in incentive to mitigate global warming. But the chief reason they promote sustainability is that skiers and snowboarders like you generally care about the environment, and are more likely to buy a lift ticket at an eco-minded resort. Here’s my list of relatively guilt-free options, though none are nearly as low-impact as free-heeling in the woods.
Aspen/Snowmass, Colorado Aspen/Snowmass has committed to reducing its carbon emissions by 25 percent from 2000 levels within the next eight years. To achieve this, it has built a solar array that produces enough electricity to power 20 homes, and developed a small hydroelectric plant on Snowmass Mountain. It also established green building guidelines for its new buildings, and created an environmental foundation that has donated more than a million dollars to local environmental causes.
Complete Program Announced for Aspen Film Academy Screenings
The Aspen Film Academy Screenings are underway and Oscar-worthy films will be screened through the beginning of the year (December 21–January 1).
For more than two decades, this unique film series has given voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences the opportunity to screen likely Oscar contenders while visiting Aspen over the holidays. Also open to the general public, this ten-day feast of the newest buzz-worthy movies will take place at Harris Concert Hall, with two screenings most evenings. Tickets to the general public are available through Aspen Show Tickets at the Wheeler Opera House and www.aspenshowtix.com.
This year’s program highlights eagerly anticipated films from notable directors, award-winning performances, and festival favorites.
The Academy Screenings’ program includes: Steven Spielberg’s sweeping new epic, WAR HORSE; Tomas Alfredson’s gripping TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY, an adaptation of the John Le Carré classic starring Gary Oldman, John Hurt, Colin Firth, and Mark Strong; Simon Curtis’s insightful MY WEEK WITH MARILYN, starring Michelle Williams, Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench, and Derek Jacobi; Oren Moverman’s searing crime drama RAMPART, with Woody Harrelson, Anne Heche, Cynthia Nixon, Sigourney Weaver, Steve Buscemi, Robin Wright, Ben Foster, and Ice Cube.
Other films that are garnering Academy Award buzz and to be screened at this year’s festival are: Stephen Daldry’s adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE, with Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, John Goodman, James Gandolfini, Viola Davis, and Max von Sydow; Lars von Trier’s achingly beautiful MELANCHOLIA, starring Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, John Hurt, and Charlotte Rampling; Michel Hazanavicius’s visually enthralling THE ARTIST, with Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, John Goodman, James Cromwell, Penelope Ann Miller, and Malcolm McDowell; Rodrigo Garcia’s elegant ALBERT NOBBS, starring Glenn Close, Janet McTeer, and Mia Wasikowska;
Alexander Payne’s perceptive THE DESCENDANTS, starring George Clooney; Steve McQueen’s daringly provocative SHAME, with Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan; Jason Reitman’s latest, YOUNG ADULT, written by Diablo Cody and starring Charlize Theron, Patrick Wilson, and Patton Oswalt; and Phyllida Lloyd’s biopic THE IRON LADY, starring Meryl Streep and Jim Broadbent.
Also screening are Philippe Falardeau’s beautifully crafted tale of a teacher who makes a difference, MONSIEUR LAZHAR; Dee Rees’s intelligent coming-of-age story PARIAH; Drake Doremus’s bittersweet romantic drama LIKE CRAZY, starring Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones; Ralph Fiennes’s Shakespearian adaptation, CORIOLANUS, with Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave, and Jessica Chastain; UNDEFEATED, the engaging documentary about an underdog football team from Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin; Finnish master Aki Kaurismäki’s LE HAVRE, a whimsical festival favorite; and Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s award-winning THE KID WITH A BIKE, with Cécile de France.
Come Winter X Games 16, Buttermilk’s world-renowned 22-foot Superpipe will be the playground and venue for the best skiers and snowboarders in the world. Until all of the cameras and eyes in the ski and snowboard industry focus in on Buttermilk during the last few days of January (1/26-29), the ‘Milk’s Superpipe is open to all of us.
