Aspen

Aspen: reviews

• Chris Corrigan (08 September 2009)

  We have visited Aspen five times since Christmas 08 for at least 10 days per trip. Having in the past skied every major resort in Europe, along with lots of the smaller ones; we are absolutely delighted with Aspen.

   

  There is a huge variety of skiing for all levels. Buttermilk is regarded as the 'beginners' mountain but after 3 feet of overnight snow it was just brilliant for messing around through the trees. Aspen Mountain is excellent all round as are Highlands and Snowmass. Longshot and Cirque Headwall are great Black & Double Black runs. However, Aspen Mountain has a perfect mix of steep and knarly and big cruising and is our favourite ski area.

   

  Getting around without a car is very easy, there are free buses everywhere serving all of the residential and ski areas.

   

  The mountain restaurants were excellent - clean, great food and surprisingly not expensive! Apres ski is certainly not St Anton however there are lots of good bars. In Aspen the J Bar at the Hotel Jerome is great and so is Zanes and Little Annies... these bars are also very reasonably priced, far less for a beer than you’ll pay in all the main European resorts. The Ajax bar, Little Nells and 39 Degrees are full of rich people looking at each other and little atmosphere for people that actually ski!. Much better to go to Zanes or Little Annies for good beer and great chicken wings! At the foot of Snowmass the bars are excellent with great music and atmosphere.

   

  The ski school was also brilliant. The group class (3 students to each instructor when we were there) was excellent and there’s a 'money back if you're not happy' guarantee. If you have the opportunity try and book a private lesson with ‘Scooter’. He is an unbelievable ski instructor and also one of the nicest guys that you could ever meet. (We discovered that Scooter had represented the USA many years ago and, in the words of Vail ‘legend’ John Donavan after we mentioned his name “Scooter is the best skier I have ever seen, and that includes Olympians, and I’ve been here in Colorado since ’62 so I’ve seen them all!!”). We are lucky to ski with Scooter each time we go and he has made us into far better skiers. It’s also an honour to be on the mountain with a guy of his stature in the sport.

   

  We have also had great trips to Vail, following on after Aspen. However good Vail is, and Vail is absolutely fantastic, it just isn’t as good as Aspen.

  This is the opinion of a skiclub.co.uk visitor, not the Ski Club of Great Britain.
• skiclub.co.uk visitor (22 February 2009)

  Aspen 14.02.09 to 21.02.09 party of 7. Stayed at Aspen Townhouse East, a moderate condo close to town centre @1.40 USD to £1 =£58 per person, per night, self catering. Great location close to Aspen Mountain lift and to bus terminus for Buttermilk, Highlands and Snowmass. Après ski -Ajax Tavern and 30 Degrees Sky Hotel - 4USD for a pint of bud = £2.80p. We found nightlife very quiet. Town centre facilities we thought weren't that good and to us town lacked a centre. Lots of art shops which were not of interest to us. For non skiers selection of other activities restricted. Supermarket well resourced but expensive at current exchange rate. Fantastic ski area on 4 mountains. Bus service for them excellent. Fantastic snow and powder. Good extent of skiing for all levels. Some fantastic runs e.g Long Shot on Snowmass and some serious black double diamonds e.g Kesslers on Aspen Highlands. Although a £1300 per head holiday, I'd say value for money if you want to try USA. Downside – it’s a serious 4.5 to 5 hour journey by car from Denver to Aspen on a good but high altitude road which was snowy and icy for significant lengths levelling our average speed to 40mph (That's on top of 10 hour flight from Heathrow via Minneapolis to Denver)You definitely need "all weather" tyres which is what our car hire company, Alamo, described them as. Conclusion - A great ski area definitely worth a visit.

  This is the opinion of a skiclub.co.uk visitor, not the Ski Club of Great Britain.
• skiclub.co.uk visitor (05 April 2008)

  Just returned from a week in Aspen/Snowmass. We stayed in The Enclave at Snowmass and apart from a morning in Highlands followed by the afternoon in Aspen we skied all week on Snowmass. We wondered if it would live up to the hype and after 10 hours on the plane and a four hour drive from Denver expectations were high. It did not fail.

  The accomodation was fantastic and much larger than a similar priced apartment in the Alps; the bus service to Aspen for restaurants was efficient and the free shuttle round Snowmass great after one two many margaritas. As for the skiing - our 8 and 10 year olds were in heaven. We experienced wide, open, groomed pistes that were virtually empty. There are waist high moguls if you wanted them, long cruises and short steep blasts with not a patch of ice anywhere.

  Attentive, friendly lift operators were more than happy to hoik our little one onto every lift. The private lesson from James at the Aspen/Snowmass ski school was fantastic. This was supposed to be a once in a lifetime treat but we'll definitely be back.,/p>

  This is the opinion of a skiclub.co.uk visitor, not the Ski Club of Great Britain.
• skiclub.co.uk visitor (11 April 2007)

  We visited Aspen for the first time this Easter and would definitely recommend it. Snow was fine - though apparently poor by their usual standards for this time of year.

  Positives: Big area - although we spent almost the whole time at Snowmass and that kept us happy; EXCELLENT ski school (higher groups seemed to end up 1:3 to 1:1 ratio with instructors); pleasant town; very friendly (somewhat to my surprise); best skiing accommodation we've ever had (stayed in "the Gant"); loads of shopping/eating options; quiet on the slopes (quite a bit away from any major cities - see below).

  Negatives: Getting through Immigration on arrival in US (major pain); long car transfer from Denver - count on 4 hours (took 5 hours in overnight blizzard); quite pricey.

  Conclusion - well worth a visit

  This is the opinion of a skiclub.co.uk visitor, not the Ski Club of Great Britain.
• Paul Godsmark (Godders) (08 June 2006)

  Went to snowmass for Christmas hols in 2005 with family. Terrain wasn't as good as it was geared up to be (in short it can't touch Whistler). However, Aspen highlands was stunning and offered some fantastic runs through the trees. Buttermilk is best described as tame and can be skied in its entirety in a morning (although the terrain park is excellent). Snowmass offers a large ski area but aside from gunbarrel and the ciste headwall it is fairly mediocre. My advice would be to avoid Aspen mountain at all costs unless you like skiing on ice and uneven moguls. Top to bottom takes about a minute and the terrain is pretty limited; all the runs funnel into a narrow gulley at the bottom which turns into a 'destruction derby on skis' at around 4pm (when the mountain is closing). We stayed in Snowmass village which lacked apres and offered a limited choice of around 6 resteraunts (I would reccoment the Village Steakhouse). Aspen itself is not much better and although it offeres a slightly wider choice of restaurants, it is very pricey. Overall I would reccomend Vail over Aspen Snowmass as the town offers more variety and the skiing is just as good. One last piece of advice would be to avoid flying continental as their ability to misplace your baggage is second to none.

  This is the opinion of a skiclub.co.uk visitor, not the Ski Club of Great Britain.
• Paul Stapleton (13 March 2006)

  Just got back from a ten day trip to Aspen. Fantastic is the only word to describe the time we had out there. Bit of a trek there and as expected a bit pricey but well worth the extra expense. We stayed in Snomass but had time to ski all 4 mountains, Aspen and Snowmass are the best but Snowmass gets my overall vote as the pistes were empty (the resort was busy but the area is so vast it felt like the pistes were empty). Lift pass cost aside, the system was generally good apart from a couple of really old ones, High Alpine on Snowmass was a bit slow and had no safety bar, or as the Americans call it, the arm rest (wouldn't want it to be mistaken for something they had to take responsibility for). Purchasing a lift pass voucher before you go can save a fair bit of cash. So if your looking for a ski holiday that can give you sunshine, powder, wide open tree lined empty slopes Aspen/Snowmass is the place to go.

  This is the opinion of a skiclub.co.uk visitor, not the Ski Club of Great Britain.
• Mark Helsby (11 January 2005)

  I've recently visited aspen for 10days over the xmas period, and the skiing over there is awesome. Forget europe if you have a bit of extra cash lying about the place use it to head to the States. Even early season conditions are 10 times better than that of the alps. The service out there is excellent and everyone is so friendly. The restaurants have brilliant food, i personally reccommend jimmy's!! Posh but not too posh, if you know what i mean, just really good food. Imwill definately be heading back to Aspen!!

  This is the opinion of a skiclub.co.uk visitor, not the Ski Club of Great Britain.
• Carol (24 September 2004)

  I only managed to spend one day in Aspen - at Buttermilk actually. Sadly I had a problem with my ski boots - too small!! Anyway the ski patroller who helped me was really friendly and VERY ATTRACTIVE!!

  This is the opinion of a skiclub.co.uk visitor, not the Ski Club of Great Britain.
• Chris Davis (21 February 2004)

  For such an expensive resort the uphill transport needs some serious investment. There is only one Gondola which dates back to 1987 and I didn't come across one high speed chair with a cover. The high price of a lift pass surely demands more high speed chairs with covers and a modern Gondola. The mountains could also do with some more full service restaurants as well as self-service cafeterias. Other than that the skiing and the resort is world class with some fabulous eating and drinking venues.

  This is the opinion of a skiclub.co.uk visitor, not the Ski Club of Great Britain.

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