Aspen Peak - Niche Media - Aspen living at its peak
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/205356
FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF With rock climber Dave Sims (LEFT) and his father, Ron, at Aspen Peak's Food & Wine fête. With colleague Lynn Chaffier at the Aspen Education Foundation's 1940s-themed summer benefit at the Aspen airport. FROM ABOVE: On set with cover star Ed Burns; interviewing figure skater and Olympian Jeremy Abbott at the US Olympic Committee Media Summit. Dara Torres, who, surprisingly, was still competing in the Olympics just five years ago, and has claimed 12 Olympic medals in five Olympic Games overall. My father took me to her lane during a swim meet in Atlanta when I was 9. I was so pumped to meet her that I had barely slept the night before and had practiced what I'd say. But inevitably, when the time came, I was at a loss for words, and with shaking hands I handed her my swim cap to autograph. She couldn't have been more gracious, and I trained in that cap until it was worn through with holes. Here in Aspen, in a town with fewer than 7,000 full-time residents, our local kids have their pick of Olympic heroes. As the countdown to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games begins, Aspen has not just one athlete to brag about, but an astonishing 12 talents to track as the exciting qualifying competitions unfold. Aspen Peak Publisher Alexandra Halperin and I attended the US Olympic Committee Team USA Media Summit together, and Follow me on Twitter at in between interviews with such @erinlentzAP and on Aspenites as freeskier Torin Facebook at facebook.com/ aspenpeak.magazine. Yater-Wallace, figure skater Jeremy Abbott, and snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler, we met additional superstars such as Bode Miller and Lolo Jones, among others. The excitement was palpable and a reminder that sport—a pastime we're obsessed with in Aspen—is a true connector. Our cover star, Ed Burns, has been fortunate enough to experience the power of our mountains. Many years ago I gave Ed and his brother snowboarding lessons after he had wrapped a film with Robert De Niro. While tackling the Sheer Bliss run in Snowmass on a bluebird powder day, we were just three aspiring athletes connected by sport and snow, no matter how we were defined off-slope. That's the beauty of Aspen at its best—those surprising moments when all that matters is a turn in the snow, or a knowing smile between family or friend. It's the little precious moments here—whether experienced by local or visitor—that can hold a power of Olympic proportions. See you on the slopes! ERIN LENTZ 32 PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS COUNCIL (CHAFFIER); RAINER HOSCH (BURNS) Most everyone has that indelible moment of meeting his or her first Olympian. Mine was swimmer ASPENPEAK-MAGAZINE.COM 032_AP_FOB_EdLetter_WIN13_SPR_14.indd 32 10/30/13 12:55 PM