Aspen Peak - Niche Media - Aspen living at its peak
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/513510
Mind. Body. Aspen spirit. The "aspen idea" has Taken on a new meaning around Town. as boTh locals and a-lisT visiTors alike invesT in mind, body, and spiriT, Town's shared ideals and communal efforTs all poinT To modern-day aspen's elevaTed sTaTus: "The ciTy of well-being." by amiee white beazley I t's summertime on Aspen Mountain. The red and black cars of the Silver Queen Gondola ascend at a quick clip to my right, moving in a near-silent hum overhead as I trod upward on the singletrack. I've been hiking up this mountain, via the Ute Trail, for more than an hour. I know the top is near, but today, it can't come soon enough. Step by step, it feels as though the route will go on forever, until I crest that last mound of tall grass, wildf lowers, and conifers, and there is nothing more to see but open sky and mountains—every where, mountains. In Aspen, where the buildings, people, and priorities change with every gen- eration, the mountains never do. In Aspen, the mountains remain the same. I close my eyes, breathe in the fresh air, and offer gratitude, with my mind, body, and spirit aligned. "The mountaintops were sacred places for the Uncompahgre Utes," says Skyler Lomahaftewa, the only known Ute Native American still residing in the Roaring Fork Valley, which stretches from Aspen to Glenwood Springs. This faction of the Ute tribe, led by the famous Chief Ouray, once called Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley its summer home, an area ripe with elk and edible plants. "My ancestors would hike to the top of Aspen Mountain, starting where the Ute Trail is today, and perform ceremonies on the peaks. I still go to the top of the mountains, and sometimes I make a small offering— whatever it takes to connect with the Creator. The peaks, the high places—to the Utes these places are holy and they have the power to heal." In our modern age, Aspenites trying to define and attain wellness may not have to look far beyond the ways of the Utes, who fostered a way of life rooted in connectivity with their land, its food, the spirits, and each other. Nearly 140 years after the Meeker Massacre and the forcible removal of the Utes from their primal lands, people in the Roaring Fork Valley have only According to Aspen Yoga Society founder Gina Murdock, "Aspen is one of those unique places in the world that's got 'it'—intentionality that is beyond the physical. It's as if the place is urging us to elevate ourselves as beings." aspenpeak-magazine.com 139