Aspen Peak - Niche Media - Aspen living at its peak
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/601986
+ photography by tony prikryl. opposite page: aspen historical society (top); nathaniel Wilder (bottom) 144 aspenpeak-magazine.com S ometimes it takes leaving a place in order to return with a fresh set of eyes to see what's changed. After being away for years, I found myself passing through town, en route to Los Angeles to begin a new job with an NPR station. But even in my absence, I'm endlessly— and refexively—thinking about Aspen. Like an anxious parent, I worry about it. I want updates. I miss it. That's because I was raised in the Aspen Valley. It's my home. And one certifed sign of being a local is fret- ting about how our mountain hamlet is changing. This question has been circling through my mind ever since the Great Recession of 2008 forced Aspen's economy into a nearly paralytic state. As the domes- tic economy collapsed, so did local tourism, develop- ment, and real estate sales. I began to wonder about Aspen's resiliency. Certainly this town has weathered fnancial storms before, dating all the way back to 1893, when the market for silver collapsed and Aspen be- came a virtual ghost town. But much like the great local skiers, Aspen is rather durable. It always reemerges, al- beit in a slightly different form. Therefore, the question With one swift swing, the mayor's daughter smashed a bottle of champagne against Lift-1's uprights to christen the newly constructed chairlift and signal that it was unoffcially open for operation. alenae's father, mayor a.e. Robison, was frst in line, and rode a single chair up to aspen's mid-mountain. an additional 1,000 passengers followed on the lift's inaugural day of service. it was December 1946, and another month passed before Lift-1, on aspen's west fank, was dedicated as the world's longest chairlift. a second chair above it opened at the same time—together, the two lifts completed the 45-minute journey to the sundeck at 11,212 feet. But alenae Robison's smashing of champagne signifed more than a mode of transport; it marked the dawn of a new, hopeful era in aspen that would bury 50-plus years of meager living in the past and introduce the former mining town as a wintertime destination—an achievement aspen hopes to repeat as town gears up to host the Fis alpine World cup Finals in 2017. "aspen has struck it rich again," wrote Leonard Woods, then an Aspen Times columnist, about that debut voyage almost 70 years ago. "The opening of the long-awaited chairlift, the fnest of its type in the what makes me proud to be an aspenite is no one thing. rather, it's the aggregate of all of them. —jonathan bastian Lift One rises again On the eve of the World Cup, Aspen's most treasured chairlift makes an irresistible comeback. by christine benedetti wasn't if Aspen would rebound from the recent reces- sion, but how it would rebound. Would only certain sectors such as lodging and high-end retail blossom? Would it lose its vibrant arts and culture scene? And what about Aspen's rich history of attracting many of the world's greatest winter athletes? Could they con- tinue to be lured here? When I visited Aspen for a long weekend in July, I was pleasantly shocked at how quickly these questions were answered. It just took walking around town and Longtime local and wandering writer Jonathan Bastian returns to his roots to discover an Aspen transformed. the magic mountain