Aspen Mountain (often called by its former name of Ajax among locals) is a

ski area A ski area is the terrain and supporting infrastructure where skiing and other snow sports take place. Such sports include alpine and cross-country skiing, snow boarding, tubing, sledding, etc. Ski areas may stand alone or be part of a ski resort. ...

in the

western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the We ...

, located in Pitkin County,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, just outside and above the city of

Aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the '' Populus'' genus. Species These species are called aspens: *'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (Chin ...

. Situated on the north flank of Aspen Mountain (for which it is named), its summit

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...

is above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

. Aspen Mountain forms the end of Richmond Ridge, a long ridge that extends south at approximately to join the main spine of the Elk Mountains. Founded in 1946 by

Walter Paepcke Walter Paepcke (June 29, 1896 – April 13, 1960) was a U.S. industrialist and philanthropist prominent in the mid-20th century. A longtime executive of the Chicago-based Container Corporation of America, Paepcke is best noted for his founding of ...

, Aspen was the first ski area venture of the Aspen Skiing Company. It is one of four adjacent ski areas operated by the company as part of the

Aspen/Snowmass Aspen Snowmass is a winter resort complex located in Pitkin County in western Colorado in the United States. Owned and operated by the Aspen Skiing Company it comprises four skiing/snowboarding areas on four adjacent mountains in the vicinity of t ...

complex. At only , it is somewhat small compared to other ski areas, especially compared to the much larger nearby Snowmass ski area, and retains a unique cultural flavor that harkens to the earlier days of recreational skiing in the state. The ski area is located within the

White River National Forest White River National Forest is a National Forest in northwest Colorado. It is named after the White River that passes through its northern section. It is the most visited National Forest in the United States, primarily from users of the twelv ...

and is operated under permit from the U.S. Forest Service. It has three restaurants on the mountain; two are on top (one of which is a club that only allows members) and one mid-mountain.

History and Description

Prior to 1946, the mountain had been the site of skiing using a crude boat lift, and by the use of the jeep trails up the back side of the mountain on Midnight Mine Road. In 1941, Aspen's first national downhill and slalom championships were held March 8–9. Fritz Benedict visited Aspen for the first time, the father of the 10th Mountain Hut and Trail System. The foundation of the ski area in 1946 was accomplished with the installation of the single-seat

chairlift An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs. Th ...

, Lift-1. When it began operations on December 14, 1946, it was the longest chairlift in the world. Many of the first employees were veterans of the U.S. Army's

10th Mountain Division The 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) is a light infantry division in the United States Army based at Fort Drum, New York. Formerly designated as a mountain warfare unit, the division was the only one of its size in the US military to re ...

, which had trained in Colorado at

Camp Hale Camp Hale was a U.S. Army training facility in the western United States, constructed in 1942 for what became the 10th Mountain Division. Located in central Colorado between Red Cliff and Leadville in the Eagle River valley, it was named fo ...

north of

Leadville The City of Leadville is a statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 2,602 at the 2010 census and an estimated ...

, including Friedl Pfeifer of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Pete Seibert Peter Werner Seibert (August 7, 1924 – July 15, 2002) was an American skier and the founder of Vail Ski Resort in Colorado. He was inducted into the Colorado Ski (and Snowboard) Hall of Fame in 1980. A Massachusetts native, Seibert gra ...

. Before the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

, Pfeifer had headed the ski school at Sun Valley and did the same at Aspen; Seibert was a member of the Aspen ski patrol who later founded Vail Mountain in 1962. In its fourth season, Aspen hosted the 1950 World Championships, the first world championships held outside of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, and the first since 1939. Lift-1 ran until 1972, when it was replaced by two double chairlifts, Shadow Mountain (commonly referred to as 1A) and Ruthie's. Access to the mountain was radically changed in 1986 with the installation of the Silver Queen

Gondola The gondola (, ; vec, góndoła ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull, ...

, which ascends to the summit up the east side of the area with a vertical rise of . The area's lifts also include 1 high-speed quad, 1 high-speed triple, 2 quads, and 3 doubles. The gondola is one of two lifts, along with the Little Nell chairlift, which ascend from Gondola Plaza in the heart of the downtown Aspen. The configuration allows visitors to ascend the mountain from the center of town, and ski down the Little Nell Run back into town. The mountainside contains hidden and open remains of the intense

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

activity from the

Colorado Silver Boom The Colorado Silver Boom was a dramatic expansionist period of silver mining activity in the U.S. state of Colorado in the late 19th century. The boom started in 1879 with the discovery of silver at Leadville. Over 82 million dollars worth of silv ...

in the late 1880s and early 1890s. In January 2001, it was decided to end Aspen Mountain's long-time ban on snowboarding. However, as a courtesy to season-pass holders, the resort was not officially opened to snowboarders until April 1, 2001. The longest run is and the lift capacity is 10,755 riders per hour. The average annual snowfall is , and it has snowmaking capabilities of , approximately one-third of the area. The mountain is considered moderate-to-difficult with no "green" (beginner) runs. Its sister mountain, Aspen Highlands, also has no beginner terrain as of December 2017. Novice skiers must go to Snowmass or

Buttermilk Buttermilk is a fermented dairy drink. Traditionally, it was the liquid left behind after churning butter out of cultured cream. As most modern butter in western countries is not made with cultured cream but uncultured sweet cream, most m ...

. Approximately 26% of the terrain is considered expert. The season on the mountain ranges from late November to early April. It is typically the last area, along with nearby Snowmass, in the resort complex to close for the winter. The ski area has a unique "homespun" culture that dates from its early foundation as part of the Utopian social experiment in Aspen created by Walter Paepcke in the 1940s, retaining somewhat of a throwback culture in comparison to the other three areas of the complex. The culture is reflected in the numerous homemade memorials and tributes that dot the trees of mountains created in honor of famous personages such as John Denver and Hunter S. Thompson. It is rumored that under the Bell Mountain lift on Aspen Mountain was the home of the first

Panty tree A panty tree (or bra tree or bra/panty tree) is a tree underneath a ski lift decorated with bras, panties, and Mardi Gras beads cast off by skiers riding the chair lift. History An experienced ski patroller in Aspen, Colorado, has claimed that ...

of bras, panties, thongs, and Mardi Gras necklaces as early as the late 1950s.

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and Lift Lodge O

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A small lodging, shopping and residential development is under development near the ski lift at Aspen Mountain. The ski lift itself will be moved closer to town. Originally proposed by a group with Aspen creds, it narrowly passed a vote in Aspen. However it was soon sold, at a substantial profit, to the OKO Group, an international real estate development company owned by
Vladislav Doronin Vladislav Doronin (; born 7 November 1962) is an international real estate developer and art collector. He is the owner and chairman of Aman Resorts, chairman and CEO of OKO Group and is a co-founder of Moscow-based Capital Group. Early life ...
, a controversial transaction.

Terrain and Lifts

*Trails: 76 * North: 50% * East: 23% * West: 27% *Aspen Mountain has 8 lifts. highlight indicates a secondary lift, meaning it only runs on weekends and holidays, or as backup lifts if the gondola is down.

Spring skiing on Aspen Mountain

File:Aspen Mountain spring skiing 2015.jpg, Ruthie's run File:Aspen Mountain spring skiing Copper run.jpg, Copper gulch File:Aspen Mountain spring skiing over Aspen.jpg, At the bottom with Aspen view

References

* Beidleman, Neal (2006) ''Aspen Ski and Snowboard Guide'' Wolverine Publishing * ''Skiing Heritage'' (1997) "Skiing Comes to Aspen" Volume 9 #2 * Shelton, Peter (1996) ''Aspen Skiing: The First Fifty Years'' Western Eye Press * Asmus, Brad (1993) ''The Local's Guide To Skiing Aspen'' * O'Rear (1966) ''The Aspen story'' NY: A. S. Barnes

External links

* {{Roaring Fork Valley, state=collapsed Buildings and structures in Pitkin County, Colorado Ski areas and resorts in Colorado Roaring Fork Valley Aspen Skiing Company Tourist attractions in Pitkin County, Colorado White River National Forest