Another afternoon jaunt was down to Aspen. The Aspen area has four ski mountains of which Snowmass is the largest. The other three:
- Buttermilk is most known as a beginner-intermediate mountain. It is also the long-time home of the Winter X-Games, which are often held the week after the PVS trip.
- Aspen Highlands has more advanced skiing, and also gorgeous views.
- Aspen Mountain, also known as Ajax, is also more advanced, and is located right at the town of Aspen.
The lift tickets are good at all four mountains and the inner-valley transportation system is free, so it is possible to ski all of the mountains during one visit. At one time or another I've skied all but Buttermilk, but it's hard to beat Snowmass.
Aspen Mountain towers over the charming old mining town of Aspen.
Aspen is a art and music center. There are numerous sculptures throughout downtown. I liked this raven in one of the parks. Can't imagine what the rest of the artwork looks like buried in the snow. There were also some snow sculptures in town.
The Pitkin County courthouse is a handsome building constructed in the late 19th century.
One of the major attractions for our skiers has been the numerous consignment and thrift shops in town. As a playground for the rich and famous, there are wonderful bargains to be had on very high-end merchandise -- some never worn. I'm not much of a shopper, but I did cruise the shops once and discovered that the rich and famous typically wear smaller sizes than I do!
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