adventures
Colorado mountain town has plenty to celebrate,
from Bauhaus to new base village at Snowmass
Aspen honors Bauhaus school
As the influential German design school
In the mid-1940s, Chicagoans Walter and Elizabeth Paepcke, the original founders of Aspen Ski Corp., invited Herbert Bayer, a former Bauhaus teacher who, like many in the movement, was driven from Germany by the Nazis, to visit. The Paepckes aimed to make the former mining town a center for mind, body and spirit, which appealed to Bauhaus masters who took a holistic approach to design.
Bayer stayed for 30 years, designing the 40-acre campus of the
“He must have been a very persuasive man because he convinced the owner to paint her house pink,” said Ann Mullins, an Aspen councilwoman and current owner of that pink house.
His work at the Aspen Institute included designing perhaps the country’s first art hotel,
“So much of Herbert Bayer’s presence in Aspen is about Aspen and being humbled by and present in nature,” said Lissa Ballinger, the art curator at the Aspen Institute who guides tours to Bayer’s earthworks, sculptures and architecture, as well as several galleries featuring his two-dimensional prints, textiles, photographs and advertisements. “Many of his exteriors were simple because he didn’t want to distract from the mountains.”
In addition to historic pub crawls and history-focused ski tours, the
Snowmass builds a village
Of Aspen Skiing Co.’s four ski areas, Snowmass, about 15 minutes’ drive from Aspen, is celebrating its inaugural season as a destination, with a new base village designed to keep people from bolting to Aspen for sustenance and shopping.
The $600 million project introduces a convivial plaza between the existing Elk Camp Gondola and the high-speed Village Express lift. Here, fire pits, benches and chairs encircle an ice-skating rink. A new indoor climbing wall — the tallest in the state, at five stories — allows for non-weather-dependent adventure.
“We’re trying to do a modern version of a town square,” said Andy Gunion, the managing partner on the Snowmass Base Village construction from East West Partners, investors in the project. “Our filter is family-first.”
The wall is part of the building housing the new 99-room
“We consider ourselves the Snowmass community living room,” said Lindsay Cagley, the general manager of the hotel, noting the free Wi-Fi, movable furniture and family-friendly approach. “We want to be inviting and not stuffy.”
The new base village also adds a community center called the
Dining and drinking on trend
The kind of mountain town with Prada and Dolce & Gabbana shops in Victorian storefronts has the kind of free-spending clientele that draws high-profile restaurants. Many come and go, attracted by high season but deterred by mud season, which is one of the reasons pop-up restaurants have become popular. This year’s leading pop-up,
A native of Switzerland and a keen snowboarder, Humm offers some of the flavors of home, including rosti potatoes and fondue dinners served in private dining yurts in the hotel’s courtyard. Fans of the duo’s restaurants in New York will still have the whole roast chicken to look forward to, as well as splurges like lobster thermidor. The pair brought their own staff with them, providing crack service.
For something more low-key, try
Expanded last summer, Hotel Jerome took over the former Aspen Times newspaper building and in its basement opened
“Everyone looks good in this lighting,” noted a bartender. “It’s a sexy bar.”
Apres-ski art
Turning 5 years old next summer, the
As with a mountain gondola, visitors start at the top and work their way down. It’s all the way down, in the basement level, that museum director Heidi Zuckerman just opened a show that should attract art and pop culture fans.
“It’s about people who are alive but not living,” said the curator.
Set a timer to arrive at the museum just before noon. At the stroke of the hour, a middle-aged man approaches a sidewalk display case outside the museum, removes a silver megaphone and uses it to amplify his message, “It’s never too late to say sorry.” Though Aspen will never apologize for offering a challenge, either off the slopes or on.