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Timeless, elegant, and famous, Aspen is Colorado s trendiest mountain town and a year-round resort destination, boasting some of the best hotels in the state. Whether you are traveling for the winter and early spring ski season or for the excellent hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, or fly fishing in summer and fall, there is always something to keep you busy in Aspen.
Set in a valley surrounded by craggy, purple-tinged mountains and aspen tree groves, the natural location is stunning enough to visit on its own. But unlike many Colorado ski towns where the villages were developed around a ski resort, Aspen was a city of its own first. Built in the late 1800s, Aspen was once a wild silver mining town, and the original red-brick architecture still exists. After the mining industry collapsed, Aspen reinvented itself as an outdoor destination with top resorts.
The end is gnar: Snowmass wraps up an extended season this week aspentimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from aspentimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Aspen Mountain will be closed to uphill travel through April 26 due to events and snowcat work on the hill, according to an email update from Katie Ertl, senior vice president of mountain operations at Aspen Skiing Co.
The closure applies at all times; no after-hours uphilling is permitted. It will reopen to uphill travel April 27, but staff will be clearing roads at the top of the mountain for construction that may impact traffic and skiability in some areas.
Aspen Highlands has reopened to uphill travel after a closure for U.S. Alpine Championships. Buttermilk is losing snow but is likewise open to uphillers. Lifts have closed for the season at both resorts.
Gillespie House, later dubbed the Ghost House, circa 1890. Photo Courtesy Aspen Historical Society
The “Ghost House” has been long forgotten because the house is no longer there, but in 1951 debate over its fate dominated community dialogue.
That was the nickname for the Henry P. Gillespie house. Gillespie, one of Aspen’s early founders and reportedly the first to become a millionaire, built the house in 1881. It cost $35,000, ($750,000 in today’s dollars), but at the time it was one of the most elegant of Aspen’s houses, a classic Victorian with lots of gingerbread ornamentation. Gillespie, one of the first mine investors to come to Aspen, bought the Spar and Galena claims on Aspen Mountain from two of the first prospectors to search the area.
Countless members of the local mountain community express their love for the pup and shared their memories of Zoot. And donated nearly $7,000 for avalanche dogs.