Skiing in Aspen: When a childhood dream comes true

Most of the people I know dream of the South Seas, of endless beaches and turquoise water. I've always dreamed of snow, white and light as down. The thick hood on the trees, so light that their branches are not pressed down. And so dry that nothing is obvious if you blow it away. If you breathe in that fine snow, it tingles in your nose just as champagne bubbles do. And because such snow never falls as often as in the Rocky Mountains and fresh snow there is called "powder", it is called "champagne powder".

I grew up in Upper Bavaria, at the foot of the Kampenwand, and as soon as I could walk, I learned to ski. On the Kampenwand of the 70s, this meant: damned icy, often damned rocky slopes or wet Sulz, which we called "Haxnbrecher-Schnee". Nevertheless, I spent every reasonably nice winter day on skis. And always, when I hovered endless twelve minutes in the drafty single chairlift and stared at the summit ridge of our local mountain, I dreamed of the Rocky Mountains, which I imagined wildly and dangerously, "rocky" just, where there should be this darn fine snow ,

As a teen, I then combined my champagne snow fantasy with Aspen, which I came across because one of my idols, the journalist and writer Hunter S. Thompson, lived there. I've often imagined what it would be like to ski in Aspen, Colorado and meet Hunter drunk at some counter. But in 2005 he shot himself in the head, Johnny Depp paid three million dollars to shoot his friend's ashes into space, and I still had to wait another 13 years to get to Aspen.

Wait - are there so many trees up here yet?

Giant Mountains Highland Peak is 3777 meters high, including the slopes of the Highland Bowl below

© Daniel Bayer

As it is for longing places, this is not so easy to achieve: When I fall after 21 hours arrival in my hotel bed, with eight hours time difference in the bones and altitude sickness in the head, which presses my brain like a vise, I ask me, when finally I am probably old enough to give up petty girl dreams. The dry air makes me nosebleeds, I drink two liters of water that night and must constantly stand up, whether because of the jet lag or the full bladder is also no matter.

But the next morning, behind the window, a steel-blue winter sky and the actually rust-red Red Mountain shine, shimmering on the shiny silver trees. Moment - trees? Are not we already here, in the town, at 2400 meters above sea level? Yes, but while the tree line in the Alps starts at 1800 meters at the latest, it is nearly 2000 in the Rocky Mountains (and much closer to the equator).

That's another reason why the mountains look good on me; "rocky", as I imagined - sharp-edged and rocky - they are not at all, but hunchback 4000-meter hills that remind me of low mountain ranges. Maybe because it has not snowed as much in Aspen since 1976 as it did this winter. No trace of powder.

Aspen - a paradise almost for me alone

There are stickers everywhere, "Protect our Winters," and the hotel receptionist's double D-bosom spans the t-shirt label "Pray for Snow." She probably did not pray enough, I think. Only on the slopes my disappointment gives way to a first enthusiasm: for skiing, the low mountain topography is indeed a dream. There is more than enough space, the runs are incredibly wide, finely rolled from flat to steep and breakneck moguls in between.

Slide The slopes are as wide as here in the Aspen Highlands and always well prepared

© Daniel Bayer

Rarely do we cross other skiers, even though the locals we talk to in the gondolas and at the stations whine about how terribly busy it is this weekend - even at the lift you have to queue, it just happens rarely in Aspen. Incidentally, we are talking about two minutes, ridiculous! Fortunately, if you really lonely, you can dodge into the woods: The rich green spruce, fir and pine are less close than in Europe, and because there are hardly any rocks, you can even slalom drive relatively safe here. What fun!

In the middle of the forest we meet old idols

Ski Guide Alex shows us the secret places of worship between the trees: shrines, who don't-don't-have-so-exactly-created for their idols.Often it's just a few laminated posters, album covers, license plates, garments, and other devotional items nailed to one or two trees, and yet it's somehow atmospheric to suddenly think of Elvis in the woods, Marilyn Monroe, Jimi Hendrix, or Snoopy and a good three dozen other celebrities. Sure, Hunter S. Thompson's shrine hangs a bottle of whiskey, unfortunately empty, otherwise I would have liked to have a drink here.

Love? Whether Marilyn and Elvis had an affair is controversial, but in the forest of Aspen Highlands they are very close

© Daniel Bayer

Instead, we host a picnic in the Highlands, just behind the huge Respect trailers to the left of the runway, part of The Aspen Way campaigns, as Guide Alex explains. "Love", "Unity" and "Commit" are also included. The words put into the landscape are popular photo motifs, but above all a commitment. While "love" and "unity" are aimed at a peaceful coexistence of all people and nations, the "respect" and "obligation" of the environment apply: The waste is separated and composted in Aspen, as far as possible (which unfortunately is not very far is ...) on disposable packaging, snowed only in November, and on the cabin roofs of the gondolas stick solar cells. The Aspen Skiing Company? Founded an environmental department 20 years ago to reduce carbon dioxide emissions - 25 percent less than in 2000 is the target for 2020.

Once Silver City, now a meeting place for stars and ski-crazy

Not easy in a place where the jets of the super-rich are in line at the airport and make the line machines look small. Where there are hardly middle-class cars, but all the more huge SUV muddlers with tinted windows seems to give, and not only in hotels, but also in every private villa the heated outdoor pool all day energy into the winter air blows. Where two million dollars are a bargain for a house, because stars like Goldie Hawn, Elle Macpherson, Kevin Costner, Jack Nicholson or Antonio Banderas and the money-making pay well twenty times over.

The lift company, which also owns hotels in Aspen, is owned by a multi-billion dollar industrialist Chicago family. The Aspen as a kind of hobby, reinvest the profit in the current operation, promoting renewable energy and social housing works for their employees. It has a tradition here, that billionaires are committed to the common good: In 1889, at the height of the silver boom, Jerome Wheeler, owner of several mines, even built an opera house, for which "It remains the tallest building in the city". And Walter Paepcke, another magnate awakened Aspen after the war from the slumber: In the summer of 1949 he celebrated in Aspen together with Albert Schweitzer and the Spanish philosopher Jose? Ortega y Gasset Goethe's 200th birthday.

Paepcke fell in love with the charm of the rotting Western town and had the idea to revive it as a ski resort. To underpin the whole thing intellectually, he founded the "Aspen Institute" and commissioned the emigrated Bauhaus architect Herbert Bayer with the construction of a campus and hotel for the highly up-to-date Weltverbesserungsdenkfabrik. Authorities like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama speak here, and in a tent in front of the grounds everyone can listen for free.

Pretty as a picture The reddish houses of the western town are located at the foot of Aspen Mountain

© Daniel Bayer

Aspen has nothing of the trash of many other US cities, it's a feast for the eyes. With old town houses, Victorian-style wooden villas and brick palaces that? would not they be home to vivacious luxury stores, hotels or fine dining today? give away perfect scenery for a western. They testify to the eventful history of the place: the largest silver deposits in the United States were discovered here in 1879, the city attracted 18,000 lucky seekers, smugglers, workers and wheelers, and after 14 years of collective tumble, the silver price collapsed. But to this day, Aspen breathes this intoxicating and treasures his architectural heritage with jealous pride.

The snow swallows all sounds, I feel alone in nature

All this consoles me for three days, that it does not snow. And the other skiers are as straightforwardly good-humored and talkative as I am always impressed by Americans, and I admire all the volunteers who distribute free water and hot apple juice at the mountain stations? but that's why I'm not here. Does champagne powder remain a fantasy for the rest of my life? Luckily not: On the night of the fourth, our last day, it's finally snowing.

What should I say: It is pure bliss. Much more beautiful than I had imagined, so soft and soft. The snow swallows all sounds, although we are traveling in pairs or three, I feel completely alone in nature, especially between the trees, which radiate, in white, a strange homeliness.It is a day like in a dream, incredibly exhausting for my little trained thighs, but incredibly beautiful for the mind, unforgettable and way too fast over.

Dear Aspen, it was magic with you!

luck Even more beautiful than dreamed Anja Haegele found the waddling in the Watteschnee

© Daniel Bayer

The question that remains, when a longing is fulfilled, is that after the repetition: Do I want to go to Aspen again? The answer is yes. Because of the aspens, these silvery shiny trees, on their trunks sleeping buds have the shape of huge eyes on which the fresh snow like eye shadow, which looks magical. Because of the powder, but especially because of the stories that are in the air here: of silver, cowboys and Indians, of tycoons and Hollywood stars. Dan, who took the photos for this story and confided to me last night that he was friends with Anita Thompson, Hunter's widow, who gave him a rock from Johnny Depp's rocket base, which now carries the glass top of his coffee table. And from Tucker, the happiest of all tourist ladies I've ever met, who is not a lady at all, but a mountain-crazy bundle of energy, and who showed me how to behead a champagne bottle in Aspen: with a ski. It is obvious!

ANJAS TIPS FOR ASPEN

GET THERE

Flight. United Airlines flies daily from Frankfurt via Chicago, Houston or Denver to Aspen. Tickets from about 1000 Euro (www.united.com).

Package tour. The cheapest way to spend a skiing holiday in the Rocky Mountains, because the ski pass and the flight are included. For example, "Faszination Ski" offers 7 nights in a 3-star hotel incl. Breakfast, with flight and ski pass from 1599 Euro (www.faszination-ski.de).

STAY

Limelight Hotel. Likeable, centrally located with large, cozy rooms. The breakfast with organic products is here - in the US a rarity - included! DZ / F from about 190 Euro (355 S. Monarch St., Tel. 925 30 25, www.limelighthotel.com).

Aspen Meadows Resort, Dreamlike Bauhaus-style hotel and home to the Aspen Institute. Around the main building, bungalows feature minimalist suites set in a park full of sculptures and ancient trees, offering sweeping views of Red Mountain. Everywhere hanging works of the artist and resort architect Herbert Bayer, who emigrated to the United States in 1938. If you like clean lines and straightforwardness, you will love "Aspen Meadows"! Double room from about 160 Euro (845 Meadows Rd, Tel. 925 42 40, www.aspenmeadows.com).

The Westin Snowmass. Directly on the slopes of Snowmass is this very large, comfortable sports hotel with its impressive lobby and two outdoor pools overlooking the slopes. Double room from about 130 Euro (100 Elbert Lane, Tel. 923 82 00, www.westinsnowmass.com).

silver time In the lobby of the "Hotel Jerome" everything is reminiscent of Aspen's glorious past

© Daniel Bayer

ENJOY

Bonnie's restaurant. Popular hut with good and for Aspen conditions favorable food: For around 20 dollars you get lunch and drink. The felt 100-year-old founder still helps in the kitchen and can be celebrated as a "Strudel Queen". In fact, her apple creation (about 11 euros) is delicious (Aspen Mountain).

Ajax Tavern. The "Place to be" to the Apre? S Ski, right at the base station of Aspen Mountain. Champagne flows in streams, plus lobster sandwich (about 24 euros) and truffled chips (about 15 euros). Highly recommended are the cocktails, for the cold days there are several drinks that are served hot (685 E Durant Ave).

Bosq. Molly and Barclay Dodge have fulfilled a lifelong dream with the cozy restaurant. He cooks ambitious in Mediterranean fusion style, she has a nice word for every guest. Main courses from about 30 euros, especially recommended are the appetizers (from about 12 euros) - best order many and share. Absolutely book! (312 South Mill St, tel. 710 72 99, www.bosqaspen.com)

State38, At the cozy open fireplace in Snowmass regional dishes are served: grilled rock bass, moose and bison meat and a lot of pumpkin. Excellent is the bison ossobucco with chili mashed potato for about 33 euros (111 Carriage Way, Tel. 710 76 93, www.state38snowmass.com).

Woody Creek Tavern. Hunter S. Thompson drank alcohol wherever there was alcohol in Aspen - but most often here. The "Woody Creek Tavern" is loud, loud and so tasteless that it is already cult again. The Mexican food tastes good (tamales about 14 euros), the margaritas (about 8 euros) are strong and good and the walls paved with polaroids of the guests - on some is also Hunter to see in a corner even hang letters that he wrote to his favorite host, and an election poster, with which he ran as a sheriff in Aspen in 1970 (2858 Upper River Rd, www.woodycreektavern.com).

J-Bar. If you want to check in with the Doormen in their black jeans and Stetsons in the "Hotel Jerome", you have to put at least 325 euros per night on the counter.Who can afford it: Go ahead, the hotel with all its devotional objects to the Silver Boom and the Western Days of Colorado is spectacular! Everyone else should take a leisurely stroll through the wood and leather-paneled lobby and have a drink in the "J-Bar", which is a real sight with its coffered ceiling of pure silver and leather armchairs (330, East Main St, www.hoteljerome .aubergeresorts.com).

EXPERIENCE

To ski, The Aspen-Snowmass ski area consists of four mountains that are not connected by lifts. Public buses commute to the base stations, and most hotels offer shuttle services. The "home mountain" and most scenic is Aspen Mountain, followed by Aspen Highlands, which is more suitable for sporty riders. The beginners drive in Buttermilk, and the huge snowmass offers something for everyone - but is a good 20-minute drive away. Legendary is the "Highland Bowl" departure, for which one must first ascend about 45 minutes on foot, and then descend from almost 3800 meters up to 45 degrees steep slopes off the slopes. Generally there are many black runs in Aspen, which are more difficult but rather the red of the Alps; the equivalent of European black runs are the "Black Diamond" runs in Snowmass. Ski pass: 7 days from approx. 670 Euro (www.aspensnowmass.com).

artistically The wickerwork at the Kunstmuseum looks like wood, but is resin and paper

© Daniel Bayer

Aspen Art Museum. The city has invested 75 million dollars in the construction of the new art museum: a glass cube encased in a wickerwork façade that looks like wood, but made of pressed paper, the classic building material from the home of Japanese architect Shigeru Ban. On show is contemporary art, by no means should you miss the rooftop terrace - the view of the city and mountains is great! The cafe? offers a cheap, good lunch. Admission free (637 East Hyman Ave, www.aspenartmuseum.org)

SHOPPING

Green Dragon. Colorado is one of nine US states where marijuana sale and possession is also permitted without medical indication. In a bright, friendly atmosphere, there are many varieties, as well as consumer accessories, but also clothes and jewelery on the subject. Take your passport - nobody comes in without it! (409 East Hyman Ave, www.greendragon.com)

Karl Hollinger. The artist duo Mindy Karl and Dale Hollinger produces and sells pop art, which is partly spectacular (brightly decorated foam surfboards) and partly very political (625 East Hyman Ave, www.karlhollinger.com).

Kemo Sabe. A paradise for cowboys and all those who dream of them: the most beautiful hats, hottest boots, sharpest knives and widest belts (217 South Galena St, www.kemosabe.com).

Daniel Antiques, From the age-old Louis Vuitton travel box to slot machines and man-sized bears made of carved wood, this spectacular antiques shop has it all. Beautiful are the mirrors and pieces of furniture from old aircraft parts (431 East Hyman Ave, www.danielsantiques.com).

GOOD TO KNOW

The city of Aspen is located at 2400 meters above sea level, skiing at an altitude of about 3000 meters. In combination with the extremely dry air in winter, many people experience headaches, dizziness and nausea. On the other hand helps: drink, drink, drink - and water, no alcohol! The hotels usually provide humidifiers in the rooms, which make the indoor climate more comfortable.

PHONE

Country code of the USA is 001. Aspen has the area code 970.

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