'WORLD'S GREATEST SKI TOWN'

Outside Goes Aspen

By David Frey, 10-10-06

Aspen may never be able to scramble to the top of SKI magazine’s list of readers’ favorite resorts, but Outside magazine calls the burg below the “world’s greatest ski town.” That’s gotta count for something.

In the November issue heading now to newsstands, the magazine set up shop in Aspen for its 2007 Snow Report, where it says “the backcountry’s in, stuffy lodges are out.”

Whether or not that’s really true, it’s a refreshing take on a town better known for those stuffy lodges than its beckoning backcountry.

Actually, Aspen barely gets a mention in the spread except for a rundown of bars. “No ski resort does it better than downtown Aspen, that pedestrian-friendly four-by-nine block rectangle of watering holes that run the gamut from highbrow to low-cut jeans,” it writes.

Aspen's most famous former almost-resident gets a lot of ink, though, as he always has. In a homage to gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, his former editorial assistant recalls her time at Owl Farm.

“Yes, the party went on,” writes Emily Larocque. “And no, it was not always pretty. A few weeks before he died Hunter wondered aloud how his life might have been without drugs. He said he wouldn’t recommend drugs as a lifestyle but that they’d worked for him.”

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