Aspen positives post Gravi marketing tour

 I've been getting a lot of shit from my local friends for my negative posts regarding Aspen.  To be honest many of my friends just give me shit---it seems to be a favorite pastime; that said they are right.  I do bitch about Aspen A LOT.  After a quick 3 day marketing tour for Gravirax I was able to do some compare and contrast with Vail, Steamboat, Beaver Creek and Breck and got some positive stuff to say about Aspen.

1. Crowds ---we got a lot less of em. And less is more when  you are skiing.  To be completely honest, I almost never ski with anyone (see above comment about 'friends') which means I can pretty quickly single my way through any lift line, but there is nothing better than having almost no skiers near you.  The thing that scares me the most when I am skiing is other skiers usually from Texas shouting yea haaaaaaaaaa while trying to figure out how to turn.  I would say that Aspen has about 1/3 as many skiers as the other mountains on the Gravirax tour.
2. Locals---I road 11 lifts at Beaver and didn't share a chair with a single local.  I road 20 in Steamboat and only twice was I lucky enough to ride with a local.  Breck zero, Vail twice.  In Aspen I usually ride with a local almost 50% of the time.  The nice thing about skiing with locals is they know how to ski, where to ski and don't make the loading and unloading experience thrilling.
3. Long season---yes Buttermilk is closed and Highlands closes this week, but Aspen and Snowmass are open for two more weeks.  That means you can do awesome multi-sport adventures, my favorite being skiing and getting out on the river (Kevin M if you are reading this lets get the boat going).  Golf, cycling (motor, mountain and road), running and fishing are all also available to go along with the awesome corn snow.
4. Checking out marketing opportunities for our awesome ski rack (gravirax ) does give you a different perspective on ski towns.  In Aspen a great market for us is hotel SUVs which shuttle skiers to different mountains.  Guess what?  Vail, Boat, Beaver, and Breck don't have different mountains, ergo no SUV shuttles.  They do have short school buses which they use to take a load of skiers to the one ski hill, but in those towns you don't get the option to think Highlands? Ajax? Snowmass or the park or uphill Butter?  Nope you got one hill.  The power of 4 is Aspen awesome and a Gravirax good.
5. More Gravirax analysis---Aspen has more expensive cars than the rest of the towns combined.  I think 20% of the cars in Aspen are Range Rovers which are a great Gravirax car.  Who wants to dump their skis inside a nice Range Rover or climb to access a roof ski---Range Rover owners are great target customers.  When you spend an hour walking around the parking lots in Boat, Vail, Breck, and Beaver and see only a handful of Range Rovers---well Toto you know you aren't in Aspen  anymore.
6. People watching.  Sometimes just plain annoying but holy smokes the amount of plastic surgery you see in Aspen paired with outfits that cost more than houses or look like puffy aluminum foil--the people watching at Ajax has no comparison in North America.  

1. T bar at Steamboat for Apres ski vs Ajax tavern---at the T bar you can get a 16 oz can of PBR for $4, at Ajax tavern a 12 oz bud costs you $8.  I will do the complicated math for you---a can of american lager is 264% more expensive in Aspen than Steamboat.  To do the not complicated math if you got $25 bucks in your pocket at the end of day in Steamboat you can buy 5 tall boy PBRs and tip $5, or you can buy 3 12 oz cans of bud and tip your bartender a buck.  Oh yea you can also get a pitcher of excellent draft beer at the T-bar for $22 and tip $3 bucks.  Pitchers in Aspen--I don't think so.  Thank goodness for the short school bus to give me a ride home after an hour at the T-bar.
2. The vibe at the base of Beaver sucks--its all pure resort community, but 7 minutes away you can be in river walk in Edwards which feels about as far away from a resort community as possible.  Lots of good restaurants at much more normal prices with lots of locals (who don't seem to ski Beaver).  Also some really steep groomers and some not so steep bump runs (if that is your thing) at the Beaver.
3. Breck---Breckenridge brew and pub.  Maybe the best mountain brewery around.  And lots of parking.  OMG I thought I might get lost in their parking lots looking for a Range Rover to sell a Gravirax to .
4. Vail---dear lord having I70 run right through your town sucks, but holy smokes the bowls are awesome.  And if those bowls are just too crowded or firm---there is some awesome stuff off of Gondola 1 that no one is skiing (clearly I didn't find Ms. Von during my Vail outing).