Aspen is one of the world's best-known resorts, boasting four ski areas, three separate resort developments and a glitzy reputation.
The famous ski town was a busy 19th-century silver mining district 130 years ago. Today you can stay in the original town of Aspen, or at the ever-expanding Snowmass resort 20km (12 miles) away, which recently completed a multi-billion dollar redevelopment, or at the third and smallest resort, Aspen Highlands.
The main resort of Aspen town has several faces. It has become synonymous with excess, being home to some of the world's most opulent and expensive properties, as well as a local airport full of private jets. On the other hand it has a reputation for liberal policies which seems at odds with the first - the resort famously banned fur coats at one time, and currently the Aspen Skiing Company is a leading campaigner against climate change (while simultaneously encouraging increased use of the local airport).
Snowmass is very much like a ‘normal’ ski resort, and a very good one following the huge investment in improvements recently. It also has the largest of Aspen’s four ski areas.
However, most visitors have little interest in these issues and just enjoy the superb skiing, which includes the biggest lift-served vertical in the USA, and a buzzing nightlife.
Read more: http://www.worldtravelguide.net/ski/aspen#ixzz18LPgR6Uy
Showing posts with label ski resorts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ski resorts. Show all posts
Aspen Ski Resort
Read User's Comments(0)
Soldeu Ski Resort
Soldeu is part of the great Grandvalira region, which incorporates neighbour and former arch rival Pas de La Casa and has four other resort bases.
Although all the bases are well linked into the ski area and each has its own facilities, it's important to be aware that they are all a few miles apart by bus. Thus Soldeu and El Tarter for example, sometimes lumped together as one resort name, are in fact two separate villages a little way apart.
The combined area has rapidly grown, with an exceptional fleet of state-of-the-art high-capacity chairlifts and swish gondolas, to be one of the world's 50 largest. Despite the rapid expansion, Soldeu has maintained high environmental standards and is one of the few resorts worldwide that has adopted the ISO 14001 international environmental management system.
Although all the bases are well linked into the ski area and each has its own facilities, it's important to be aware that they are all a few miles apart by bus. Thus Soldeu and El Tarter for example, sometimes lumped together as one resort name, are in fact two separate villages a little way apart.
The combined area has rapidly grown, with an exceptional fleet of state-of-the-art high-capacity chairlifts and swish gondolas, to be one of the world's 50 largest. Despite the rapid expansion, Soldeu has maintained high environmental standards and is one of the few resorts worldwide that has adopted the ISO 14001 international environmental management system.
Soldeu has also moved dramatically upmarket, opening a selection of extremely nice hotels and other quality services. As the price of the weekly lift ticket has risen to match, it can no longer realistically be thought of as cheap - with the exception of the continuing duty-free shopping.
Location:
Soldeu is part of the Grandvalira ski resort which takes up much of the eastern half of the small principality of Andorra. Andorra is sandwiched between Spain to the west and France to the east in the Pyrenean mountains and is about 160km (100 miles) north of the Mediterranean Sea.
Read more: http://www.worldtravelguide.net/ski/soldeu#ixzz17mIAFASE
Vail Ski Resort
Vail is one of the biggest ski resorts in the USA, and often voted one of the best in popularity polls. Built in the 1960s as a faux Austrian village for an upmarket clientele, Vail has broadened its appeal in recent years into a destination for everyone, while continuing to serve the well-heeled.
The traffic-free village which meanders along the slopes is mostly attractive, with smart hotels, shops and restaurants. It does have some of the most expensive lift tickets in the US if you buy in resort, but bargains are to be had by buying in advance online or through a tour operator.
There's a good choice of skiing, from the conventional pistes on the front face, to the big, open Back Bowls, to the pleasure of skiing through widely spaced trees in Blue Sky Basin.
The resort has tried to promote a greener agenda on its slopes and in its properties in recent years and has some solar panels on mountain restaurants and hybrid low-pollution buses.
Location:
Vail ski resort is located on I-70, two hours west of Denver, in Colorado's Rocky Mountains.
Read More
http://vail.snow.com
Mammoth Ski Resort
One of the world's leading ski resorts, Mammoth's north-facing slopes spread over one of the biggest ski areas in North America. The resort began in the late 1930s thanks to the efforts of pioneer Dave McCoy, who went on to build Mammoth up to its current global status and attracting more than 1.5 million visitors annually.
In the last decade McCoy was helped by resort developers Intrawest who took a stake in the resort (recently sold on when Dave retired in 2005, aged 90) and began to build a full resort base village where previously most lodging was down in the town of Mammoth Lakes. A long-planned gondola link to Mammoth Lakes has also been built, cutting out the need for a drive up to the base area car parks and most recently a ski run back down too.
Mammoth's great snow record means that the ski area offers one of the longest ski seasons in the world, typically opening in the first half of November and staying open into June, although it has reached August in the past.
Although the resort's facilities in terms of the number of shops and restaurants are not quite on the scale of South Lake Tahoe, Aspen or Vail, they are more than adequate, and the ski mountain is certainly a match.
Location:
Mammoth is located on the eastern edge of California's Sierra Nevada range and to the east of Yosemite National Park (access road closed in winter), inland from a point midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco on North America's west coast.
Read more: http://www.worldtravelguide.net/ski/mammoth#ixzz171cVObZ9
In the last decade McCoy was helped by resort developers Intrawest who took a stake in the resort (recently sold on when Dave retired in 2005, aged 90) and began to build a full resort base village where previously most lodging was down in the town of Mammoth Lakes. A long-planned gondola link to Mammoth Lakes has also been built, cutting out the need for a drive up to the base area car parks and most recently a ski run back down too.
Mammoth's great snow record means that the ski area offers one of the longest ski seasons in the world, typically opening in the first half of November and staying open into June, although it has reached August in the past.
Although the resort's facilities in terms of the number of shops and restaurants are not quite on the scale of South Lake Tahoe, Aspen or Vail, they are more than adequate, and the ski mountain is certainly a match.
Location:
Mammoth is located on the eastern edge of California's Sierra Nevada range and to the east of Yosemite National Park (access road closed in winter), inland from a point midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco on North America's west coast.
Read more: http://www.worldtravelguide.net/ski/mammoth#ixzz171cVObZ9
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)