Aspen: The World's Most Expensive Winter Wonderland

Aspen is the world's most expensive ski resort... also known for hosting famous people on a regular basis! Of course, sadly, the ordinary person won't be able to stay there for long.
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[@ihatesweetgumtrees]

Native Coloradan here. The housing crisis here, especially in the mountains, is insane. I grew up in a little 3 bedroom 1 bathroom cabin in a mountain town that has since been blown apart by rich people. When we had to sell our house in 2009, it went for somewhere in the mid 100,000s. It went back on the market last year for almost 900k. My parents were normal working class people who actually contributed to the community and local economy. I live in the suburbs in the front range now because this is where the jobs and the affordable (but not for much longer) housing is and I miss my little mountain town every day. I used to go fishing and camping all the time and I woke up every morning to the crisp quiet of the mountains, but now I get woken up every morning by the construction site across the street. And no, they’re not building affordable housing. They’re building a luxury condo complex that’s causing all the rent in the area to go up by like $100. I’m not a city person but these rich people are forcing me to be and I hate it. People tell me to move somewhere cheaper and with more opportunity but I can’t because these mountains are my home and I refuse to let a bunch of selfish million/billionaires completely destroy them. Eat the rich, guys.

[@fandam801]

Yup, almost every single Rocky Mountain shred town is getting destroyed by the rich buying up their 3rd or 4th vacation home that they will use for maybe 14 days a year. The working class who actually keep these towns running need to just leave these areas for a few years and let them rot.

[@codylewis867]

It’s not a housing Crisis. It’s a people crisis. And btw, the rich will always eat you alive because they will and always have worked 10x as hard to do so.

[@codylewis867]

@@dr5290 and guess what? Someone else took that job for almost the exact same salary!

[@diostejastierras7898]

Keep up the good fight! You know where your heart and happiness grounded too. You situation unfortunately resonates with so many others in now trendy towns/cities. Eventually somethings gotta give. If I may ask, why did they/you sell the cabin? Hope you find yourself in the mountains again. * Take Care & Safe Travels!*

[@Ok-551]

Same thing in San Fran. Now the place is filled with greedy nerds.

[@brandonyadon5506]

I work in Aspen. This was a reasonably accurate video although actually slightly understated. You'd be lucky to find an actual house in snowmass that was under $5 million. And houses in Aspen are much more expensive. 50 million houses are not at all uncommon.

[@P51DFreak25]

Use to fly fish in front of $55M for sale house on Red Mountain as a kid

[@MarsLonsen]

He said that tho

[@Jakuboooooooooo]

Where do you work bro

[@cameron.t]

@@Jakuboooooooooo Unless he’s a business owner, probably two of the following: Ski Co, a shop, or a hotel.

[@fay-amieaspen6046]

Sir, could you please contact Me as I'd like to ask if You could please purchase any Sew On Tourism badges from Aspen or Colorado itself as obviously this is My family Surname. If you'd be willing to help me I'd be very grateful. Happy to pay for any badges plus postage to the UK

[@ruthjohnson4380]

We lived down valley from Aspen for 30 years. We worked in Aspen. Our kids learned to snowboard in Aspen Highlands. I really love Aspen. We had a coffee roasting business and set up a booth for farmer’s market. It’s a great place to people watch. The whole valley is breathtakingly beautiful. There’s plenty to do in summer, too.

[@jeffspicoli2643]

Sounds like a dream!

[@dethmane]

I used to live and work in Glenwood Springs, right down the mountain from Aspen. On my days off I used to visit the ski resorts to people watch, and even when working selling cars, I made lots of trips to Aspen to deliver vehicles. To me it was just like any mountain town that offers skiing except it just had lots of really really rich people.

[@MsJubjubbird]

When I was there over ten years ago it was a place for the wealthier- and by that i include upper middle class, not just stinking rich- college students to go on break, with some celebrities. This was also the place where I got asked that, if it was currently summer in Australia, did that mean we didn't have winter? They also had a moose store that sold cool moose stuff. But it might be too middle class for the current crowd.

[@carlwright6898]

Hi Simon! Great videao - I grew up in the Roaring Fork Valley. My dad and his family lived here when he was growing up also and he has worked in the construction industry for his entire adult life up in Aspen. I just wanted to chime in on a few key things that your video left out. First off is the fact the the Roaring Fork Valley falls under 3 different counties preventing workers (who often live as far away as parachute) from being able to vote on the city ordinances that affect them. One great example is when they tried to build a train line to reduce the commute for locals as they get to work, but the city of Aspen pushed hard to create bike paths instead (Kicking the problems down the valley, and out of Pitken County is the standard practice). The second thing is the super high suicide and mental health issues that this valley faces. Record high prices juxtaposed with many 'ski bums' dream location leads to a toxic work culture that prevents the locals from enjoying the place that they work so hard to live in. Years with low snow see higher suicide rates; if you spent 750k (the 300k in the video you referenced is a hilariously low number) on a two-bedroom townhome to ski and you coudn't ski due to changing snow conditions and work you would feel pretty low too. Finally, you talked about immigrants. I82 is right off of I70 one of the main corridors coming up from the border. This means that The Roaring Fork Valley offers one of the first stable economies for refugees and immigrants as they come North. It also means the use of migrant labor is prefuse, and is not always legal. Those immigrants, and workers in general can drive over an hour and a half each way to get to work, more if the snow conditions are bad, leading to 12+ hour work days being the standard for many in the industry. ---- I don't think locals hate the prices that Aspen has, I think they hate the city's approach to ignoring the externalities of the economic situation they have strived to create. Low housing supply is is artificially inhanced using city code (Keep the supply low to keep the prices high). Places like Basalt and Snowmass get support coming from the high property taxes, but no real unified approach has been found to solve the problems down valley. ---- What this means culturally ---- Aspen has lost its culture, it used to have an amazing intellectual hippy ski bum vibe that was the draw for many people. That has been replaced with a toxic money culture that has driven (along with the prices) many locals to go down the valley. Aspen is a place for the billionaires, millionaires live mid-valley, and the average joe lives in Glenwood, or fully out of the valley. The economic inequality can be measured by the mile and as you would expect the culture reflects that. Thanks for making this video!

[@scott9593]

That is always typical of the liberal elite, wealthy

[@chrisbooker77]

At least Stan Marsh saved the youth centre.

[@Mansini77]

You mean…Stan Darsh??

[@mitchellneu]

Thanks to a good ol’ 🎵montaaaaaage🎵

[@ttruman5082]

Pizza and fries or your gonna have a bad time.

[@j.a.weishaupt1748]

Who? What? Eh?

[@joncurtis199]

I've got a little place on Aspen.

[@jimmyglea]

I graduated from Aspen high school in the early 90’s. It was a great town to grow up in, even for “poor”, blue collar kids like me.

[@dangreene3895]

Aspen needs some more diversity maybe Abbot or DeSantis can help them out on that

[@Beastmasterbrett]

So can you tell me l.... He keeps using stock skiing video that is not from Aspen right?

[@jimmyglea]

@@Beastmasterbrett It looks to me like he shows Buttermilk, Snowmass, and Ajax, aka Aspen Mountain. It’s been about 30 years since I’ve had ski’s on so I could be wrong. Anyway, they would all be part of the “Aspen” experience as each area, don’t forget Highlands, offers something a little different than the others.

[@ethanvance3834]

I graduated a skier in 2008. Loved growing up in the roaring fork. Im still mad my mom sold her home in Snowmass.

[@P51DFreak25]

@@dangreene3895 of the working class of Aspen, it’s a heavily diverse population

[@requiemglassworks9254]

You should do a video about the water diversion tunnels behind Aspen that divert water from the western slope, UNDER the continental divide, to the eastern slope. I've lived in the roaring for valley my entire life, and very very few people even know they exist. It was called the Colorado big thompson project. There are 22+ tunnels that I've found so far.

[@jeffdroog]

That you've found? Were they never made public knowledge? I'm pretty sure there should be the plans for that kind of thing publicly available.

[@requiemglassworks9254]

@@jeffdroog it's public knowledge, you can drive right up to most of them. They are just stashed away up in mountain drainages where very few people go. Some of my family members helped build them, so that's why I know. I don't think they want that to be public knowledge, for security reasons. Ever seen a steel plated dam? Californians would also lose their minds if they realized most of the water is being diverted east, to the other side of the continental divide, literally into a different ocean. If you search for "Colorado big Thompson project" you will stumble across some information on it, but not much. I've been to several of them, both the inlets and outlets. I haven't been to all of them yet though.

[@user-fj2qt9uv3g]

I grew up in eagle and have never heard of these. Sounds soooo interesting

[@requiemglassworks9254]

The fryingpan-Arkansas River Project is also part of the whole diversion system as well! The Homestake project was one of the first diversion projects too, if I am getting my history right.

[@AlaskaB83]

The Twin Lakes Diversion is actually not a part of the Big Thompson project. Same concept, different project

[@Optable]

Aspen Ski Co was one of my biggest clients for over 5 years. The data is unbelievable on the wealth there. The Little Nell, a high end hotel property (from 1200-8k per night) client list flies 92% PRIVATE. The thousands that book to stay there, every 92 out of 100 fly private. It's such an astounding amount of wealth that it's difficult to comprehend.

[@kwoodmansee]

Colorado born Coloradan here, living and working in any resort town in the state is outrageously expensive. I had a friend call it poverty with a view. Workers often can't afford to live in the town/city they work in, or if they do it's with multiple roommates and multiple jobs. Rents are high, but the cost of everything is high in mountain towns, food, gas, and utilities are all more expensive. It's genuinely a sacrifice to get to live in these communities, but it's one lots of people are willing to make in order to be where they want to be.

[@kreiner1]

I have a 3000sq ft and 5 acres for 75,000 in Oklahoma. The only downside, you have to live in Oklahoma. But if you are super into church, hate any one who can be othered, it's great.

[@kwoodmansee]

@@kreiner1 Yeah, I'm good here! Our racism/classism comes with mountains and craft beer.

[@kreiner1]

@@kwoodmansee I do miss the mountains, I grew up in Louisville right outside of Boulder. I could get up every day and there were the foothills. Most of Oklahoma's beauty is a lot harder to find, except one thing. We have African sunsets, like the ones in the pictures where a giraffe will come walking through. Give me a fire pit, some good friend and you have a great night planned.

[@kwoodmansee]

@Jennie Kreiner yeah, honestly I think the thing that living here has taught me is that everywhere is beautiful it it's own way. I grew up in Fort Collins and moved to Durango then Steamboat and back onto the Front Range. They're all vastly different, and the mountains are incredible, but I love the prairie too. I just haven't found anywhere I like better, or a compelling reason to leave yet.

[@kreiner1]

@@kwoodmansee I don't think I could move back, well for one thing I couldn't afford to lol. We were able to have me stay at home and homeschool all 5 kids, and no, we are not Fundamentalist. The word fuck runs out of my mouth way to much to even pretend lol. But we do have really, really bad schools. I do love it here anyway, and as for my grandkids that are starting to pop up. They will read 1984, know about slavery and the Holocaust, so we can hopefully never do it again. 😉

[@michaelryerson3126]

Born and raised in the Aspen middle class. It is truly a paradise and I loved every minute of growing up here. Moved to San Diego for 4 years after college and the rose colored glasses have come off a bit. Mega developers like Mark Hunt have purchased up all the buildings of local favorite restaurants and bars. There are no longer many options for an affordable night out if any. With all of the aforementioned buildings sitting now vacant or as a hole in the ground.

[@basedury]

i live in colorado and snowboard as much as i can in the winter. i’ve always been amazed by the people who come to the ski resorts in the winter to not ski/snowboard.

[@fay-amieaspen6046]

Would You be able to contact Me regarding the purchase and posting of Aspen and Colorado Tourism Sew On Badges, as Aspen is My Surname I'm interested in purchasing American Sew On Badges but I live in the UK & I've found it difficult to purchase from the States. I'm obviously happy to pay for any sew on badges and the postage

[@audreyconfer7678]

Honestly! I’m from Pa and my bfs family recently got me into skiing in our mountains! I’d go skiing every day if I could!

[@sammysamsam98]

As a resident here, yeah this is all true... I work in Aspen yet can barely afford to live in the nearby small town of Basalt. No one who works in Aspen can afford to live there. I commute 20 miles to Aspen every day and my rent is still $3500. And even just going out on the town, literally everything is catered to the rich. It's a tough place to live for average folk!

[@tanstaafl2840]

Took my family on a driving summer vacation in Colorado. When going through Aspen from Independence Pass, I accidentally ran a stop sign right in front of a cop. He just waved me on with a "You're one of us normal people." expression on his face.

[@Virtuous_Rogue]

Drunk driving is a huge issue in the mountains too. In towns, pulling over sober drivers can mean failing to pull over a drunk (or high) driver.

[@gnomuka]

Impossible to afford to live anywhere nowadays! It’s insane! Rent is through the atmosphere

[@cuttinaboot]

Bro just have more money it’s not that complicated

[@Eatinbritches]

That's capitalism for you.

[@seanthe100]

It's still cheap in Iowa

[@OKFrax-ys2op]

Ohio’s for stretching Real estate dollars 🤔🎯💥😂

[@davidyoung6094]

It’s really fun to see a video about a local spot. Aspen truly is bizarre. I think the heated driveways (and some sidewalks) are the perfect example. As a little bit of trivia, Jessica Biel grew up in Colorado. I knew a guy she used to babysit.

[@malindaallinson5749]

Heated driveways and "sidewalks'? Maybe in Snowmass Village.

[@P51DFreak25]

Heated driveways are pretty common

[@MAGGOT_VOMIT]

To me even 28yrs later, Aspen spawns images of the movie "Dumb and Dumber".

[@fatmike01]

A little place called Aspen…. Where the beer flows like wine!

[@dirtyharry5320]

It was actually filmed in Breckenridge, Colorado which is another upscale ski town.

[@idanthyrsus6887]

If you French fry when you're supposed to pizza you're going to have a bad time.

[@BobfromHolland]

Northern Colorado is incredibly expensive in general. My 750sq/ft house in a town nearby (45mins/ on the front range) is worth $400k

[@nebble58]

I had a mountain bike race in Aspen once, the cheapest place I could find to stay was a hostel type place with community bathrooms. When I wasn't at the event I was walking around galleries and such in town. If anyone needs a $100,000 brass elephant statue, it's there.

[@reallygraycards7139]

This was awesome! Would love to see a sister video regarding Park City. A similar history but, comparatively, affordable and accessible from SLC. Not to mention the way they built the Olympic venues to be set up to re-host the games with comparatively little negative impact to the economy

[@ewallt]

The history part of Park City is very expensive, but the newer part of town less so, and even less on the other side of 80, being comparable to a nice neighborhood in Salt Lake City. Because there is a large metropolitan area nearby, less than half an hour to the nearest border, as well as towns nearby which aren’t expensive, such as Heber and Kamus (roughly 15-30 minutes away), the situation is much different for workers, who have access to far more housing than those in Aspen, although within the town itself there are similarities among ski workers. In the Roaring Fork Valley, the real estate gets progressively less expensive the further you get from Aspen. About 50 miles away is Greenwood Springs, the largest town around at about 10,000 residents. Many workers in Aspen work there. Glenwood Springs is still somewhat expensive, but nothing like Aspen. If you go another 25 miles away you get to Rifle, which is inexpensive, and many ski industry workers live there, which is about 80 miles from Aspen. People who work in Park City can find affordable places to live (although not as affordable as Rifle), much closer. The proximity to a large metropolitan area and major airport makes living in Park City quite different than Aspen or the Roaring Fork Valley.

[@tomryan5948]

Interesting since this process is well underway in Jackson Hole, too. But, since Jackson has way better skiing/riding than Aspen, it might yet maintain its sanity as hordes of skiers/riders demand access.

[@ewallt]

@@tomryan5948 Way better than Aspen proper, but Snowmass is great, but I agree with you if you have more advanced skiers in mind. For intermediates, Snowmass is hard to beat. Jackson probably has about the best backcountry skiing anywhere, so there’s that too.

[@Rabidchu]

The same thing is happening in Sun Valley, Idaho. There was a family of 4 that had to sleep in the woods during the winter a few years back because they had nowhere to go.

[@zacherybowersock4278]

Long time follower, first time commenting. You nailed it, I have lived in Aspen (and up and down the Valley) for 11 years. As a blue collar worker, you really covered a lot, and while we workers try hard to make it approachable to all, the elite exclusivity is too real. Rarely do the classes mingle, and we workers are getting pushed out in a big way. Outside builders and property managers are raising rents to inaccessible levels, and the labor shortage is getting to a breaking point. Aspen May always be here, but the service the rich cherish will be changing soon. The two weeks of Christmas/new years is the hardest on the working force, and we are consistently treated the worst during this time. Many peers are throwing in the towel after so many abusive seasons, it will be interesting to see what happens in the future. Oh, and I found out I am losing my affordable housing in the next year, so I too may be leaving the town I love in the near future.

[@black_hand78]

@@zacherybowersock4278 think of it this way “The USA is the perfect spot for all the ultra-rich to buy up all the land while slowly causing the prices of everything to rise up, making it virtually impossible for anyone besides the ultra-rich to live in the USA, which in turn will cause everyone else to move outside of the US leaving all the land for ultra-rich to have for themselves.” It’s happening right now. I have a house in Aspen, my family is one of those ultra-rich elites and have been for nearly a 1000 years (old world money). Ultra-rich keep moving to the USA for better business deals and better views with less population per capita.

[@vespurrs]

@@black_hand78 So what's the point of this comment? What were you trying to add to the conversation? I'm legitimately curious.

[@black_hand78]

@@vespurrs that eventually the entire country is going to be too expensive for everyone except the billionaire families. It may be a decade or it may be hundreds of years but eventually the ultra-rich are going to drive everyone else out and there will only be like 50 families living in the entirety of the US.

[@ihatesweetgumtrees]

@@black_hand78 if you’ve got old world money, then stay in the old world. People like your family are ruining the lives of millions. But the rich will never care, they don’t need to. You guys buy up the land because it’s beautiful, but then you build houses that emit so much greenhouse gases and light pollution that you’re actively destroying the landscape that you came here for. You don’t respect the locals and you treat your servers that probably have 2 other jobs like shit. Go away.

[@ignitionfrn2223]

1:15 - Chapter 1 - Boom & bust 3:45 - Chapter 2 - Hitting the slopes 6:25 - Chapter 3 - The arrival of the rich & shameless 9:10 - Chapter 4 - A millionaire's economy 11:25 - Chapter 5 - How the other half lives 14:15 - Chapter 6 - Tone death bigotry 16:30 - Chapter 7 - The future

[@jamesburge1983]

"The Cock Brothers", I approve. Perhaps the most accurate, mispronunciation oopsie ever.

[@davidentremont2007]

Simon hits on the #1 topic of Colorado ski country - housing. Bravo. Sadly, unless covering Vail, we wouldn’t get to sadly laugh at the ‘most expensive protected piece of sheep land’ ever after Vail board blocked a housing development.

[@theamaturepro]

My great grandpa was one of the miners there and my grandma was born in the hospital. She said they left when she was 12, so that would have been 1940, and they moved to Rullison west of rifle. Somehow they managed to move a full sized piano which i now have, and it's a truly great, high end instrument built in 1887-88. I've got tons of neat things brought from old Aspen

[@michaelhowell2326]

I live in small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and the same thing is happening here. In the last 20 years prices have skyrocketed for everything. We only have one regular restaurant in town now. All the other places are high-end places where a buger is $23 and a beer is $5. I really worry about our future.

[@jt2506productions]

Fellow Carolinian, I'm guessing you are referring to Asheville?

[@michaelhowell2326]

@@jt2506productions no, West Jefferson. It's about 2ish hours north of Asheville. It is Ashe county though.

[@aaroncfriedman]

I just skied Snowmass Aspen and Buttermilk before Christmas and it was great. The whole area is a winter paradise. I hope it never changes.

[@notstarboard]

I, too, hope they continue to keep out the poor people

[@MKD.357]

I visited aspen a few years back. A buddy is a private chef to a billionaire. Our birthdays are a day apart so we got together up there (where his boss summers) for the weekend to celebrate. A few years later I got offered a GM position for a restaurant/bar up there. Pay was great. But the cheapest place I could find to rent was $4500/month. I’d have had to live in Glenwood Springs and commute about an hour each way for work. That could have been doable. But the closest Dialysis clinic is an hour the opposite direction. Made it to impractical for me to take that job.

[@P51DFreak25]

I essentially grew up in Aspen. My grandparents retired from the military on Red Mountain (great investment lol). It’s a truly beautiful place and I loved growing up there. I learned to ski on highlands and I’m up here right now. Money will continue to dominate the scene. Unfortunately, Aspen will eventually price out the less wealthy individuals. The town itself is trying to maintain its mountain town roots. I truly hope they maintain that. I’d hate to have a resort monstrosities take over the town like Vail

[@HeWhoShams]

I was a part of the 10MTN DIV... We have done no skiing in years. Mostly, just treading through 3 feet of snow to only lay in it to pull security for hours at a time.

[@kitten9138]

My stepfather grew up in Aspen. His parents owned the historic Isis movie theater before selling it and moving down to Grand Junction. I spent a lot of my childhood up there hunting, fishing and backpacking. Every year we'd hunt up on Red Mountain for a week during 2nd Rifle Season. I miss going up there as it's where I called my home away from home. Smiled when I saw this video. It brought back a lot of memories from my childhood.

[@codylewis867]

Nobody considers Isis historic

[@kitten9138]

@@codylewis867 It was built in 1901...how is that not historic..and btw, it's registered as a historic landmark. The original screen from the silent picture era is hanging in the Wheeler Opera House when my family donated it to the historical society before the old building was sold.

[@codylewis867]

@@kitten9138 I said considers. every other house in Aspen is a “historic landmark”. And I don’t know if your confused or what but that picture doesn’t exist in the Wheeler Oprah house. It only has pictures of the Wheeler (itself).

[@M.Mae.M]

Love Aspen! As Winter X Games athlete, I went there for ten years in a row.

[@ethanbailey1760]

Aspen wasn’t always like this. Not in my living memory, but by grandpas father was a rancher in Aspen during the 1910s. It’s a very historical place, such a shame it was ruined.

[@peda2941]

All places where ruined "like this" because of overpopulation - rich wanned the place for themselves and they are willing to pay extra for it - there is no other reason to ask 200 bucks for one day skipass, 8 for a cake and 1200 for a swetter when in europes top skiing resorts those cost a third...

[@blurglide]

Aspen! Where the beer flows like wine! I LOVE California!

[@brucefranklinjr.8543]

Not Aspen but I lived in Denver recently for a few years 2016-19... housing is wildly expensive out west

[@Fystikia1987]

When Thompson was running for mayor he shaved his head bald, thereby referring to the crew-cut, ex-army, Republican incumbent as "My long-haired opponent." What an absolute legend.

[@hammertime714]

I remember an afternoon of Hunter antics at Woody Creek Tavern where he threw a lit military smoke bomb into the very full bar and filmed all the tourists as they ran out engulfed in smoke. He was an absolute joy to see and talk to on occasion.

[@bo7341]

Came because I grew up in a nearby town (and got priced out of the real estate/job market there, as is discussed in the video) stayed for Simon pronouncing Koch brothers like "Cock".

[@deniseroe5891]

We used to vacation in Aspen back in the 70’s. Beautiful area, would hike to the Maroon Bells. Loved a eatery called The Stew Pot in Snowmass. The last time was 76, saw Claudine Longet there.

[@TimSedai]

Went there in '94 with the better off portion of my family. Even in my early teens it screamed privileged wealth lol cool town if you can afford it and some excellent skiing though

[@Indarow]

I live a couple hours away in Vail. Aspen is just a bit ridiculous, even by Vail standards where most houses cost multi million dollars. it’s the same in Jackson Hole, though if you’re *really* lucky you can actually live in JH as they have a locals program to purchase a home at a reduced rate.

[@sambra1979]

We used to visit the mcdonalds in vail when we past. Probs the best and most reliable we ever went in. I remember parking up in aspen and my brother asked if I wanted to have a walk around, I said no because everyone was wearing shoes worth more than our new car and I didn't think we would fit in. We was living in gj at the time. Such a stunning part of the world.

[@Theheadgiver]

I went to aspen a lot to ski. Ill never get over how much those little houses on the bottom of the slopes must be

[@MsJubjubbird]

Given what a resort charges for ski in, ski out...

[@James7995]

It’s interesting b/c most people here in Colorado don’t consider Aspen to the be the pinnacle. With Vail and BC, Steamboat, Telluride, Summit County, Crusty Butte, and WP we have no shortage of ski towns. I do love Aspen, although I never been during the winter. I love driving through during the summer over Independence Pass. From my house I can leave in the morning, reach Aspen for Lunch and then head down I-70 and have dinner in Idaho Springs. It’s a pretty place to visit.

[@James7995]

(Pretty place to visit can be said about almost all of our mountain towns - but Aspen is a fun visit)

[@KulshanStudios]

the inclusion of a photo of a stretch of northbound I5 in Seattle in the bit about traffic congestion in Aspen is both hilarious, and super trippy

[@RoyFizzle]

Harry and Lloyd helped get Mary’s husband back back in 94 over there

[@skyden24195]

"I don't know, Lloyd, the French are assh*les."

[@stardogMLB]

Mmm California. Beautiful.

[@ARIXANDRE]

I'm a simple person. I see Simon's next vacation spot, I click and upvote.

[@larrygrimaldi1400]

Yes, but Vail's genius marketing idea of their cheap season pass, offering many mountains all over the world, has been so successful that Aspen is really a backwater in the ski industry. The areas near Salt Lake are closer to an international airport, have better snow, and connecting mountains--- which Aspen does not. Every major ski resort has free bus service. Every resort of any kind has the problem of affordable housing for workers.

[@griffing1799]

Aspen is on the Ikon. Which if i’m being honest, is like a more prestigious version on the epic. It’s definitely not a backwater. That being said, it’s being overtaken by Jackson Hole for being the richest place.

[@brianstaley6391]

I applied to a job at the Park City resort a few years ago for ski bumming purposes, and got the position. Problem is, I couldn't find any reasonable housing on that little wage so I had to turn down the offer. Didn't feel like commuting 3-4 hours a day from SLC and at that point the gas might have made it unaffordable as well. Might have another go at it but I'll need several roomies for it to work

[@fandam801]

@@brianstaley6391 minimum wage now for Park City is $20, they have had staffing issues due to exactly the issues you mentioned. We’ll see if it helps but last year there was a total disaster with understaffing. If it wasn’t for their ability to exploit foreign work visa employees they would be still in very tough shape even with their $20 an hour wage.

[@codylewis867]

Backwater. Yeah. Why is Aspen more expensive than vail?

[@ewallt]

@@griffing1799 Aspen is about 50% more expensive than Jackson Hole, going by price per square foot (1.9k vs 1.2k per 1000). There are similarities in terms of not being close to large cities, but Jackson has far more traffic going through it year round due to its proximity to Yellowstone.

[@GJohnson1981]

Yea I live in Denver, and trust, Aspen is awesome, and super expensive, but if you have the means to go... go....

[@cameron.t]

Regarding the commute, it’s never that bad even during the “height of winter.” Much better than anything in Denver, Seattle, or most of California. The worst of it is passing through Basalt, but it’s never stop and go. The snowless and sunny days were usually more trafficky. I did the commute from Glenwood Springs in all times of day (and night).

[@Alastair_]

People buying ski homes they only live in 3 months of the year are one of the reasons the ski industry is dying, ironically. Staff can no longer afford to live close enough to make it viable to travel each day.

[@notstarboard]

To say nothing of exacerbating global warming as they travel to their mountain palaces via private jet.

[@--enyo--]

I’m Australian with no interest in winter sports and not much knowledge of this sort of cultural stuff, so even though I’d heard the name before everything else was totally new to me. That was very interesting. Thanks.

[@joeydominick4762]

As a longtime floridian who only got to go snowboarding last year for the first time, I strongly suggest if you ever get the opportunity to try it out. Very challenging but immensely fun.

[@sumnerrogers5091]

It’s beautiful in the summer too. Great hikes

[@TwoBs]

I’ll stick to living in Appalachia lol - where the people are shunned, mocked, and looked down upon for being a little backwoods. I’ll take that any day over the high life Aspen seems to convey. I’ve got 7.4 acres tucked in a valley surrounded by rolling mountains … light pollution is basically zero, noise pollution isn’t an issue. Nearest neighbor is about a half a mile away. Takes 15-20mins to get into town. Life is slow here, and it’ll always be home here for me … Largely because the folks here are always the same. We don’t have to worry about the rich coming in to gobble up anything in a rural WV town anytime soon, and the more people thumb their noses at a flyover state like this … the more our peace and quiet is forgotten about by the majority.

[@malindaallinson5749]

My family is from Aspen and we are not rich but we love living in Aspen.

[@krishnaveganathar]

There are many trailer parks in the Roaring Fork Valley….. the most expensive trailers in the world though.

[@MAGGOT_VOMIT]

@ 7:33 Damn!! Jo Kennedy is wearing his Most-Fun glasses. 😳🤣

[@mikeseier4449]

Quite ironically when the very rich discover and move into a town it becomes unlivable… therefore,.. The same as a town having poor people move in…..Except that in a poor town, Everyone is welcome…

[@black_hand78]

It doesn’t “become unlivable” lol. It only becomes unaffordable for you peasants, which is what we want. It becomes unlivable when poor people move in because poor people bring crime, drugs, and disease.

[@notstarboard]

True, except in many cases if you don't look like everyone else

[@aq5426]

Lived in Colorado for several years--the whole state is getting priced way out of reach for the average person, sadly. :/

[@cuttinaboot]

It’s absolutely wild how nearly ever comment on this is someone that has stayed in or stays in aspen

[@cuttinaboot]

And then even more from the rest of Colorado

[@jjgreek1]

Mammoth Lakes, CA is still semi-affordable but becoming a new Aspen

[@Rekuzan]

Actually, there are two roads into/out of town, but Independence pass which comes up the back side of the mountain is usually closed most of the year, takes the long way there, is very scenic but not very practical for regular travel, so there might as well be only one road into and out of town.

[@jeffdroog]

So,there's really only one,logically usable road,year round? ITS ALMOST LIKE WE ALL ALREADY HEARD THIS INFORMATION IN THE VIDEO! Fail!

[@jimmyglea]

Ok, one of those “actually” people…it’s the same highway going through town whether approaching from Leadville or from Basalt…so…your ACTUALLY as horribly wrong as you are annoying.

[@Rekuzan]

@@jimmyglea I'm not wrong, I just didn't think anyone would actually catch that. Given the fact Independence pass is closed 9 months out of the year, they might as well be separate roads. Although, if you actually drive through town, there's a few twists and turns to go from one end to the other and they might as WELL be separate roads even though technically speaking, they do have the same CO road number. As far as being annoying goes, guilty as charged your honor!🤣🤣🤣

[@Rekuzan]

@@jeffdroog Independence pass IS open 3 months out of the year, so technically speaking, I'm not wrong.

[@jimmyglea]

@@Rekuzan You are wrong. HWY 82 is one road. “Might as well be” separate roads doesn’t make them separate roads.

[@sharonl_74]

Doonsbury did a whole series of Thompson vs. John Denver cartoons in the 1970s. I still have them in my scrapbook.

[@zachvanarsdale7065]

Coloradoan shout out! Yeah Aspen is rediculously expensive, but its not just Aspen, it's also Leadville, Vail, Breckenridge, Telluride, Oury, Buena Vista, Steamboat, .......

[@GamerNation1221]

My grandfather bought a small condo in Aspen in the 70s. Its tiny and only has one bedroom with rather old furnishings. Its worth over $400k. Almost all the workers there are “J-1s” basically students from different colleges in south america who work there over the winter in exchange for some of their tuition to be paid for. Traffic is always horrific during xgames, but its a super fun event. The town also attracts a lot of musical talent its really cool to see lots of famous artists that come to play there in the very small venues. Ive seen artists who sell out arenas perform with no more than a few hundred people in the room. Its almost a different country there pretty much everyone you see and meet is wearing designer clothes and are incredibly rich. I dont feel like part of the “culture” at all Im a just a dirty 22 year okd ski bum who happens to be able stay there on occasion. Ive seen countless uber famous celebrities there its kind of absurd.

[@dennisbarker5986]

I'd like to see a video on telluride Colorado. That's where Tom cruises and Oprah's home's are

[@rhmendelson]

I live in Colorado and I’m amazed at how well you’ve captured the history along with the various property and social issues.

[@vidsbychazzle2056]

I came there in 1998 while my friend was the on an internship at a restaurant with provided housing. I came there with 300 bucks. Every dishwasher and carrot cutter were Latinos in trailers. They were also in charge of street pharmacy, God bless them. I ate leftover foie gras (fattened goose liver)and New York Pizza to sustain my Iowa budget. I afforded to buy lift tix to Snowmass and Buttermilk to learn to snowboard and still impress my kids. My local friend almost ran over Kareem Abdul Jabbar and we were like, what? Couldn't see that guy coming? (Nate King)

[@bradlevantis913]

I couldn’t help but think $300,000 for a condo is crazy cheap. I think I’m jaded by Toronto real estate prices.

[@SoundShinobiYuki]

Oof, agreed. I lived there three years for college from 2013-2016 and I paid $5-600 a month for just a ROOM in a shared house, and that was in the ass end of the city over an hour away from the downtown. Not even ten years later and the tiny "investment condos" you couldn't actually expect anybody to *live* in are a million bucks, and single rooms there cost almost as much as a small apartment where my husband and I live now (which is also in a housing affordability crisis since the GTA ruins all housing in driving distance for the rest of the province, but we got SUPER lucky and found a really cheap rental house in a great area several years ago.)

[@bradlevantis913]

Ya it’s crazy. Friend of mine just got a unit in a triplex. 1.2 million for 850 sq ft. Granted it’s in a Great area but wow.

[@SoundShinobiYuki]

@@bradlevantis913 Yeesh! Our house is three times that space (full furnished basement, woo!) WITH a front and a back yard that I can have my veggie gardens and an apple tree in, and in a decent spot… and our rent is $2000 a month. Inclusive. Which is also a mad rarity in this town. 😵‍💫 (seriously, I never want to move, so I live in real fear of the classic “renoviction”…

[@ewallt]

It’s 2k per 1000 square foot to buy in Aspen, so 300,000 would get you a 150 sq foot condo, so yes, that would be crazy cheap.

[@mikeb4708]

It seems like Aspen is no longer alone in being an exclusive winter resort for the rich. Places like Telluride, Park City and Big Sky seem to all have adopted the same type of lifestyle

[@Elchampolinbellacado]

Don’t forget about lamberton, north high mountain, and high park drive

[@jacobthornock317]

Jackson "Hole" Wyoming, would be a good one. Hunting town turned super rich residential area.

[@digmccallister2654]

I would love to see one of these historical videos on Jackson WY

[@famouscriminals18]

Aspen is an interesting place. I visited for the x-games, and it felt like I was in a small town version Monaco or Dubai. This video mentioned low income workers. Like, even the waiters in Aspen seem loaded. If you’re serving food to millionaires all day, you’re probably getting insane tips. There are tons of rich kids who stay at their parents Aspen vacation house and maybe get jobs at Starbucks. I kind of see a tide turning. Colorado is so populated. There’s starting to be suburbs and trailer parks in the mountains. Rich people and celebrities are starting to go to Utah or Idaho instead. Mostly due to the fact that Aspen can easily be visited by normal people.

[@KeenKoala115]

I’m surprised you didn’t mention the Austrian architect Herbert Bayer he was recruited by Walter Paepcke after the war to pretty much design and market the town as a ski and cultural hub. He also designed the Aspen leaf logo still used today, and has many buildings there in the Bauhaus style still preserved today. The town wouldn’t be the same today without him.

[@codylewis867]

You mean the Aspen onion logo used today?

[@oscarlie9014]

You should do a video on Verbier which is essentially Europe's (Schengen\s) version of Aspen

[@black_hand78]

Love Verbier

[@pamelamays4186]

Suggestion: My hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The city of steel. The city of champions. The city of bridges.

[@truemoayyed8482]

Hello Simon 😊

[@marcuswinton7740]

Ive grown up in the Valley and it's a really beautiful place. The problem is all of the rich out of Towner's that come in and think they own the place bc they can afford a 40 million dollar condo in Aspen. Also the traffic not just on 82 but i70 is terrible especially in the winter. I love your videos and even though I live in the area I still learned a lot about the region.

[@codylewis867]

Is they problem that they have a 40 million dollar home or is that you don’t?

[@ewallt]

I didn’t notice bad traffic on 70, discounting when they were redoing the bridge in Glenwood. The traffic was worse off of 70 it seemed to me.

[@ld220]

Aspen really is an amazing place to ski. There’s a handful of affordable places to eat (s/o to the Stew Pot in Snowmass) and you can always get a hotel with a small kitchen. There’s free transit throughout Aspen/Snowmass so you don’t need to rent a car and can easily ski at all 4 resorts.

[@cynthia6389]

Aspen is a small town, it has an airport that is huge . Lots of big jets, you have to see it to believe it.

[@skinnyjohnsen]

You have a mountain named after yourself; Whistler Mountain. Pretty expensive as well . Also a famous ski resort where they have alpine word cup early winter.

[@skyden24195]

-"Where are we gonna go?" -"I'll tell you where. Someplace warm. A place where the beer flows like wine. Where beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. I'm talking about a little place called Aspen!" -"I don't know, Llyod, the French are assh*les." *(from "Dumb & Dumber" 1994 film)

[@bjkarana]

I say we continue to invest in the worm farm.

[@Mr3c2b1a]

I put you on .75 speed. Mate, it seems you are part of this breathless bombardment brigade who flashes images for half a second at me. The amount of pausing and rewinding and replaying I have to do is a real killjoy of an otherwise excellent presentation.

[@cambauer2]

Low key loved this shot though 😂

[@presidentpotato222]

I lived and worked there in the 95 .. served soup on top of ButterMilk .. best 2 yrs of my life

[@dirtyharry5320]

At least in a major city coastal city where housing is prohibitively expensive (Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York), the middle class workers who work in town can live in the suburbs. In Aspen, there are no suburbs. It's out in the middle of nowhere. Society can't run on just the super rich alone. Even in Aspen, fires need to be extinguished, garbage needs to be taken away, water mains need to be repaired, crimes need to be investigated, tables need to be waited, grocery store shelves need to be stocked, and ski lifts need to be maintained.

[@PoeticProphetic]

Not one single Dumb & Dumber reference?!! Impressive!!!

[@MR2Davjohn]

If the ski season is getting shorter, go to Vermont, New Hampshire, or better yet Canada.

[@sinocte]

Seems like Whistler is already well on the way to being Aspen North

[@notstarboard]

What do you mean by this? The ski season is getting shorter everywhere and the skiing is better in Colorado regardless.

[@gregwalker7133]

Spent a winter in aspen in early 70’s. Season pass was maybe $200 and a bed and breakfast maybe $8 a day. Great time!

[@cpt_bill366]

My family went to Vail every winter until we tried Snowmass and never went back. I had Lunch and browsed the shops in Aspen once. I still don't understand why anybody enjoys having so little to ski on. Snowmass is the best. More trails and fewer people

[@andrewdiamond2697]

I've skied all 4. Aspen/Ajax is still the best time, IMHO. No beginner slopes and beginners to getting in the way.

[@codylewis867]

Hahaha. You have no clue when you say “so little.”

[@ewallt]

I preferred Snowmass as well. What a great place to ski.

[@cpt_bill366]

@@codylewis867 Just compare the maps

[@codylewis867]

@@cpt_bill366 that’s where your lost. If you know what your doing, which you don’t, you can make a 1.5 hr run on a powder day on Aspen mountain with a 15 minute gondola ride. Aspen is so great because nobody can figure this out. That’s the beauty of it. And my cousin has a house in vail btw. I know what I’m talking about.

[@aidanmeadows3412]

Being a local from Carbondale, 25 minuets from Aspen, it is insane how expensive that place has become. Small things like bagels are 11-15 dollars and it gets worse from there. The traffic problem is very bad. A very confusing thing is that the HOV lane is on the right side of the highway instead of the left. The bus system can help get you up valley very quickly. In many places, there are bus only lanes, making it faster and cheaper to take the bus. Ski co is considerate for the people in school in the valley. They sell out discounted season passes to students of the valley. Overall, why live in Aspen when you could take a 25 minute bus ride to get there from Carbondale which has way lower property rates and taxes.

[@derjaeger3321]

I worked as a City Manager for almost 40 years, I always preferred smaller Municipalities of less that 15,000 population, just was a small town boy at heart. Early in my career in the 70’s I was an assistant in a larger Pennsylvania township and a skier of sort. I always wanted to manage in either a Ski town or a College town. I saw Aspen had an opening and thought what the heck, send in a resume. After a few weeks I called to follow up, later a member of the selection committee returned my call. She said they liked my resume but were concentrating on candidates from Colorado. I told her I understood, as someone from Colorado would understand the state’s laws and local government procedures. She explained that was not the issue, many of their municipal employees had difficulty with housing and they could not pay the assistant-manager position enough to buy property in Aspen. The thought was asomeone from Colorado with a house to sell could adapt to the housing situation better than an easterner. Apparently things have not changed. Later in the 80’s the Mrs. and I visited and skied in Aspen. And I fell in love with the place even with the glitz and veneer of snobby wealth. When I purchased the lift tickets they apologized for the poor snow conditions as it had not snow in weeks. Well Aspen snow at its worst beats the ice and crud of the east. I preferred Snowmass mountain and the “Big Burn” - at least I think is was called that- for my tepid, putt-putt type of skiing.

[@Noah_E]

Less than 2 minutes to shit on America. Keeping the streak going Simon.

[@christinebenson518]

Back in the 1960s my grandpa had the opportunity to buy a bank in three different locations. One was in Florida, one in Colorado, one in Minnesota. The Florida one was in Boca Raton. The Colorado one was Aspen. He chose Minnesota because who'd ever heard of the other two towns.

[@RobMarchione]

Been a ski bum for years and not a single person has ever said Aspen has the best skiing. It’s a rich exclusive town but that has little to do with the quality of the mountain and the snow that it gets.

[@trumpetmom8924]

The one time my husband drove us into Aspen, the thing that really stood out was the Volvo XC-90 police SUV. Yeah. Just a little bit of money there. Granted, a lot of the NoCo cities police drive Chargers, but Dodge is just a tad less expensive than Volvo.

[@xvsj-s2x]

The Silver mine was actually a Gold mine ✌️

[@Kevvrs]

My roomate is a retail manager for tecovas and I’ve gone to aspen to help with events. Crazy to me that they are willing to pay us to drive from Denver for special events rather than find more employees in aspen since, well, that’s pretty hard to do. Retail jobs in aspen pay roughly $17/hour if you are not manager.

[@exmichigansnowskier2150]

I remembered skiing there in January, 1974 and the all area ski lift ticket was just $16.00.

[@michealball5560]

I live in Vail which was founded by the 10th mountain division and housing prices are just as egregious

[@mixflip]

I wonder how Aspen looks this week after the insane snow storms that recently hit north America?

[@charger31711]

As someone who visits there every year to snowboard for a week, it's honestly not much more expensive compared to any other vacation. After doing this trip for about 8 years now, I could tell you where to go, where the deals are, and how to do it correctly, cause there are some places that will charge you 40 dollars for a burger and beer, while others will charge you 10. The price of living however is insane. I'll stick to vacation.

[@johnsteed5894]

Great video. I could’ve started my electrical business in Roaring Fork Valley. I chose to move to Grand Junction because of the hoity-toity culture up there, and now I refuse to do work in Pitkin County, even though I’ve had some very good offers.