Homes in the Aspen/Snowmass area are uniquely suited for the ski-in, ski-out lifestyles. Here Ed McCaffrey hits the slopes.
VOLUME IV / ISSUE XII / DECEMBER 2020
Ski School with Stein Erikson protégé, Norwegian transplant and towering Snowmass legend, Amund Ekroll, one of the original handful of ski instructors that Stein brought with him to open Snowmass Ski Area to the world in 1967.
ronment. They appreciate, to this day, growing up and thriving on the edge of a magnificent wilderness. I can only hope that they will share their love and passion for nature with their families. What I call the BaseCamp Expérience.
The friendship we formed by skiing and socializing with Amund led us to deem one of our very own girls his goddaughter. We are all richer for our relationship with Amund, and still cherish the opportunities to ski with him, or to invite him over for dinner and storytelling by a roaring fire, recalling our vast experiences in Snowmass over these past 33 years.
The location of this magical mountain retreat gives you the opportunity to challenge yourself to become more than you ever thought possible. This home has a history, but welcomes the next owners to create their own memories anew”.
BaseCamp's proximity to the mountain allowed our two daughters to explore nature and develop a deep love and healthy respect of the great outdoors. They have become excellent backcountry skiers and backpackers. They celebrated a recent birthday by camping in the high-country at Snowmass Lake and climbing Snowmass Peak - a ‘fourteener’- one of nine in the Aspen area.
HNW families, for whom skiing is their passion, view the slope-side Ski-In/SkiOut single-family home as the pinnacle of vacation homes at the world’s most prestigious resorts. The health-security premium tied to the ultimate in Social Distancing, combined with the trend toward executive-exit from city living, finds many high net worth titans of industry surprised by the difficulty of acquiring a Snowmass ski home for their family in this exclusive category, for under $5.5M. There literally aren’t any on the market at this time.
When I think of BaseCamp, it brings to mind experiences over the years that have shaped the relationship between our daughters, my husband and myself and the mountains. Our girls have developed from small, curious children to strong, confident women who are good, respectful stewards of Mother Nature’s envipage 56
EXTRACTING THE FAMILY FROM CITY LIFE
For the present season, the Aspen Skiing Company has added additional tents outside of their on-mountain restaurants to facilitate a safer environment for
their capacity-limited, socially distanced ski patrons. Ski-In/Ski-Out homeowners on Wood Run in Snowmass enjoy the option to ski into the house for lunch with the entire family, and then get right back out on the slopes. According to Karin: “We almost always skied in neck-gators for protection from the sun and cold, so we don’t even consider it ‘masking-up’ to ski in our own backyard – it’s just second nature.” Summer through fall is a magical time to be situated amid the hiking and biking available on the mountain, as high as you choose to go. Featuring 25 miles of trails over 3,000 vertical feet from the top of the Elk Camp chairlift to the Base Village, Snowmass Bike Park has become a tremendously popular summer destination for mountain biking enthusiasts of all skill levels. A Bike-In/BikeOut Home is as good as it gets, with the Elk Camp lift running all summer/fall.
A TIGHT REAL ESTATE MARKET Word-of-mouth and pocket-listings are increasingly relied upon by Aspen/ Snowmass brokers representing wouldbe buyers, in the tightest real estate market in memory. As a longtime Real Estate Broker specializing in both Equestrian Estates and Ski-In/Ski out properties throughout the greater Aspen Valley, Carol Dopkin was recently quot-
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY TOM MARTIN/IDEA WORKS GLOBAL - ASPEN