High Points: Swooning for September

One of the best things about living here in Aspen is that one can make a legitimate case for each of the 12 months being the best month. If you were forced to pick a favorite month and wax poetic about it, you probably could pick any one of the dozen and have plenty to say. Or, in my case, write.

I’m not sure that’s true in most places.

Having said that, it is easy to pick my favorite page of the calendar, and we are on it right now. Yes, September, in my experienced opinion (I’ve see 69 of ’em), is the best month in this or any other year. Especially here in the High Country.

There is something about the change of pace and the energy that September brings. In some ways, we slow down as a community, flush (hopefully) with cash earned during the heavily trafficked summer season. It is the month when we get the town back. No offense to our seasonal throngs of visitors from Texas and Florida and such — it’s just that it is nice when they make their way back to Palm Beach or Austin or wherever it is they come from.

But, in other ways, we are energized by the differences that September brings. The way the weather moves into a cooler, transitory mode makes it a little more comfortable, especially after the intensity of the August heat we just endured. And, as the days get shorter and Earth continues to progress on its path around the sun, the light becomes magical. The angle of the sun creates longer shadows and makes even familiar sights look just a bit different. This year, it feels like we are getting a few early September showers, holdovers from a monsoon season that never quite kicked in. The big, puffy clouds are back on our horizons.

September is a cusp month. No longer summer and not quite winter, it is the month we begin to look forward to ski season. The lifts will begin to run in exactly 83 days from this Friday, on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26. That is, if the snow god Ullr and El Niño get together and cooperate. It seems it is getting harder to predict the weather these days, but forecasters are seeming pretty confident that we will not have a repeat of the dry spells that marked the unprecedented ski season of 2025-26. Let’s hope not.

There was a time, not so long ago, when kids went back to classes in September, but now it seems the school year has evolved. August has become the back-to-school month for 80% of America’s school systems. By the time Labor Day rolls around, kids are already back in a groove. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I guess. But there was a time in our lives when September marked the beginning of a new year as one matriculated through the grades. I still have that feeling that September, in its own way, is the month of new beginnings.

If you are a football fan, September is assuredly the month of new beginnings. Friday night lights are shining bright at high schools in the valley and, on Friday at 7 p.m., the Aspen High Skiers host Summit in their home opener. Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes kick off their season on the road in Atlanta against the Georgia Tech Yellowjackets in what may be one long year for the Buffs.

And then, of course, there are the Denver Broncos, who are once again hoping for the longest year. One that runs from their opening game on Monday Night Football on Sept. 14 in Kansas City verses the Chiefs until Valentine’s Day on Feb. 14 in Los Angeles. That’s where the Super Bowl will take place.

It’s September, and hope springs eternal.