From the Vault: One Last Run
“One last slam-bang day!” proclaimed The Aspen Times on April 14, 1983. “Well, it’s all over now. It was a season that had a little bit of everything. For a while, there wasn’t enough snow (remember January?) and then there was entirely too much snow (who can forget March?). We worried that there weren’t going to be enough tourists (remember the ARA?) and then we complained when there were too many tourists (remember waiting in line for dinner when all those college students were here on spring vacation?). But, for better or for worse, last Sunday it all came to an end with one last glorious slam-bang day. The day’s lift tickets were stamped ‘BYE’. Crowds gathered for the traditional ‘Buck-Off’ banzai run down the Ridge of Bell. Finally, when it was almost four o’clock, the Aspen Mountain Ski Patrol had to chase a die-hard crowd of several hundred skiers down the slopes and off the mountain. And then, at last, the season was over — in one glorious finale.” The photograph above (taken by Chris Cassatt) ran in the paper with this article, and shows participants in the annual Buck-Off on Bell Mountain on Aspen Mountain’s closing day, 1983.
This photo and more can be found in the Aspen Historical Society archives at aspenhistory.org.
Bar Talk: sway Thai
sway opened its Aspen doors at the beginning of February with nine cocktails on the menu including some options not offered in Austin, such as a Thai coffee martini, fitting in with this mountain town’s espresso martini infatuation.