Jenn Bruno believes the differences are more philosophical. “People dress up in Aspen, but Vail people are comfortable in their own style. Our glamour is more about people than labels. We don’t worry about where we’re seen. We don’t care how many followers you have. We can be ourselves and want you to feel like you belong.”
Ambience: the winner is Aspen
On-mountain
“People go to Vail for orthopedic surgery and Aspen for cosmetic surgery”. The backhanded inference in this two-pronged Coloradan cliche is that Vail has superior skiing. Well, even comparing these two high-altitude, frankly brilliant ski areas is fraught.
Vail is an 11-kilometre-wide single-mountain resort (the second-largest single mountain ski resort in North America), with 2151 hectares across three well-connected areas.
The ski map doesn’t do justice to the scale of the resort’s seven “legendary” Back Bowls. Sun Down Bowl alone has 253 hectares of lift-accessible steeps. While not one of the seven, Game Creek Bowl is perfect for mixed-ability groups, with greens side-by-side with blues and blacks.
Aspen.
Aspen Snowmass, however, has four separate shuttle-connected resorts: Aspen Highlands (advanced), Buttermilk (beginners and terrain park), Snowmass (larger than the other three combined) and Aspen Mountain (the only one walkable from town).
Local knowledge helps decode the four-mountain matrix. On a powder day, Lucy Lea Tucker suggests heading to Snowmass for its sheer size and big wide runs. Aspen Mountain (Ajax to locals) is her favourite for runs such as Midnight Trees and for the makeshift forest shrines, which eulogise the likes of Marilyn Monroe and The Simpsons. This year, Hero’s high-speed quad added 62 hectares of advanced terrain to Ajax.
Aspen’s Ajax Tavern.
Aspen Snowmass is larger, and has more “vertical”, but in a week’s skiing at either you won’t want for challenges or needn’t re-trace your tracks. Vail’s Back Bowls and Highland Bowl on Aspen Highlands – a double black diamond run which starts at 3777 metres – are lauded. The banter heats up, however, when talk turns to the comparative length of Vail’s weekend lift lines – a consequence of being 90 minutes’ drive from Denver.
John Plack, Vail’s senior manager of communications, counters: “You could see a line that looks long but it could be three to four minutes because of our high-speed lifts. There’s no lines in the Back Bowls. And we encourage people to watch our app for lift-wait times.”
Relaxing with drinks in hand at Aspen.
Who gets more snow? John says both areas are “usually in the same snow cycle” – between 750 and 900 centimetres in a good year.
On-mountain: Aspen is the winner
Fun after dark
With big-city polish and personality, Aspen deserves its reputation as a stand-alone (credit card incinerating) dining destination. It wins the Michelin-cred battle, with one-star Bosq and three recommended (Prospect, Mawa’s Kitchen and Element 47 at Little Nell) versus Vail’s two recommended.
Perennial favourites include Matsuhisa Aspen (Japanese-Latin American fusion by Nobu Matsuhisa), unpretentious Cache Cache and eccentric Caribou Club. Slick newcomer PARC is attracting attention while the 20-kilometre horse-drawn sleigh ride to Pine Creek Cookhouse is a signature splashout.
Michelin-recommended Osaki’s and Sweet Basil are Vail’s most recognised restaurants but locals tend to embrace less-formal, yet still top-quality, venues where dining in ski gear is embraced. Jenn Bruno suggests brasserie-style wine lounge Vintage for an “incredible brunch and bottomless Mimosas” and the Mountain Standard gastropub (especially the warm pimento cheese starter).
Chasing Rabbits serves sophisticated fare and cocktails in a series of fun spaces, including the neon-lit ’80s arcade bar and a speakeasy that’s not too easy to get into without reservations. Buzzing, big-portion-slinging Vendetta’s Italian probably best embodies Vail’s culinary joie de vivre.
On mountain, Aspen pips Vail for personality and choice, from celeb-magnet Cloud Nine Alpine Bistro (Aspen Highlands) – fabled for its Veuve Clicquot-spraying shindigs – to homely Bonnies (Aspen Mountain), which bakes superb strudel.
On Vail mountain, best “occasion” lunch option is The 10th – think pot pies and truffle fries – while locals enthusiastically recommend Wildwood Smokehouse, which smokes meats in-house, at 3350 metres.
Fun after dark: It’s a tie – Aspen on expense account, Vail for a playful vibe.
The value proposition
Aspen offers free on-mountain coffee and has thrift shops where you can, theoretically, have that Marge Simpson pink-Chanel-suit moment, while Vail offers free on-mountain barbecue grills. However, clearly, these resorts will never be aimed at budget-conscious travellers.
Aspen’s renowned for its sky’s-the-limit luxury accommodation but there are surprisingly few actual five-star hotels here (68-room boutique Mollie Aspen is the first newbie opened since the noughties). Little Nell (one of the few true ski-in, ski-out options) and graceful Hotel Jerome – Where author Hunter S. Thompson would often pull up a pew at the bar – are top-shelf, A-list-priced lodgings.
Twin Limelights (Downtown and Snowmass) are good value with a “young” aesthetic and an almost Vail-like energy. Fifteen minutes away, Snowmass offers a wider choice of close-to-lifts stays, including the Viceroy.
The Arrabelle at Vail Square has a mod-luxe feel
The bulk of Vail’s lodgings aren’t technically ski-in ski-out either, but most are within clomping distance to lifts. The Arrabelle at Vail Square and The Hythe are the pick of the mod-luxe hotels. The elegant Lodge at Vail (at Gondola One) harks back to the resort’s very beginnings, while Chalet #10 is a haven for cashed-up groups and families.
Overall, Vail has more reasonably priced stays (for the Rockies), including a Residence Inn by Marriott and options in nearby communities such as Avon, near Beaver Creek Resort, 15 kilometres west.
Loading
Does Aspen do bargains? Outside peak season, it’s worth Googling St Moritz Lodge and Annabelle Inn (both Downtown).
Ultimately, it’s the apres scenes which distinguish Aspen and Vail. Aspen has more sophisticated options – The Wine Bar at the Little Nell and cool tunes at The Snow Lodge at St Regis – plus a few grounded ones, too.
However, Vail truly celebrates its below-ground-level dive bars, including the grungy trio of Shakedown, Bridge Street and The George.
The value proposition: Vail is the winner
Overall winner…
Aspen, by a nose. Top-shelf skiing in a ski town that has to be skied and seen to be believed.
Details
Fly
United flies to Denver, Aspen and Eagle County Airport (50 kilometres from Vail) from Australia’s east coast cities, with one-stop in Los Angeles or San Francisco. See united.com
Stay
Prices vary wildly depending on the season for the Limelight, Aspen and The Hythe, Vail. See limelighthotels.com/aspen; thehythevail.com