Written by William J. Convery, presented to the Aspen Historical Society as part of the Winter Speaker Series in 1997, the paper provides insights into the origins and history of skiing in Aspen.

Introduction:

The winter of 1996-1997 marks the official fiftieth anniversary of the successful effort to commercialized Aspen skiing, but as the above citation indicates, the roots of commercial wintersport in the Roaring Fork Valley, date back even farther. Ten years before the formation of the Aspen Ski Company, local businessmen combined with outside investors to plan an “American St. Moritz” around the sleepy ghost town of Ashcroft, eleven miles south of Aspen. New York columnists gilded the enterprise in a cosmopolitan atmosphere. California investors introduced a touch of Hollywood. International engineers designed an ambitious ski village of hotels, exclusive shops, tennis courts, and golf courses. Local promoters worked feverishly to remake the town as the brightest skiing spot in the world. The ambitious group of local businessmen and out of state investors doing business as the Highland-Bavarian Ski Corporation provided the spark for commercial skiing in Aspen. The 1930s ski capitalists introduced patterns which were refined during the 1940s and beyond. The designers of the Highland-Bavarian emphasized a refined, European-style atmosphere, combinations of private and public venture capital, and a close connection with Hollywood. Unfortunately, the same factors that contributed to the silver decline of Ashcroft conspired against the blossoming of commercial skiing in the upper alpine valley. Despite an early start, Aspen skiing would have to wait until the turmoil of the Great Depression and the Second World War were resolved.