27 boxes of papers belonging to Whipple Van Ness Jones related to the Aspen Highlands Ski Area; inventory of papers provided by Ireland, Stapleton, Pryor & Pascoe, P.C.

Whipple Van Ness Jones was born on November 8, 1909, raised in Wisconsin and graduated from Harvard. In the winter of 1947-48 he came to Aspen, Colorado to check out the ski area being developed. He came back in the summer of 1949 for the Goethe Bicentennial and liked Aspen so much he bought a house and moved in 1951. Around 1955-56 he tried to by a piece of land from Had Deane who owned T-Lazy 7 Ranch. All he would sell him was the lower ranch (Highlands Base Village now). With an idea started by Deane, checked out by Fred Iselin and Friedl Pfeifer he applied for a ski area permit from the Forest Service for his ranch. Attempts to partner with the Aspen Skiing Corporation didn’t work out so he opened his own area in the winter of 1957-58, the same year of Buttermilk Mountain across the valley.

Jones ran Highlands until December 1993; one year prior to that he had given a portion of Highlands to Harvard to help support his almamada. That year Gerald Hines bought Aspen Highlands from Whip Jones and Harvard, keeping most of the real estate and selling the ski development rights to the Aspen Ski Co. Jones’ almost forty year relationship ended. Now Aspen Highlands is a village at the base and the ski area is run by Aspen Skiing Company. Whip Jones passed away June 29, 2001.

The collection is based on the “gift” and sale to Harvard as well as transfers to Hines and the Aspen Ski Co. It also includes preliminary plans, county hearing documents and land applications for the base village.