Aspen versus Telluride for second home (Vail, Eagle: ski resorts, to rent, big home)

[KateG7669]

[quote=zionvier;6504104]Personally I prefer Telluride because it's still has more of the smaller mountain town feel. You'll get more for your money in Telluride. Aspen has much more glitz and glamor to put it nicely.

I would have to agree, Telluride is much smaller and is a really neat historic town, where Aspen has more of the city vibe to it. So it all depends on what fits you best. Skiing is good in both areas I would suggest spending a few weekends during the season at each to see which fits your life style better. good luck!

[jazzlover]

If you want to surround yourself with rich, mostly pretentious jerks--some of whom fancy themselves as rich current and former hippies, then Telluride is your place.

If you want to surround yourself with REALLY, REALLY rich, mostly pretentious jerks--a few of whom fancy themselves as REALLY, REALLY rich current and former hippies, then Aspen is your place.

Neither is a "real" town--both are cartoon versions of what a bunch of wealthy out-of-staters think Colorado should be. By the way, my former in-laws grew up in Telluride back when it was a real mining town. They don't even like to visit there now.

[sunsprit]

I'll take Aspen any day over Telluride.

Both have their share of excessive affluence and all the various personalities, glitz, and glamour that come with the territory ... but Aspen has a lot more of all the "stuff" that makes the town what it is.

Aspen is much more accessible, which means more traffic for your rental market. Telluride sits at the end of a valley with essentially only one way in and out, and the airstrip is rather limited in it's capabilities compared to Aspen. I can fly into Aspen and usually bum a ride into town or get the bus, or ride my bicycle up to friends houses in the area in the summer months; Telluride is an expensive cab ride into town (and then back) no matter what as the airstrip is on a mesa outside of town up a steep hill. Plus, Aspen has ready access to all the other activities of the valley (Reudi res, for example), while once you're in Telluride, you're going to be doing everything just in Telluride.

In the summer months, the arts/culture scene is much stronger in Aspen with the many concerts, conferences, and activities. Telluride has a couple of festivals, but not on the magnitude and scope of the Aspen summer season.

As an aside, I'd have to take exception to Jazzlover's generalization of all the folks in Aspen (or Telluride, for that matter). I know too many people who are hard working people doing construction, ski patrolling, instructing, guiding, working long hours in the "back side of the house" restaurant jobs, hospitality work (cleaning rooms, maintenance crews, laundry, carpentry, HVAC), retail sales ... often times, several of these jobs at the same time. Many work a long winter day, starting with snow removal, ski industry jobs, then a hospitality job in the evening ... just to make ends meet so they can afford to live up there and ski now and then and absorb the "magic" of the place. Most have shared housing arrangements, and very modest living conditions ... with no savings, no retirement, little or no benefits. I know many who have been in Aspen for 20-30-40 years and still must work those schedules because they've never been able to save any money at the prices up there. Yes, there are a bunch of pretentious ultra-wealthy folk up there, and I know a number of them, too, and have been their frequent house guest through the years ... but I also know a number of low key ultra-wealthy folk up there, and you wouldn't know that they have the money they do by their behavior. Their first rule of wealth is to not act in any way that draws attention to their wealth ... other than the fact that they can quietly afford to be in an expensive neighborhood, they're not driving the flashy cars, wearing the pounds of jewelry, flashing the bid wads of cash and conspicuously spending it in a "look at me!" manner. Many of my college friends from the 1960's families had condo's or homes in the area way back then ... and now, my generation owns the places; many are not by any standard "rich", they've had decent careers and are now retiring, but certainly don't have the resources to play the snobbery games. If it wasn't for the rental incomes they get for their places, they couldn't even afford the taxes on them, let alone the upkeep/maintenance/furnishings to stay in the rental market. And I'd hardly characterize them as "old hippies" ... they weren't into that scene as college age kids, and they aren't now.

[jazzlover]

The "not rich" people you describe, sunsprit, are becoming a very small minority in Telluride and Aspen. Most of the "worker bees" have been forced to live downvalley (Basalt all the way to Rifle) from Aspen--and many of them are not living very well even there. In Telluride, again, most of the worker bees are having to live downcountry--Norwood, even as far as Montrose. Yes, there are some nice "low-key' wealthy in both towns--but they are also a minority. The arrogant rich ***es and the "want you to think they are ultra-rich" ***es are increasingly dominant. Those low-key affluent folks are frequently very unenchanted with their show-off neighbors, so they relocate to more "normal" communities. What is increasingly left in Aspen and Telluride is a bunch of people with a lot of dollars and no sense. I think Telluride has one of the most beautiful settings in North America, but I quit going there years back because I don't even like to be in proximity to the kind of people who now inhabit the place.

[whoisjongalt]

I agree with"sunsprit". Although I only lived there for a year, Aspen is one of the most incredible places in the world. The people are friendly and there is ALWAYS something to do in addition to skiing. Most of the pretentious a**holes you hear about are tourists (usually from Florida or California). I do think Telluride is more amazingly beautiful but it is really small compared to Aspen and it's far more isolated. I don't know how the two compare in terms of the rental market. Aspen may be a little pricier but neither is anywhere near "affordable". Last time I was in Aspen, condos started around 800K but this is probably a great time to buy.

[sunsprit]

I guess it's a case of finding what you're looking for, Jazzlover ...

if you expect to find nothing but wealthy (or pretending to be), obnoxious ***holes in Aspen (or Telluride), they are definitely there, working the crowds as hard as they can for attention from their adoring and envious public. I put 'em on ignore, and that's real easy to do when I'm at the airport and walking in from Siberia where they make us little single engine gas burners park, but I still have to walk into the same FBO as the glitz/glamour folks do from their kerosene burners with the flight crews. I don't head to their showplace restaurants and bars, either, to worship them and their money. And it doesn't bother me that others have to go pay their respects, either. You can ignore them all and have a good time there.

OTOH, if you seek out more regular folk, they are there and there's one heck of a lot more of them then there are of the other type. While few of the "regular" folk can afford to buy residences in the immediate area due to the price points, they still have a lot of rental properties targeted to those of lesser means. Or, at least, they "make do" by sharing rental places.

I've got too many friends up there who don't fit the weathly ***hole profile, who are just trying to make a living and enjoy life to buy into the myth that Aspen is filled with nothing but the pretentious.

My bet is that many of the pretentious types are tourists and just there for the disneyland never-never land adventure of the place which they themselves create .... to touch and be touched by the hollywood glamour types ... a self-fulfilling drama in which they can all participate. They're all "artists" of one sort or another ... be it performing or "con" or whatever, it's a living tableau and a testimonial to excessiveness of one form or another, and a crying need for attention. You simply don't have to play into their game, and if you're not in the service industry there, you don't have to kiss their posteriors, either.

And I've spent way too many long evenings in the old hot springs at Carbondale meeting really nice locals who are still living up there ... too bad that had to get torn down years ago when certain party elements got out of hand. I also met people who had retired from interesting careers to Carbondale and Basalt and Aspen in the 1960's .... ranchers, railroad workers, farmhands, newspaper reporters (Jo Gart, for example ... a most interesting lady, filled with lots of tales of her reportage career) ....

[jazzlover]

Well, sunsprit, if you sort through enough horse manure, you can find some oats. Yes, there are a few nice folks in Aspen and Telluride, but those nice folks are a whole lot easier to find in your now home town (and formerly mine, too) of Cheyenne. Given a choice of where to go to meet some great folks, I would pick a place like Cheyenne over Telluride or Aspen any day of the week.

[80skeys]

Your decision - aside from money - will have to do with the remoteness/isolation factor. Telluride is remote and in less populated surroundings, while Aspen is amidst more population and accessible to I-70 and other towns and cities. This decision will be based in large part on which environment do you prefer? Both places are beautiful.

[treedonkey]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

Well, sunsprit, if you sort through enough horse manure, you can find some oats. Yes, there are a few nice folks in Aspen and Telluride, but those nice folks are a whole lot easier to find in your now home town (and formerly mine, too) of Cheyenne. Given a choice of where to go to meet some great folks, I would pick a place like Cheyenne over Telluride or Aspen any day of the week.

Although I rarely agree with his tone, I do often agree with the underlying points that Jazz makes about those over-developed high country towns. In this case, I think the main point is, if you are easily bothered by outward pretentiousness and/or a fake show of wealth, then Telluride is not a good place to reside or even visit, and Aspen is even worse.

I myself am easily annoyed by pretentiousness and false wealth, so I rarely ever go to those or any of the other high-profile mountain towns. I much prefer places like Leadville, Buena Vista, Salida, and, along the front range, my own little Palmer Lake. These are all places that have seen minimal development over the decades and, as such, have managed to keep a sense of their own identity. The massive hordes tend to avoid these places because they appear to be 'po-dunk' on the outside, which is exactly what makes them so charming from the inside.

[Coloradoan]

Has anyone noticed that the OP's question was posted almost one year ago with no response back?