Halloween Eye Candy

Halloween in Aspen.Halloween is one of the biggest nights of the year in Aspen.  It's like New Year's Eve for the Locals.  One thing is for certain, people in Aspen Go BIG for Halloween.

Click 4 PIX    HALLOWEEN EYE CANDY 

(u can tag if u want to)

Aspen Spin made the rounds and snapped the pix.  We only hit 7 parties this year...but we captured the best of the best on Aspen's BIGGEST NIGHT.

Aspen Parks and Recreation's Skating Party at the Arc. --  Icy fun for the Kids

Private Event in a HUGE mansion. --    Posh partying in North Star

The Red Onion -- Aspen's favorite Saloon since 1892                   

The Aspen Square -- A traditional Favorite

The Aspen Elks Club -- The Elks know how to Party

The Spazmatics Show -- 80's Rock and $500 for best costume

The Caribou Club -- What goes at the Bou..stays at the Bou.

Aspen: It's a Ski Town, Bro!

Aspen, Colorado is a small and very beautiful town.  A high alpine village at 8000 ft. at the end of the road.  Once the snow hit's the mountains there's only one way in...and...one way out.   Aspen means a lot of different thing to different people.  The restaurants, the shopping, the art galleries, the Aspen Institute , the night life,  the music and culture, the development opportunities, the snow polo.  Everyone has their own individual reasons for loving Aspen and their own definition of the Aspen Idea... Body, Mind and Spirit.

AspenSpin has an announcement to make.  Aspen:  It's a SKI TOWN, Bro!!!

Aspen has a reputation of being a playground for the rich and famous, of being over-the-top expensive,  the glitz and the glamour ...the see and be seen mentality.  Sure--some of that is true, but this past weekend Aspen reaffirmed it's position as THE CAPITOL of SKIING (and snowboarding). 

The Nordic Track. Click 4 Pix.Nordic Skiing is not the first Olympic sport that rolls off your lips, yet Aspen has produced 2 world class NORDIC Skiers; NOAH HOFFMAN and SIMI HAMILTON.  Both are members of the U.S. Ski Team, World Cup competitors and Olympic hopefuls for 2014 in Sochi.   Funding is always tight in the nordic world and this year the U.S. Ski Team has reduced their level of support.  The Aspen Community came together last weekend at The Limelight Lodge to throw a fundraising event for our local boys, Noah and Simi.   The Limelight was packed with well wishers and philanthropic minded locals. Approximately $40,000 was raised to help support the Olympic dreams of Noah and Simi.  Aspen Local and 1980 U.S. Olympic Nordic team Captain Craig Ward emceed the event and said " it takes a community to make an Olympian".  The generosity and support of the Aspen Community was out in full force.  U.S. Ski Team mates Sylvan Ellefson (Vail) and Tad Elliot (Durango) attended the festivities as a sign of solidarity.  Parents, teachers, coaches, neighbors and friends celebrated having 4 of the top 8 U.S. Nordic skiers in the U.S. in the house. Contact and support the guys directly at www.hoff.colorado@gmail.com  and www.simihamilton.com The money raised will allow Noah and Simi to compete at full throttle all winter.

Click 4 PIX     THE NORDIC TRACK

Like There's No Tomorrow. It's a Ski Town. Click 4 Pix.Warren Miller's 62nd annual ski film... LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW had 3 screenings at the historic Wheeler Opera House is Aspen.   Like There's No Tomorrow did not disappoint the rowdy crowds at the Wheeler.  Two of Aspen's local heros, brothers Chris Davenport and Ted Davenport lit up the screen starring in the film's best segments.  Chris was featured in 2 scenes, first he conquered New Hampshire's historic Tuckerman Ravine. Tuckerman's, a large glacial cirque on Mt. Washinton is known to have some of the worst weather in the world and has long been a proving ground for the East Coast's top skiers.  As always, Dav made it look easy ripping on all snow conditions (including ice) with his ever present quiver of Kastle Skis.   Chris was featured in a second segment skiing huge peaks in the Andes near Portillo, Chille with Julia Mancuso (AspenSpin's favorite skier). 

Little Bro, Ted Davenport sent some sick lines in the Southern Alps on New Zealand's South Island.  Ted,  a two-time World Heli Challenge Champion showed some of the skills that put him on top of the podium. Face shots, cliff hucks and pillow drops are all every day occurrences in Ted World.  Currently recovering from a horrific crash in last year's competition, Ted the Shred should be back on skis (and B.A.S.E. jumping) soon.

Click 4 Pix:  LIKE THERE's NO TOMMOROW

Spyder VIP's at Aspen Sports. click 4 pix.Colorado based SPYDER brought their A-Team to Aspen for the weekend in the larger than life Spyder Antidote Winabago.    TOMMY MOE (Olympic Downhill Gold Medalist),  JULIAN CARR (big mountain ripper and founder of Discrete), JAKE ZAMANSKY (Aspen local and Olympian) along with The DAV's hosted a VIP autograph session at ASPEN SPORTS on the Cooper Street Mall.   The Aspen Sport's Spyder Concept shop pulled out all the stops for an intimate, family friendly meet-n-greet.

Click 4 Pix:  ASPEN SPORTS / SPYDER   VIP Event.

AspenSpin experienced a milestone for which we are extremely proud.  We received a brief cameo appearance in Warren Miller's LIKE THERE's NO TOMORROW.  AspenSpin can't get on Plum TV, but we made the Warren Miller Movie...and they can never tke that away.  You'll have to pay attention to see our "segment", but heads up, it's in the first 2 minutes of the film.  A-Spin's  2 1/2 seconds of fame was captured by Colby James West's POV shoulder cam at the 2011 Powder Video Awards and made the big screen thanks to Warren Miller Enterprises.  What a rush for A. Party; to be in the audience and to unexpectedly see yourself on the HUGE screen....yeeeeeeeah.  We love this place.

It's not even Halloween yet and AJAX is covered with snow. This weekend Aspen hosted Olympic Champions, World Champions and Olympic hopefuls and the greatest Warren Miller Movie ever (we're a little biased).

Yeah...it might be a lot of different things to a lot of differnt people---but ASPEN is a SKI TOWN, BRO...and don't forget it.

Click 4 Pix   THE NORDIC TRACK     and    ASPEN:  It's a SKI TOWN, BRO!!

These guys are ready to RIP. Tim, Schultz, Pearl and Chris at Warrewn Miller. click 4 pix.Olympic Gold medalists, World Champs, First to scale the 14ers. It's a SKI Town. click 4 pixThe Spyder / Aspen Sports VIP Events brought out all the rippers. Click 4 pix.

Charity Season kicks off in Aspen

Aspen, a town of 5000 residents, is home to almost 300 non-profit organizations.   There's a a lotta love in this valley.  AspenSpin always tries to pitch-in and lend-a-hand to those causes that we truly believe in.  Last night two of our favorite charities in Aspen held simultaneous kick-off events.  Luckily its a small town so we were able to attend both kick-off parties.  Two at once, that's how we roll.

See our pix: Click:  Aspen Charity Kickoff.

The Chris Klug Foundation (CKF) held their 6th Annual Summit for Life Kick-Off event at 39 Degrees at The Sky Hotel.  Aspen Local, Chris Klug is an Olympic medalist, a tremendous athlete and an all-around good guy.  He is also the recipient of a liver transplant.  Chris admits that the new liver saved his life and he has since dedicated his time, energy and fund-raising ability to raise awareness  about organ donation.  CKF is hosting the 6th Annual Summit for Life Weekend on Dec. 9 & 10, 2011.  Summit for Life takes place on Aspen Mountain and the main event is the 3,267 vertical foot uphill climb.  Over 300 hearty soles brave the Aspen, Colorado Winter to hike or ski or snowshoe UP Aspen Mountain.

Register to participate or to sponsor a racer.   Click:  SUMMIT 4 LIFE.

Movember is an international month-long moustache growing charity event to raise awareness for prostate cancer.  Men from all over the world, known as Mo-Bro's grow their facial hair and solicit contributions to benefit The Prostate Cancer Foundation and The Lance Armstrong Foundation. All over the World, the month of November (a.k.a. Movember) is filled with parties, events and fund raisers.  The Aspen Chapter of Movember kicked off their efforts last night at Jimmy's. 

Click:  MOVEMBER to learn more and donate.

Ski Conditioning at The Aspen Club.

Ski Conditioning @ The Aspen Club.Everybody knows that A.Party has a body that's built for comfort.  The truth is I work it pretty hard for an old cuddly dude who got in 106 ski days last season. I owe a debt of gratitude to my brothers and sisters at The Aspen Club  and the group ski conditiong classes they offer.

The thing about Aspen...there is really no "recreational" division.  Most of the locals love to compete.  Whether its the ladies who lunch comparing  laps on Smuggler or the bro-brah's posing for ski mags, hucking cliffs and getting 200 ski days per year.  The Gentleman of Aspen Rugby Club recruits players from all over the world, the parks & rec hockey league provides ice-time to former pros,  the biking is phenomenal and you can't forget about the world class athletes who train at The Aspen Club.  Aspen takes it's Ski Conditioning seriously.

Plyometrics will get you in shape every time.For what has become an annual ritual for many in Aspen, Ski Conditioning at The Aspen Club is no picnic. Every season, Amy and her gang of hired guns put together a program that gets everbody ready to shred.  A-Spin attends the noon sessions on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  There is a 5.30 session on those days too.   The music is loud and the work out room gets hot and steamy.   We start off with 30 minutes of stretching and fast paced step aerobics.   We then get 30 minutes of circuit training with a wide variety of exercises.  Stressing balance, power, agility and speed the short sets employ Bosu and Medicine balls, TRX, ladder drills, plyometrics, speed skating, sprints and more.  It's fast, it's sweaty and I love the variety.  5 minutes of wall sitting, squat pumps and see-saws forces everyone's quads to burn.   The 30 minute, so called  "cool down" phase is were the pedal meets the medal.  Cool Down makes me think of dimmed lights and mellow music and a few stretches.  At The Aspen Club, cool down translates into a series of intense exercises featuring balance discs, weighted bars and a lot of planking.  Planking is more than just a fad.

After that I can barely negotiate the stairs to get to the steam room.  There's nothing better than a good "schvitz", and The Aspen Club has the best in town.  The piles of clean towels, the sandals and the rack of razors are like comfort food to me.  5 minutes in the steam is a great reward for all the hard work.

Amy makes me sweat.Don't worry, I can still pound as many In-N-Out Double, Doubles (animal style) as  anybody.  Today was tough, it was freezing, it snowed a foot, I was out late, and maybe a little hung over.  I had to push myself to show up at The Aspen Club. Luckily the 12 Lu Lu Lemon clad ladies and the rest of my classmates inspired me to concentrate on my posture and fitness and pushed me to my limit.   Ski Conditioning at The Aspen Club is never bad, even when it hurts, it's still good  One thing is for certain, the snow stoke is starting, and thanks to The Aspen Club and  the trainers the entire student body and I will be ready to rip on Thanksgiving.                                                                                                                                       

Fast paced step aerobics are part of Ski conditioning at The Aspen Club.Circuit training stresses Balance, Speed, Power and Agility.The speed skating drills helps to engage those skiing muscles.The Wall Squats are designed to burn your quads. start with a minute and increse from there.

The Roaring Fork Open

Roaring Fork Open. Click 4 pix.The Aspen Art Museum (AAM) hosted a gala opening for The Roaring Fork Open (RFO), a biennial celebration of Local Artists and their work.  The first RFO took place in 1980.  Last night the exhibit kicked off at AAM with 125 Local Artists displaying their Art to a packed house at the Museum.  The RFO's theme in 2011 was a collaboration with the exhibit America: Now and Here.  Artists were encouraged to create pieces that would inspire a dynamic dialogue about present day America.  The multidisciplinary selections were fabricated by a wide range of artists, some showing their work in public for the first time.

AAM strives to provide a vibrant and community-wide appreciation for the Arts. Along with their policy of FREE ADMISSION (Thanks to John and Amy Phelan), The RFO is probably the best example of AAM's efforts to make art accessible to everyone in the valley.  The artists, their families, friends and art lovers from all over the Roaring Fork Valley showed up in force to celebrate art and to enjoy localism at it's finest.

Click 4 pix:  RFO 2011

United States of Goldman Sachs.AAM's current building is beautifully situated along the Rio Grande Trail on The Roaring Fork River in one of the most sublime spots in all of Aspen.  AAM is in the process of developing a new, highly controversial headquarters building directly in the center of Aspen's Core.  While AspenSpin is looking forward to the new AAM building designed by notable Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, we can't help but wonder why they would give up the sweet spot along the river. The AAM has no permanent collection, and while AAM is busting out of the seams in their current space we still believe their was a more collaborative solution than force-feeding the new $28 Million project on the community  We've heard the rhetoric, (see our story from 1 year ago, click Aspen Art Conundrum )  we've checked out the model and rendering and we are hopeful that the new AAM will become the "world class museum" that was described during the deceptive and fractious, but apparently legal approval process. The City Council,  the developers and AAM all got what they wanted.  It's still unclear if the citizenry of Aspen will truly benefit.  Let's hope its not just another monument to ego and greed in the center of our historic town.  While there are plenty of ruffled feathers about the new project, Aspen Spin is optimistic that the vision for the new AAM will live up to it's billing.  We'll see in about 30 months.

Last night, The Aspen Art Community came together down by the river at AAM and it was all about the good times for The RFO opening.  While appreciation of art is a personal matter, it's was hard not to enjoy the wide variety of American themed works created by friends, neighbors and fellow Roaring Fork locals.  Some of the designs were fantastic and others did not really resonate with our tastes, but the show is powerful by any measure.  We recommend that you take the time to visit RFO 2011 (the exhibit runs through Nov 20.2011).  The 125 works of art are as unique and individual as each of the artists. 

A-Spin's photos are presented on FaceBook so you can tag 'em, like 'em and share 'em

Click 4 pix:  RFO 2011

John Cohorst and his work Each One / Teach One. Click for more photos.Eric Wood and his family stand before New / Old America. Click 4 pix.Mike Jahn proudly displays his work. Rural Scenes from America. Click for more pix.Joel Belmont and his striking work Give Me Debt. Hi Stacy. Click for more pix.