Top Four Winter Holiday Activities in Aspen
Enjoy The Nutcracker, Tree Lighting, Ice Skating and Sleigh Ride
Nov 2, 2008
Aspen's population swells around the Christmas holidays, when families, die-hard skiers and other festive folks descend upon the mountain town to wait for Santa to arrive. After all, with its Victorian homes that look like gingerbread houses covered in fresh snow, and thousands of tiny white lights that decorate downtown buildings and street lamps, quaint and charming Aspen makes a picture-perfect place to celebrate the season.
Forget "Bah, Humbug." Enjoy some good old-fashioned holiday fun with these Aspen holiday activities and beloved local traditions.
1. Aspen Santa Fe Ballet’s The Nutcracker
The Aspen Santa Fe Ballet presents a cast of more than 60 dancers (including young dance students), actors and circus artists, at its whimsical production of The Nutcracker typically the weekend before Christmas. (In 2008, that's Saturday, December 20 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., as well as Sunday, December 21 at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.) With just one weekend of performances - and many audience family members of the dozens of dance students involved in the show - tickets do go early. Buy them quick! 970-920-5770.
2. Sardy House Christmas Tree Lighting
Traditionally held at 6 p.m. on the first Sunday of December, the lighting of the 93-foot fir tree in front of the venerable Sardy House on Aspen's Main Street features free cookies, hot chocolate, Dickens Carolers and an appearance by the jolly man in red himself! Every year a guest of honor, a longtime Aspenite, flips the switch to turn on 4,000 twinkling lights. 970-925-1940.
3. Sleigh Ride to the Pine Creek Cookhouse
Enjoying the hearty “mountain gourmet” cuisine at the Pine Creek Cookhouse just past the ghost town of Ashcroft is a treat unto itself. But what keeps visitors - and locals - coming back every holiday season is the delightful ways you can get to the restaurant. Those athletically inclined snowshoe or cross-country ski the 1½ miles from King Cabin, where the plowed road ends. Or, for an old-time mode of transport, ride in a horse-drawn sleigh, complete with jingle bells. Either way it’s an adventure, especially by darkness, when the packed trail is lit only by miners’ headlamps, bright stars and the winter moon. 970-925-1044.
4. Skating at Silver Circle Ice Rink
Right in the heart of town, with looming Aspen Mountain as its backdrop, the centrally located ice rink is an especially popular place to be during the holidays, when families swing by to tie on skates, make figure eights and groove to the Christmas carols piped in through the loudspeakers. The twinkling lights add to the festive atmosphere. 970-925-1940.
