The Roaring Fork River Valley between Carbondale and Aspen
must be one of the most beautiful places in America . And most expensive
too! The valley downstream from Aspen
along with some of its side valleys have tight land use rules meaning that very
little gets built. Supply and demand drives up prices but keeps things nice. Wouldn’t
it be lovely to have own a little ranchette in view of some of the most
dramatic peaks in the Colorado Rockies? Don’t even think about it unless you
have a few million to plop down. The environmentalist greenies and lifestyle
liberals know how to keep us riffraff out of their special pretty place.

At least that’s the case when it comes to living. The big ski
resort, actually bigger than Aspen itself, is at Snowmass Village up one of the
side valleys from the main valley. My recollection from about 1994 or so is
that it one of my favorite ski resorts in the state with a huge amount of nice
intermediate cruising terrain. Some people don’t like purpose-built villages
like Snowmass, but I find it to be quite attractive and the hotel and
residential areas laid out around the ski slopes and golf courses to be very
tasteful . I think I could live here if I could afford it!

I spent a few hours driving around the valley almost as far
as Basalt, including some of the small unpaved roads into side valleys. The
Capitol Creek Valley west of Snowmass Creek Valley totally fits the bill for “unspoiled”.
With stunning Capitol Peak in view to the south, the open valley consists
almost entirely of picturesque ranchland. No ski chalets here, but I was
surprised to come across a modern day monastery, Saint Benedict’s, where 16 real
live monks of the strict Cistercian (Trappist) order still live on 3,000 acres
of ranchland. They must be some of the most land rich people in America, or I guess
it would be the Catholic Church that is. They also run a retreat and even have
a small cookie bakery and sell their output locally. Aren’t Trappist monks
supposed to make beer too, or is that only in Belgium?