Experiential Travel Reaches New High in Aspen
New Stargazing Adventure, New Sailing Experience, Hiking, Kayaking, Bike to Farm-to-Table dinners and More Offered This Summer in Aspen
Aspen, CO – Summer in Aspen has always been about outdoor experiences, but now Aspen’s luxury hotel offerings and guided services have expanded their programs to offer something for everyone. For more information, visit www.aspenchamber.org or call 970.925.1940 or 800.670.0792.
The Little Nell offers various summer adventures for the whole family including new stargazing adventures and an expanded ride and dine series.
- The new stargazing adventures are designed for couples, groups or families. The outing sets off from The Little Nell with a Jeep tour up Aspen Mountain to Richmond Ridge. The adventure concierge and an astronomy expert will guide each outing timed during meteor showers, shooting stars, or quarter moons when constellations are most visible. State-of-the-art binoculars, drinks, and dessert will all be provided.
- Expanding on last summer’s successful program, The Little Nell will continue their ride and dine series with five different opportunities for guests to join in on a bike ride heading down valley via the Rio Grande Trail. Each ride will end at a farm, ranch or other location highlighting local purveyors in the Roaring Fork Valley including the following dates: June 25, July 16, Aug. 13 and Aug. 27.
This summer the St. Regis Aspen Resort will offer a new sailing adventure for guests high in the Rocky Mountains at Ruedi Reservoir. The St. Regis will provide guests with the resort’s new turbo-charged Lexus NX courtesy vehicle for the scenic drive to Ruedi Reservoir. Local guides from the Aspen Sailing School will meet guests at Ruedi Reservoir’s Aspen Yacht Club and provide instruction, equipment, and all necessary tools for learning how to sail. The adventure includes an afternoon of sailing instruction for four hours and a gourmet lunch served in a private cove or at the Aspen Yacht Club.
The Limelight Hotel prepares for another summer with new activities for guests and locals including new Stand Up Paddle Boarding Excursions free to hotel guests, Historical and Environmental Cruiser Bike Tours, a Bikes and Beer Ride Series, and new Paint-N-Beer classes in conjunction with The Red Brick Center for the Arts.
For those looking to immerse themselves in Aspen’s beautiful scenery, Hotel Jerome offers a new Rocky Mountain High Gourmet Hike package. Guests will enjoy a half-day hike to two of Aspen’s most beautiful lakes, American and Cathedral Lake. Upon arrival, guests can choose between house made treats lakeside or dining at the nearby Pine Creek Cookhouse for lunch with a gourmet locally sourced lunch and unparalleled views.
In addition to the hotels’ summer adventures, there are numerous experiences offered by local guiding services to tailor an Aspen experience completely to guests’ desires. Hiring a professional guide from a naturalist to a mountaineer is a great way to quickly and safely gain new skills for outdoor adventures and explore the Aspen area from a new perspective.
Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES) offers a variety of daily programs including free daily tours at the Maroon Bells, on Aspen Mountain and at Snowmass with an ACES naturalist guide. ACES naturalist guides are also available to hire at a price of $50 per hour for guided, personalized adventures that can be tailored to the groups athletic ability and interests, be it geology, fauna and flora and more. ACES can provide transportation as well as snacks and lunch.
Aspen has many professional guiding services including the following:
- Professional guiding service Aspen Alpine Guides offers a full roster of year-round mountain guiding adventures as well as technical mountaineering instruction. Their most popular adventures include the “Leave the Boys Behind,” guided 14’er (a peak higher than 14,000 feet) peak climbs and backcountry overnight hut trips.
- Aspen Expeditions offers private and group lessons and courses in mountaineering and rock climbing.
- Water lovers take to the rivers on a variety of equipment including whitewater rafts, kayaks and stand up paddleboard with Aspen Kayak and SUP Academy, Aspen Whitewater Rafting, Blazing Adventures and other local outfitters.