ASPEN,
Colo. (Summer 2012) - Aspen is a bucket-list destination for visitors of all
types, but it's also an extraordinary venue for meetings and groups, with
nearly limitless outdoor adventure, world-class dining, shopping and culture
all concentrated within a quaint mining town against a stunning mountain
backdrop. From mid-sized conferences to intimate corporate retreats, Aspen's
charming lodging, meeting venues, adventure outfitters and small-town charm
creates an unforgettable place to retreat, reconnect and refresh mind, body and
spirit.
Bringing
peace of mind to meeting planners, the Aspen Chamber Resort Association is a
one-stop shop for planning a meeting, special event, wedding or group
gathering. The Aspen Chamber Resort Association provides a wealth of
information and can match planners with Aspen hotels, venues, vendors,
outfitters and more. For more information, visit Aspen Chamber Resort
Association at www.aspenchamber.org/group-planner, or call
1.866.564.8623 or 970.920.7185
Team-Building
& Leadership Experiences
Escape
from PowerPoint monotony, unplug smart phones and reconnect with staff on an
Aspen adventure ranging from mild to wild and happening on the road, trails and
rivers of this pristine natural playground. Aspen outfitters and cultural
organizations customize group experiences based on interests and objectives,
and the following is a selection of some of the finest experiences:
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Aspen Institute's "Leadership Fundamentals Program" - Based on the Aspen Institute's classic approach to roundtable
discussion, this program brings team members, classical literature and life's
most basic yet profound questions into a moderated discussion. Not your typical
‘trust fall' exercise, the Leadership Fundamentals Program delves into unique
discussions which create lasting, life-long bonds and, equally important,
translates to company-wide success. Hosted at Aspen Meadows Resort in
collaboration with the Aspen Institute, this program is offered in two-hour,
half-day and full-day packages.
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Adventures - Specializing in a wide array
of adventure activities, Blazing Adventures offers customized team-building
experiences including Road Rallies on established on and off-road courses,
Scavenger Hunts in downtown Aspen and wilderness areas, Team Challenges on rock
climbing routes, and Competitive Active Team Building twists on outdoor
activities including rafting, biking, shooting and fly-fishing, among others.
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Expeditions -Take your group on a
customized outdoor adventure, featuring activities ranging from rock climbing,
rappelling or zipline ropes courses, a group mountain hike to unique places
such as the Pyramid Amphitheater, or a multisport adventure including climbing,
rafting, fly-fishing and paragliding. Aspen Expeditions' professional mountain
guides will show you how to enjoy the mountain environment safely and
respectfully for an unforgettable bonding experience.
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Historical Society - Unlike many mountain
resorts, Aspen has a deep history, and the Aspen Historical Society brings it
to life with customized, interactive tours and scavenger hunts. Pick your time
period and points of interest, and AHS historians craft an amazing experience
to discover Aspen's past.
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Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES) - At
four sites in the Roaring Fork Valley, including a 22-acre nature preserve in
downtown Aspen, ACES offers private, naturalist-guided hikes and educational
programs, customized for groups. Full-day hikes focus on wildflowers, birds,
history, geology, or photography. Moderate hikes focus on basic naturalist
knowledge and activities.
What's New for
Meeting Planners
Hotel
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The Sky Hotel, the center of
Aspen's see-and-be-seen scene, has already begun a two-part renovation.
Interior Designer Dayna Lee, of Powerstrip Studios, re-envisioned the
guestrooms and corridors in June 2012, employing a mix of retro and
contemporary styles but staying true to the Sky Hotel's ski-lodge timber
architecture and trademark playful aesthetic.
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Hotel Jerome - built in 1889 at the height
of the silver boom and restored to its original Victorian splendor in 1985 - the
hotel is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and retains its
elegance today. In November 2011, Auberge Resorts assumed management of Hotel
Jerome. Auberge Resorts will renovate and refurbish all 94 guestrooms, the
lobby, restaurant, and ballroom, and add a three-room hotel spa. The hotel will
close in early August 2012 and re-open in December 2012.
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Aspen Resort reopened December 2011 following a $40
million renovation and redesign by renowned designer Lauren
Rottet. A comprehensive interior and exterior
redesign represents a new standard of five-star luxury in Aspen. Changes
include completely
redesigned guestrooms offering a separate shower and tub experience;a new
entrance; newly created library with fireplace, sofas, bookshelves, and game
tables; new restaurant concept and location allowing for outside dining;
embellished ballroom and meeting space inspired by the Gilded Age; and a
renovated pool area. The St. Regis also opened the Chefs Club in June, an
innovative new restaurant concept that will host a select group of Food & Wine magazine's Best New
Chefs to curate a unique menu of seasonally-inspired, American Regional cuisine
for The St. Regis Aspen Resort.
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Aspen Meadows Resort, a 40-acre
Dolce property located in Aspen's picturesque West End, offers 22,000 square
feet of function space certified by the International Association of
Conference Centers (IACC). The $14 million-dollar Doerr-Hosier
Center,
which opened June 2007, is LEED
Gold-Certified. Aspen Meadows Resortis an
environmentally friendly hotel using green standards, including carbon
offsetting, recycling, and reduced paper usage, towel and sheet reuse as well
as other energy efficient measures.Additional meeting facilities include
Paepcke Auditorium, which seats up to 350 people theatre-style;14 conference
venues boasting over 22,000 square feet of meeting and event space; the Aspen
Meadows restaurant, which accommodates up to 175 people for dinner or 200 for a
reception; and Plato's restaurant, which seats 40 for dinner or 60 for a
reception. There are also numerous outdoor tented spaces that are available
upon request. The Aspen Meadows facilities includes 98 guest rooms and suites,
a public restaurant, full-service health center with outdoor lap pool,
gymnasium and six new tennis courts.
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The Gant specializes in family
celebrations (including weddings, anniversaries and milestone birthdays) as
well as business, leadership and religious retreats. This inspiring Aspen
conference center provides an elegant gathering and meeting facility, featuring
breathtaking Colorado Rocky Mountain views and exceptional service. The Gant
features 3,500 square feet of indoor meeting space, 1,500 square feet of
outdoor space, four individual meeting rooms, a meeting and technical support
staff, full-service catering capabilities, high-speed wireless Internet access
throughout conference center and meeting facilities, and a complete
audio-visual setup.
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The Little Nell, Aspen's only
Five-Star, Five-Diamond hotel, offers the height of luxury, slopeside, in
downtown Aspen. Its flexible and inviting event facilities can accommodate 20
to 500 people, and the luxurious accommodations and first-class amenities
guarantee events will be the standard by which all others are judged. Meeting
facilities include the Aspen Mountain
Club
and the Sundeck, located at
the top of Aspen Mountain; the Wine Room, Alpine Room Terrace Room, Grand Salon, Boardroomand
Restaurant,
located inside the hotel; and The Tavern, a slopeside
restaurant which recently completed a $1 million renovation. The Little Nell
can also accommodate Tented Eventsbeside
its lovely outdoor pool.
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classically designed opera house which seats 550 people. It first opened in
1889 but has undergone extensive renovations to remain a state-of-the-art
facility. From The Eagles, Jerry Seinfeld, Oprah Winfrey and Sheryl Crow to
locally created performance experiences, the Wheeler is the Roaring Fork
Valley's premiere site for concerts, movies, festivals, lectures, community
events, opera, plays and a whole lot more.
The Wheeler is available for rental by groups who want to engage in an
unusual facility. The lobby area, with gorgeous views of Aspen Mountain, can
accommodate 550 people for a breakfast, lunch or cocktail reception.
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Bear Aspen, a luxury fractional residence
club, opened in January 2009, along with Brexi, a stylish French brasserie
located off the lobby that is owned and operated by established Aspen
restaurateurs Craig and Samantha Cordts-Pearce. The Cordts-Pearces are also
exclusive caterers for Dancing Bear's impeccably designed event space including
a 4,500-square-foot rooftop deck that can accommodate receptions for up to 75
people; a stylish, indoor rooftop lounge; and the dramatic yet intimate
downstairs wine room that can be set up for seated dinners for 16 or festive
receptions for 25 people.
Golf
High-altitude
golf is one of the great summer pastimes in the Roaring Fork Valley, and not
just because balls fly 10 percent farther here. The courses in Aspen and
Snowmass offer varied terrain set to gorgeous mountain vistas, and multiple tee
boxes means everyone from novices to pros can have a great time.
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The Aspen Golf Club - ranked as
the 21st Best U.S. Municipal Golf Course and the No. 1 Municipal Course in
Coloradoby Golfweek
Magazine- was designed by Frank Hummel and provides a challenging
18-hole, 7,156-yard championship course with water features on 14 of the 18
holes. There is also a PGA award-winning golf shop, practice hittingarea,
chipping green, putting green, cart rentals, as well asfull-service
locker rooms. Group and private instruction is available by PGA staff.
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Award-winning
architect Jim Engh designed the Snowmass Club Golf Course, and he took
cues from the ranching families that had inhabited this valley for a century.
The result is a course with majestic views, challenging landscapes, and
sensitivity to the land and the sky above it. The fairways are sculpted, the
greens are challenging, and the bunkers are imposing. This course isn't one
you'll soon master, or forget. With five sets of tees, novices and pros alike
are guaranteed an adventure. The best time for group tee times is after 1 p.m.
New Cultural
Centers
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Aspen Art Museum - Following
an official groundbreaking on Aug. 16, 2011, Aspen Art Museum begins
construction of its new 30,000-square-foot Shigeru Ban-designed building,
commencing spring 2012 with a targeted completion date in late 2013, and a
grand opening in early 2014. The AAM will continue its programming of
internationally significant contemporary art at its current location throughout
the construction of the new facility.
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Theatre Aspen, a homegrown theater company, has received national
acclaim and performs a rotating schedule of productions for both adults and
families. The troupe opened the 2011 season under a new tent in Rio Grande Park
and is aiming to establish a year-round presence in Aspen. The organization's
mission is to entertain, enlighten, enrich, educate and challenge the residents
and visitors of the Roaring Fork Valley through professional-quality theatrical
productions, new play development initiatives and a broad spectrum of
educational programs.This year's season includes Tony Awards Triple Crown
winner "Avenue Q," family-friendly "How I Became a Pirate," and
Hitchcock-meets-spy-novel play "39 Steps."
GREEN MEETINGS
Aspen's
local government, businesses, hotels and venues walk the "green" talk, and
meeting planners can do the same. The following are some ways to tread lightly
when in Aspen.
Insiders' Tips
Look for ZGreen
certification. The city of Aspen established the ZGreen program, a multi-pronged effort to reduce the environmental impact of
Aspen's residents, businesses and events by providing tangible steps to shrink
their environmental footprint. Successful individuals and businesses are
recognized with ZGreen certification, and many hotels and meeting venues have
qualified, including The Sky Hotel, Limelight
Hotel, The Little Nell, Aspen
Meadows Resort and St. Regis Aspen
Resort.
Offset a meeting or event with Canary
Tags, the first
municipal carbon offset program in the
U.S. Each Canary Tag costs $20 and
represents an offset of one ton of carbon monoxide through renewable energy and
mitigation programs. The city of Aspen's online Carbon
Calculator allows meeting planners to tally their energy
use and purchase Canary Tags to offset their carbon footprint.
For media
information and images, visit www.aspenchamber.org/media and contact
Promo Communications at 970.925.8480 or
Maureen
Poschman [email protected]
Sarah-Jane Johnson • [email protected]
Damien
Alexander Williamson • [email protected]
For visitor
information, visit www.aspenchamber.org, or call
1.888.290.1324 or 970.925.1940.
Connect with
Aspen on Facebook, Twitter (@AspenCO), YouTube and the blog.
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