Matthew Botos

Sometimes you really do find things when you’re not looking for them. After a great day of running glades and gullies at Snowmass, I stepped onto the patio at the Cirque Cafe to grab a beer while waiting for Mike and Al to finish their last run. Enjoying a slope-side apres-ski beer is a rare treat that I couldn’t pass up on a wonderfully warm, sunny day.

The patio was packed, so I joined two women at their table. We got to talking, and I learned that Colleen and Amber were both living in Aspen working as physical therapists and enjoying the slopes on their days off. Over a pitcher of beer and some nachos, I found out they had both moved around a bit and worked in a few ski towns since leaving the midwest. More importantly, Colleen wasted no time informing me that while she had a boyfriend, Amber was quite single.

I played dumb tourist and asked where to go in town, and after a round of well-liquored hot chocolates (Hot Travises in their vernacular), the girls offered to take me over to Sky Bar (aka 39 Degrees) in Aspen. All other motives aside, any plan to abandon the rapidly cooling apres-sunset patio was welcome.

The bus ride to Aspen featured a few extra loops and overshot stops, but ultimately landed us back at their place in town to dump various ski and snowboard gear. I then made the foolishly macho mistake of choosing to walk to the bar instead of taking the bus, which is not the best move when you’re a sea level wimp trying to keep up with two power-walking, high-altitude locals.

The bar was suitably swanky for Apsen, including a hot tub and pool for patrons of both the bar and adjoining hotel. Even in the lull between happy hour and nightlife, there was still plenty of people (and cougar) watching. After a round of martinis, some other local friends of theirs came and I got an interesting look into the life of “normal” people in Aspen. Nomadic health care workers, architects to the stars, and followers of the Aspen social scene were a few of the vignettes.

A few folks from my ski club group also trickled in, some obviously surprised to see me being so social. The other young boarder, Dan, did join us, but found more conversation with one of the waitresses. After a few more rounds, we called it a night and I happily stripped off my snowboard boots after a record 14 hour day.