Aspen Sports Summit

Aspen is one of the fittest towns in the World.   Locals around here take their sporting lives very seriously. It's been said that in Aspen...there is no recreational division.  

Click 4 Pix:  ASPEN SPORTS SUMMIT

The Aspen Sports Summit brought together health, fitness and sports medicine professionals from across America to educate and inform athletes of all shapes and sizes.  Presented by Bill Fabrocini and The Aspen Club, The Aspen Sports Summit (website) was an educational event attended by a wide variety of participants. Leaders from all facets of the fitness industry were on hand as speakers, coaches and participants.   The Aspen Sports Summit provided continuing education credits for professional fitness trainers and physical therapists.  The line-up of speakers was phenomenal including M.D.'s, pro athletes and movement experts. It was a hands on conference with plenty of opportunities to stretch it out and try new exercises. Fabrocini and his fellow presenters made it clear that posture and movement are key elements in getting the maximum performance out of your body and preventing injuries.  Click here to see the list of speakers. 

The event was held at the posh Doerr-Hosier Center on the Campus of The Aspen Institute.  In addition to the mission of education, Aspen Sports Summit raised funds and awareness for it's philanthropic partners MERCY & SHARING and THE MARSHALL DIRECT FUND.    Mercy and sharing works with kids in Haiti, while Marshall Direct  educates and empowers women in 3rd world countries.

By all measures, Aspen Sports Summit was a rousing success.  Education with Mission...the stated objective of the conference was exceeded.  Attendees learned about the human body, the philosophy and science behind an effective exercise and fitness routine and how important that is to leading a full and productive life.  The flow of information and the sharing of ideas was front and center at Aspen Sports Summit.

Thanks to Bill Fabrocini and The Aspen Club for providing a great forum to learn and grow.  We are already looking forward to next year.   

Click 4 Pix:  ASPEN SPORTS SUMMIT

National Champs from Aspen

Two local AVSC and U.S. Ski Team racers took home top honors at the U.S. National Alpine Skiing Championships at Sugarloaf,Maine.

Fan favorite Wiley Maple ripped the fastest lap in Men's Downhill lap topping a stacked field to grab the GOLD. He also finished 5th in Super G.   Glenwood's Alice McKennis shredded to victory in the Ladies Super G securing the highest tier on the podium.

Congratulations to both Wiley and Alice who have worked extremely hard and battled through injuries.  The fruits of victory must feel especially sweet to ASPEN's NATIONAL CHAMPS. 

Wiley Maple National Champ Photo: Scott Sanford via FB.

 Alice McKennis National Champ Super G. Photo: Jamie Walters / Sugarloaf

The Aspen Budget: Tales from the Campaign

Funds accounting, or governmental accounting, or municipal accounting is different than regular book-keeping.  It's pretty complicated. CAFR...what?  The City of Aspen has 6100 registered voters and 3200 actual voters per the last election.  The City of Aspen also has a huge budget.  It's 480 pages and weighs about 8 pounds.  

The total budgeted revenues for 2015 are $123,465,148.  Appropriations are budgeted at $124,206,420.  This includes $31,241,680 in inter-fund transfers.  An inter fund transfer is a double journal entry...so if you subtract that out the total budget is almost $93,000,000.   The operating budget is $60 million. Capital Outlays are $27.5 million and we pay $5.5 million in debt service.  

It doesn't take a Wharton MBA or a C.P.A. to know that is a lot of green.  Any way you slice it...Aspen is overflowing with money.   It's an incredible amount of cash flowing through the coffers of a very small...but high profile mountain town at the end of the road.  Hunter S. Thompson was right when he nick-named Aspen..."Fat City"

To call me a financial expert would be a compliment.  For most of the past 12 years i've been skiing and blogging and FBing and tweeting.  But my spider senses are tingling.  I'll be digging into the 2015 Aspen Budget. Trying to figure out why we need a new 55,000 sq ft City Hall with cost estimates of $40 mil....errrrr $80 mil....errrrr $120 mil.

Just because Aspen has an embarrassment of riches...doesn't mean we should keep making poor decisions about money and growth.  

VOTE: ANDY 4 ASPEN

The Sorrows of Young Mike by John Zelazny

Author John Zelazny networking in Aspen.When one of the young ski bums in Aspen publishes his first novel...AspenSpin reads it. 

The Sorrows of Young Mike by John Zelazny is a valiant first effort.  JZ calls the book a parody and it relates to the classic book The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe first published in 1774.  Like Werther... Mike's sorrows are loosely autobiographical...but this time the author is Mike...errrr... John Zelazny.   John skis by day, fits boots, and writes a music column for the Aspen Daily News by day and night...and still finds the energy to hit the Aspen party circuit all while publishing books.

The Sorrows of Young Mike chronicles Mike's social life aboard a giant cruise ship... a cruise for credit...errr semester at sea. As Mike sails the World for college credit he navigates a long distance relationship via text message with his girl back in Boulder.   His magnetism attracts a group of friends on the boat including an available and sexy classmate.

As the story evolves....well I don't want to spoil it. 

The Sorrows of Young Mike is a quick and interesting read.  We highly recommend it.  JZ should be very proud of his work.  We are looking forward to his next publication soon... after ski season.

Click to own  THE SORROWS of YOUNG MIKE

Aspen Party Week

Every March for the past 50+ years a large group of hearty souls descend on Aspen for Spring skiing and Aspen Party Week.  The core group of about 200 revelers from all over the country visit Aspen to take advantage of the bluebird skies and the POW POW.  Led by the Crawford Brothers from California, The Beradino Brothers and  Mr. and Mrs Gooch from the East Coast and Al Gross from Vegas this group has evolved into the hardest partying, good timingest, mate swappingest group of 60 to 80 year olds you will ever see.

Click 4 pix.  Aspen Party Week

Aspen Party Week's line-up is so chock full of events on and off the mountain that even AspenSpin can't keep up.  The Tamale Party, The Cheeseburger Party, The Mad Hatter Party, The Snowmass Picnic, The Lemondrop Party, The Sneak-a-Peak Party ( paying homage to the infamous Sneaker Ball) The Wine Party, The After-Wine Party and more.  Every day is a different soiree and by the end of the week....there are a lot of bruised livers. The traveling 200 don't ski as much as they used to (many just forgo the shredding) but they party just as hard.  They do love their grog.

This year Aspen kicked off it's annual core party...with a highlight reel show from Chicago jam band Umphrey's McGee who played a free set in the center of town.  Just eye-ballin' it...I'd say it was the biggest core party of all time. Additionally, Aspen Mag hosted their millennial party and Aspen Historical Society threw a ski fashion retrospective to culminate a HUGE week.

Click 4 pix:   ASPEN PARTY WEEK

As always, EPIC fun was had by all.