Unique. It’s a word we think about a lot.
We live in an age corporate centralization. Of media consolidation. Of dispersion of information via the internet and goods via trucks and trains and planes across borders. Thee trend has resulted in increasing cultural uniformity. There is good in this to be sure, but concurrently our identities are often whitewashed in concerning ways.
As languages disappear across the globe, yes, commerce becomes easier to mediate, but we also lose irreplaceable aspects of cultural idiosyncrasies and identities. As laws move towards globally accepted norms, yes, we reduce the scourge of violence and disease in aggregate, but we also reduce the diversity of approaches and accepted behaviors that could serve to inform future circumstances or crises in more dynamic and effective ways. These are but a few of myriad examples.
That is why we believe a countervailing force is important. One that pushes back on this homogenization. From time to time we must put forth a consolidated effort to retain local culture, experience, and history. We feel like unique is a good thing. That being weird, unconventional, different is a strength, not a weakness.
Like local movie legend, TJ Burke of Aspen Extreme we recognize that being a “Renegade going OB” is often is often the less traveled path required to the best powder or the most idyllic vistas hide.
We accept our weirdness and celebrate our uniqueness.
We don’ have 500 nameless properties, we focus intently on a few special ones, and even more on individual owners and special guests.
We don’t make money on contracts by charging fees; we make money by making you money.
We don’t have cookie cutter units, we’ve signed mid-century modern apartments on Aspen Mountain, and strikingly redone ski-in-ski-outs on Snowmass.
We don’t send you a door code; we meet you at the property.
We don’t trust in you to know how to use Yelp. We work with you to get you into the right restaurant and introduce you to the GM if you’d enjoy it.
We don’t tell you where to dance; we join you on the bartop.
We don’t suggest a ski run, we share a chairlift with you and help you even out your carve turn.
We don’t just serve, we care. Because we enjoy it. Meeting you, welcoming you, returning more profit for you, it’s what get’s us up in the morning. Because we know that if your happy and that happiness is contagious, and we love living in one of the happiest places in the world. It’s through these actions that we share our local culture and learn from yours. It’s a dance. Learning and adapting, while sharing and preserving. It’s what keeps Aspen one of a unique place in the world.
And we plan on keeping it that way. Thanks for helping us with that.
Being unique is not always accepted, but we laud it, cheer it, and embrace it.
We welcome you to be your full, real, authentic self. Lord knows we will.