Sometimes you just can't believe your luck. We had planned to make first tracks on Aspen Mountain that Thursday morning and when we opened the blinds at our rented apartment it was snowing hard. A little over an hour later we were gliding silently through light, fresh powder on slopes which were still empty save for a couple of dozen skiers.
"First Tracks" is a daily event at the Colorado resort. It is available free to a limited number of guests who sign up early and get to the Silver Queen gondola while most holiday-makers are still shaking off sleep.
Led by instructors from the ski school, who ensure their charges stick to trails which have been made safe from avalanches, they ride to the top of the mountain at 8am, half an hour before the lifts open to everyone else.
It would be a treat to get such a head start, even on mornings when there was no new snow, but that morning "First Tracks" meant exactly that. Nine inches or so had fallen overnight and, apart from the odd ski patroller, nobody had disturbed it.
Breakfast plans were abandoned. We skied on for as long as stamina and hunger pangs would allow, then celebrated with brunch at Gwyn's, which is surely one of the world's finest mountain restaurants. Wild mushroom frittatas with parmesan and allouette cheese, fresh basil and roasted red peppers, foccacia and coffee, served at a white linen-covered table with a view of Aspen's million-dollar rooftops. The bill was around £25 for two, which is a good bit more than you would normally pay at an American mountain restaurant, but it would have been a shame, after such a heady start to the day, to have settled for second best.
That is the whole point of Aspen. You will almost certainly spend more there than in other resorts but you will also get a bigger bang for your bucks. At $342 for a week*, the lift pass is one of the world's most expensive. But it covers four separate ski areas and the service is five star. The free bus service linking those areas is superbly efficient. At Aspen's Rubey Park terminus you rarely have to wait more than a few minutes. At the end of the day there are staff to put your skis on the rack and others who hand out free Colombian coffee, hot cider and chocolate biscuits. At Buttermilk, whose slopes are perfect for beginners and confidence-seeking intermediates, instructors give free introductory lessons. And for $4, you can leave your skis at the foot of the slopes in one place and pick them up next morning in another.
There are places, such as the Red Onion, where a burger and a couple of beers cost only around $15 a head. But the average quality of restaurant cooking is so far above the American norm that it is hard to resist the lure of something grander. Even if the budget won't stretch to £100 or so for two, with wine, at the excellent Montagna at the Little Nell Hotel, there are other, more modest options, such as spicy shrimp or fajitas at Blue Maize, where the damage would be half as much.
The town's cachet is its mag netism for the rich, famous and self-indulgent. To some extent this is justified. In how many other resorts would you see a house advertised for $14m? Property prices are so astronomic that it is said the billionaires are driving out the millionaires. Where else - though those who expect to bump into them in the lifts may be disappointed - has attracted such a firmament of full- or part-time star residents? Kevin Costner, Jack Nicholson, Goldie Hawn, Martina Navratilova (who has taken up snowboarding) and the great gonzo, Hunter S Thompson.
In reality, Aspen is a social layer cake. Besides those who have made it, there are the young who come to the Roaring Fork Valley to work as lift operators, wait tables and cook. A surprisingly large number of them are seduced by the combination of raw outdoors and culture - the violinist Joshua Bell was due in town as we left - to stay on and start businesses. There are groups who share condominiums to cut costs and hog the hot tubs at night with beer and loud banter. And there is, without doubt, a considerable number of extravagantly dressed poseurs.
On the slopes, they are separated only by their ability. Do not let Aspen's image persuade you that its slopes are exclusively for those who would rather avoid the odd bead of perspiration.
Most leisure skiers gravitate towards Snowmass, which offers magnificent cruising, not least on the vast expanse of tree-studded, groomed snow served by the Big Burn lift. There is more to Snowmass, however. The black diamond trails from Sam's Knob belie the notion that American runs are too short to make your thighs burn. While they are not particularly steep, Campground and Bear Claw are long enough to stand comparison with most in Europe.
Better yet, a breathless, 10-minute uphill walk from the top of the Elk Camp lift gets you to the start of Long Shot, one of the most enjoyable runs I have skied. The view of distant peaks from the start, at around 11,440ft, is alone worth the climb. The trail winds down for three-and-a-half miles through the pines and naked aspens. Signs on the trees tell you how far you have descended. It is marked blue for intermediate but its bumps, turns and changes in pitch ensure that it stays interesting for skiers of all standards.
There is even a range of ultra-steep double-black or expert-only runs, most of which also demand a hike. Those in search of such challenges might prefer to save their energies for the long slog to the bowl at Aspen Highlands, whose terrain is, on average, more challenging than that of Snowmass. Broad, vertiginous and way off-piste, Highlands Bowl is made secure nonetheless by teams of patrollers who compact the snow base with their skis to prevent it from avalanching.
Aspen Highlands also has more accessible double blacks, such as those on Steeplechase, which drop abruptly from an almost flat ridge so that, while they are wide enough to allow a tentative, exploratory traverse, taking the initial plunge involves screwing up your courage. Overall, though, this is inevitably a subjective judgment: Aspen Mountain itself probably has the steepest marked trails. Its average is skewed not just by an enormous choice of expert-only runs but by a handful of those designated blue - the rough US equivalent of the European red - which would come as a sharp shock to a tentative intermediate.
Certainly, they would have been too much for the ladies of a certain age who boarded the bus to Snowmass in a variety of outrageous wigs. We spotted the most eye-catching of them later on the slopes, determination triumphing over style, beacon-like hairpiece still intact.
Separated only by ability? There is always an exception to prove the rule. Imagine Marge Simpson skiing and you'll get the picture. Some mornings you just can't believe your eyes.
Way to go
Getting there: United Vacations (0870 6062222), offers one-week fly-drive deals in April from £407pp.
Where to stay: Booked through United Vacations, a serviced self-catering condominium at The Gant last April cost from £64pp per night (two sharing, £32 if four share). This season, between January 1 and February 9, rates were £103 and £52 respectively. The Gant, which has an outdoor pool and hot tubs, is a short distance from the centre of town but runs a free shuttle service to and from lifts, shops or restaurants.
Getting around: A late season six-day lift pass costs £102 if purchased through United Vacations.
Further information: aspensnowmass.com. Time difference: GMT -7hrs. Area code: 001 907. Flight time from London: £1 = 1.42 dollars.
