Aspen Skiing Company

Aspen Skiing Company

The Aspen Skiing Company (ASC), located in Aspen, Colorado, was founded in 1946 by Chicago-based industrialist and philanthropist Walter Paepcke and his wife Elizabeth. Originally a mining town, Aspen began attracting recreational skiers after the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York began to draw Americans’ interest in the sport. In 1938, the Paepckes took a trip to Aspen and, after falling in love with the surroundings, envisioned transforming the town into a cultural center, whose purpose would be the “renewal of the inner spirit.” In 1945, Walter began acquiring land and met with the original founder of Aspen’s ski club and school, which he was looking to acquire. A deal was struck and in January 1946, the Aspen Skiing Company was incorporated.

In its first year, ASC established a chair lift, a ski patrol, and held three races that garnered its difficult mountain terrain some notoriety. In 1950, Aspen hosted the United States’ first world skiing competition, which attracted over 1,500 people and gave ASC worldwide visibility. After several subsequent changes in ownership, ASC became privately owned in 1993 by the Crown family of Chicago, Illinois.