White-hot snow

Carla Passino explores six of the best winter destinations across the world and picks great properties for sale to enjoy life on skis

- Carla Passino

Aspen, US

Perks and quirks Although it no longer holds the world record for the longest single-stage gondola (which, for a time, belonged to the Silver Queen linking Aspen to Aspen mountain), the Colorado resort can claim the crown for snow-side culture: it has its own art museum, many galleries, a literary centre (Aspen Words), the Aspen Music Festival, the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and the Aspen Institute, which seeks to tackle some of the world’s most pressing issues, from climate change to the supply-chain crisis.

Known for The most spectacular renaissance any town could hope for. Once a thriving silver-mining town, it slid into a decline that lasted four decades after the Panic of 1893, a period of economic depression in which the value of silver plummeted. In 1936, however, a group of entrepreneurs saw fresh opportunity in the snow and created a new ski area to meet America’s burgeoning passion for winter sports—and the rest is history.

Slope encounters Hollywood, Silicon Valley and Wall Street come together on the Aspen slopes—notably on Red Mountain, also known as Billionaire Mountain—with present and past skiers including Jeff Bezos, beauty entrepreneur Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer and actors such as Jack Nicholson, Kevin Costner, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell.

Courchevel 1850, France

Perks and quirks 1850 is the highest, snowiest and glitziest of Courchevel’s four resorts, which are perched at different altitudes on the same massif. It also has one of the largest concentrations of Michelin-starred restaurants of any ski resort, with six eateries claiming 12 stars, three of which belong to Chef Yannick Alléno’s Le 1947. Should this not suffice, two more Michelin-starred restaurants are not far away at La Tania and Courchevel-Le Praz 1300.