Tahoe V Aspen and the winner is...............(this is a unifnished post flying to stl for dad surgery and then moving at the same time holy shit)

Before announcing a winner let's compare the two really great resort areas:

                                                  Tahoe                                                Aspen  

Population                            36k (summer surge 1m)                     9k (summer surge 70k)
Population of nearby cities   Carson city, reno sparks 400k    grand junctions + glenwood springs 70k
                                              LA + San Fran area 25m             Denver area 700k

number of resorts                12                                                  4
typical base elevation         6k                                                  7.8k
tallest peak                         Freel peak 10,866                          Elbert  14,439
squaw V. highlands         9.050 peak, 6,200 base                   12,400 (bowl peak) 8,040 base
Recent skiing gold medals        yes (julia mancuso)              no
Water sports                    everything                                      good paddling and fishing
hiking terrain                 very rocky lots of pine                  not very rocky good mix of trees
mountain biking            not really (see rocks)                       everywhere all the time
mountain bike pedals         flats                                                clipless
skate boarding      everywhere all the time (flat around lake)    just in town of aspen and skate parks
schools                       not so good                                              good
affordable housing            yes                                               no unless you are in subsidised housing
private jets                    trying                                              not enough parking for all of em
weed                            yes --illegal                                       yes
food                          excellent                                                  ok
local food sourcing         yes                                                    yuck
local wine                         oh yes                                            oh no
local beer                         great                                                 good
lift lines                     OMG yes                                             ohh man I had to wait 1 min i'm calling it
ranching history            no                                                         yes
mining history              kinda                                                huge
music institute                no                                                         yes
ideas fest                         no                                                         yes
physics institute             no                                                          yes
gambling                        yes                                                         no
prostitution                     yes                                                       bring your own
snow                    bipolar (700 in or 70)                                     200-400
ski terrain       best cliff jumping in north america            lots of good stuff if you know where to look
ice rinks                 1                                                                    2

And the winner is..................Aspen.  biggest difference..the crowds.  CA is an amazing state and I would put it way over CO (hosting both summer and winter olympics, best food and wine and everything from Tech to aerospace and defense and hollywood too) but the LA and San Fran area are huge and if you want to go to a great mountain area Tahoe calls loudly---and millions go.  Lift lines can be crushing and you can get tons of horrible skiers to doge around.  Aspen is a pain to get to--approaching from Denver you pass Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone plus others.  Why keep going to Aspen?  Most don't.  When you get here you are rewarded with minimal lift lines, and empty trails.  I also prefer hiking on less rocky paths............

and if you read this far I am publishing this right before moving the computer and after coming back to STL--surgery went well but my flight to STL..... includes smoke, masks and my seatmate running her fingernails all over me..............................