'A fortune of failures': The Colorado ghost town that almost became Aspen

Just 15 minutes from glitzy Aspen lies Ashcroft, an atmospheric ghost town that once had ambitions to become Colorado's next great ski resort.

On a crisp June day, I wander among the empty log cabins in the ghost town of Ashcroft, 12 miles (19.3km) from Aspen at the base of Colorado's Elk Mountains. The only sounds are the rustling of aspen leaves, the gurgle of Castle Creek and the occasional whistle of a high-elevation warbler. In winter, save for the distant glide of cross-country skiers or the soft clop of snowshoes, the valley is nearly silent.

It's hard to reconcile this quiet place with the booming mining town that once stood here – or with the ambitious plan, nearly 100 years ago, to transform it into a major European-style ski resort.

"Ashcroft would have been Aspen," says Aspen Historical Society archivist Anna Lookabill. "I don't think Aspen would have happened had the Ashcroft plans come together."

Before Aspen became a playground for the rich and famous, home to high-end boutiques and $25m mansions, the two towns were rivals – first for silver, then for skiing.  

In 1879, prospectors poured into Colorado's Roaring Fork Valley in search of silver, establishing camps at Independence and Aspen. By the following year, Ashcroft had become one of the region's hottest mining towns.

"The ore was close to the surface in Ashcroft compared to Aspen," Lookabill says. "It had the potential to be a good investment early on. Aspen was slower to get going because the ore was a little deeper."

Walking between Ashcroft's surviving log cabins, it's hard to reconcile the quiet with the town that once stood here. At its peak in 1882, more than 1,000 people lived here, with hotels, mercantile stores, a bowling alley, dance hall, 14 saloons and Pitkin County's first school.  

But the boom was short-lived. Within a few years, the population had collapsed to around 100, with many residents and businesses relocating to Aspen.

By the 1930s, nearly all of Ashcroft's buildings were abandoned. But a group of business associates who had skied in Europe – Ted Ryan, T J Flynn and Olympic bobsled gold medallist Billy Fiske – saw something in the empty valley surrounded by towering peaks: the making of a ski resort.

They formed the Highland Bavarian Corporation and brought in Swiss mountaineer André Roch to survey the surrounding peaks on touring skis. He chose Hayden Peak above Ashcroft as the centrepiece.

"Mount Hayden was going to be the mountain with the ski area. Ashcroft would be the Bavarian village," Lookabill says.

Ashcroft would have been Colorado's first major ski area – and, at the time, the world's highest. Plans included a tram from Ashcroft up Hayden Peak, dozens of ski runs and several chairlifts. Today, visitors can look up from the ghost town to where the ski area would have climbed above 13,000ft (3,962m) and the slopes would have taken skiers directly into town.

The Highland Bavarian Corporation secured $650,000 in state and federal funding and development was about to begin.

Then, World War Two cancelled the entire plan.

"They had the ski area laid out, the tram laid out. Washington was allocating funds to build this ski area, because it was going to be the new tourism driver for the US. They had an order for steel to build the lifts and the tram," Lookabill says. "The US needed the steel to build tanks and fighter planes."

While Ashcroft's plans stalled, skiing took hold down the valley. Roch had already begun teaching locals how to ski, launching The Roaring Fork Winter Sports Club (which eventually became today's prestigious Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club), and leading touring groups around Mount Hayden.

For easier access, he marked a run on Aspen Mountain – still called "Roch Run" – and Ryan oversaw the installation of the first lift: a "boat tow" built with old mine hoists, a second-hand motor and a pair of sleds.

It marked the beginning of Aspen's transformation into a ski resort, and effectively ended Ashcroft's chances of becoming one.

What Ashcroft was left with was the landscape itself.

Today, rather than luxury lodges, visitors find a handful of preserved cabins surrounded by 22 miles (35km) of Nordic ski trails and snowshoe routes in winter, with horseback riding and hiking taking over in summer. Though Ashcroft is an easy drive from Aspen, there are no chairlifts or cable cars; in winter, human-powered travel is the only way to explore the pristine valley.  

Johnny Wilcox, whose father bought Ashcroft Ski Touring from Ryan in 1986, runs guided horseback tours and winter skiing and snowshoeing. His family also operates the gourmet Pine Creek Cookhouse. 

"The ultimate experience is to ski up here at night with a headlamp on," Wilcox says. "That brings you the closest to the mining and ski history, breaking trail through the snow with no chairlift to be seen."

That absence is part of Ashcroft's appeal. While just down the road, Aspen buzzes with four ski resorts, fine dining and fashion boutiques, Ashcroft sits along Castle Creek, surrounded by pine forests, aspen groves and empty, treeless summits.

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"That's largely what makes this valley special," Wilcox says. "It's a step back in time. We don't have snow mobile tours. We have no Wi-Fi, no cell service. We are off the grid. In the winter, it's not easy to get here, so people who come really want to be here."

Walking between the ghost town's surviving cabins – one a former dance hall, another a saloon – it is difficult to imagine an Aspen-sized town with thousands of visitors, a tram humming overhead and skiers skidding to a halt amid multi-million-dollar houses.

"I always think of Ashcroft as a fortune of failures," Lookabill says. "It was a boomtown and it died off. There was potential of being a ski area, that ended up dying off. Now it's a touristy place, but a large, open, beautiful space. These booms, or fortunes that failed, ultimately preserved it."

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