In 1971 LIFE reported from Aspen, where young people in search of adventure were moving to the Colorado resort town. What’s more, there was a demographic wrinkle—a majority (about 60 percent) of those new arrivals were women. That stat inspired a fun and feminine photo shoot from LIFE staff photographer John Dominis.
The stars of the shoot were all women in their 20s who had come to the mountains to live the ski life.
Of course, dreams are often tempered by reality. The story, headlined “A Very Nice Kind of Ski Bum,” neatly summed up both the allure and the pitfalls of a move to Aspen:
They consider a skier’s life not to be a parenthetical experience but a real alternative to urban existence, one free from frustration, noise and the frustration of having to choose between marriage and a less than satisfying job. The only problem with Aspen is finding a way to survive.
In 1971 Aspen was not quite the playground for the rich that it is today (that status really took root in the 1980s), but the transition was in process, and it was being felt by the town’s working class. “Housing is practically non-existent and prices are tourist-level high,” LIFE wrote. One of the women in the Dominis photo essay said that she needed to work so many hours as a hotel maid to support herself that she barely had time to ski. Still, overall, the story painted a romantic picture of the adventure they had embarked on: “The women figure, why wait until you’re 40 to have fun.”
One of Dominis’ photos shows four young women sharing a one-bedroom apartment. That apartment certainly wouldn’t make it into the kind of stories you can find today on Aspen’s luxury homes—but it is a certain kind a paradise. Sure, it’s a mess, and the quarters are cramped. But the women don’t seem to care. It can be that way when you are taking a stab at living your dream.
These four women shared a one-bedroon apartment in Aspen, Colo., 1971
John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Sue Smedstad, who had come to Aspen six years previous, received a free ski pass as one of the perks of her job as statistician for the Aspen Skiing Corp., 1971.
John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Sue Smedstad drover her friends in her jeep as they searched for good snow in Aspen, 1971.
John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Women tubed in Snowmass Mountain, Aspen. Colo., 1971.
John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Lyn Carlson came to Aspen, Colo., from Lousville, Ky., and supported herself by working the doors at an apres-ski club, 1971.
John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Gail Ramsey moved from Wisconsin to Aspen to sing in a nightclub, but after her band broke up she ended up tending bar, 1971.
John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Lisa Brooks, 24, came to Aspen for the ski life, but she made so little in her job as a chambermaid that she couldn’t do much skiing, 1971.
John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Leslie Smith, 25, came to Aspen and started her own store, the Birdog Trading Co., when she found that employment opportunities were scarce, 1971.
John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Carolyn Zinke, came to Aspen from Wisconsin with a teaching degree and, after a few years in the resort town she was proficient enough to gain work as a ski instructor, 1971.
John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
From a 1971 story on the many young women who moved to Aspen, Colo., to live and work
John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Phyllis Garrett, 21, lived in a one-room mountain cabin after following her sister to Aspen, Colo., 1971.
John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Dawn Clark left a college study tour in Hong Kong to live the ski life in Aspen, 1971.
John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Sandy Sollitt, 22, came to Aspen, Colorado from Chicago to enjoy the ski life, 1971.
John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
From a LIFE story on young women enjoying the ski life in Aspen, Colorado, 1971.
John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
From a 1971 story on the many young women who moved to Aspen, Colo., to live and work.
John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
From a 1971 story on the many young women who moved to Aspen, Colo., to live and work.
John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
A 1971 LIFE story documented the influx of young women who had moved to Aspen, Colorado to live, work and ski.
John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
