Lorenzo Semple

Colorado

Columnist at Aspen Daily News

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Articles

Semple: The ski ‘force’ is strong in Aspen

1 week ago | aspendailynews.com | Lorenzo Semple

Fret not, my fairly weathered friends: The ski stoke, spirit, force, energy, vigor, verve, vibe — whatever you want to call it, is still sky high in Aspen. Case in point? Aspen Highlands last Friday and Saturday and Buttermilk last Sunday. The four ski areas in general have been the epicenter of our town’s soul. There’s something about these last few weeks of ski season that always feels acutely local to me.
Lo Semple: The finish line is in sight

2 weeks ago | aspendailynews.com | Lorenzo Semple

The 30 days from March 20 until April 20 make up the most excruciating “month” of the year for me. Right now I’m attempting to breathe a long emotional exhale; a proverbial sigh of relief. As I limp into the three-tiered rolling brownout of ski area closures, the end is in sight. The end of the season is coming on slower than a clogged carotid artery. To speed up the process, I’ll be at Buttermilk this Sabbath for “Bacon Day,” bidding adieu to my first true ski love.
Semple: The finish line is in sight

2 weeks ago | aspendailynews.com | Lorenzo Semple

The 30 days from March 20 until April 20 make up the most excruciating “month” of the year for me. Right now I’m attempting to breathe a long emotional exhale; a proverbial sigh of relief. As I limp into the three-tiered rolling brownout of ski area closures, the end is in sight. The end of the season is coming on slower than a clogged carotid artery. To speed up the process, I’ll be at Buttermilk this Sabbath for “Bacon Day,” bidding adieu to my first true ski love.
Semple: Stumbling toward the runoff election

3 weeks ago | aspendailynews.com | Lorenzo Semple

I feel as if Aspen is awkwardly stumbling toward the April Fools’ Day runoff election. Voter turnout is lower than the paltry flow of the Roaring Fork River. The margins are close. The city council is divided. Aspen’s trademark apathy has risen belly-up to the surface of Stillwater like a bloated, dead rainbow trout. Ironic, isn’t it, for a community that prides itself for being so “passionate” and “forward thinking” to have a roughly 40% voter turnout for one of the biggest issues of our generation?
Semple: Here in my car - nothing seems right

1 month ago | aspendailynews.com | Lorenzo Semple

Did you see the latest in-depth article by Aspen Journalism? (“AI vehicle counters to provide better input on upper-valley traffic flow,” March 16, Aspen Daily News)I was wondering what that space-age, lunar-lander-looking thing by the Sunnyside trail was. I figured it for a newfangled weather station of some sort. Turns out, it’s an Artificial Intelligence car-counting contraption that’s been monitoring my nefarious vehicular comings and goings. Now I know.
Semple: Where there’s Smokey Bear, there’s fired employees

1 month ago | aspendailynews.com | Lorenzo Semple

Sadly, it looks like our dear Smokey Bear is the latest local ursine to be euthanized. His inexcusable offense? Certainly not breaking into houses or eating trash, but rather, kindly asking a meager pittance for his hard work in the White River National Forest. Good thing we have an abundance of un-deputized, renegade, know-it-all, junior trail rangers around here always telling everybody what and how to do everything out on the trails.
Semple: Ch, ch, ch, ch, changes - turn and face the strange

1 month ago | aspendailynews.com | Lorenzo Semple

When it comes to the two yearly time changes — “fall back” and “spring ahead” — I’m generally amenable to the transformations they signify and the daylight they afford or rob you of. I used to get upset by having to “spring forward” because it meant losing an hour of sleep. Now that I’m older, I’m up so early without an alarm clock the annual time change is of relatively little significance.
Semple: Palm Tree and the clash of the titans

1 month ago | aspendailynews.com | Lorenzo Semple

I’m a big fan of the Palm Tree Music Festival. Not because I’m necessarily an aficionado of the specific genre of music the event brings — I wouldn’t know a famous DJ if they stepped on my foot — but because I like the concept of live concerts downtown, and the vibe they bring. All that’s easy for me to say, because I was relatively unaffected, logistically and emotionally anyway, by this year’s festival, which is co-produced by Belly Up Aspen.
Semple: Keeping things ‘manageable’

2 months ago | aspendailynews.com | Lorenzo Semple

Dare I say that this winter the workload in town has felt “manageable”? That’s the customer service buzzword word I’m trying to spread this year to describe how I’m handling the unpredictable ins and outs of the hospitality trade in Aspen. When someone kindly asks me how’s business, or how’s work, I simply tell them “manageable.”I know there’s someone out there in customer service reading this right now saying to themselves, “Manageable? You call this manageable?
Semple: Living in Aspen’s shadows

2 months ago | aspendailynews.com | Lorenzo Semple

To me it feels like we’re months, weeks, if not mere days away from an immigration “sweep” in Aspen. I was running errands downvalley the other day, and there was a forlorn look in the eyes of the Latino community members I encountered. Maybe it was just me, but I sensed a palpable fear. I remember in the mid-’90s there were immigration raids in Aspen. I was working at Aspen Skiing Co. at the time, and heard about the busts in a sales meeting.