Aspen, Colo. has long been up to its waist in both snow and dough. The mountain town got its start pulling silver from the ground and of late has become especially skilled at yanking platinum cards from overstuffed wallets. (How many other ski towns boast both a Louis Vuitton and a Prada store?) In particular, billionaires pay top dollar for parcels on Aspen’s Red Mountain.
The neighborhood, whose phone book reads like a Davos VIP list, lies in close proximity to downtown and serves up Colorado’s requisite killer views. Divided into Upper and Lower, the area has generated most of Aspen’s highest-dollar transactions for two years running, including hedge funder John Paulson‘s $49 million Hala Ranch buy in June.
