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The Rolls-Royce Phantom Series II is a blend of traditional and classic with modern technology that allows the car to keep up with customer expectations.

Photographs Courtesy Rolls-Royce

 

The car boasts a completely revamped satellite navigation system with 3D landscape topography, guided view tours, and more, all on a much larger monitor.

Photographs Courtesy Rolls-Royce

 

A virtual constellation of stars in the interior can be customized to your liking.

Photographs Courtesy Rolls-Royce

 

Other specializations include a drink cabinet.

Photographs Courtesy Rolls-Royce

 

The front features LED headlamps and a slightly revamped bumper.

Photographs Courtesy Rolls-Royce

 

Phantom family of four models.

Photographs Courtesy Rolls-Royce

 

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From connecting with their clients via private tours of their plants to throwing exclusive events for owners, Rolls-Royce is a brand that treats its customers like a close-knit family. These individual discussions with owners on what R-R stands for, what customers expect from the company and the product, and what it needs to be in order to move forward are exactly what inspired the brand’s new Phantom Series II model.

“When considering changes to our iconic Phantom, we first carefully listened to customers,” said Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös. “Around the world they explicitly told us, ‘Do not change Phantom too much but introduce new technology where appropriate.’ And this is precisely what we have done.”

The end result is a blend of traditional and classic with modern technology that allows the Phantom to keep up with customer expectations. “It combined the spirit of its famous pedigree with superbly elegant design work, ground-breaking technology, and visionary engineering techniques,” said Müller-Ötvös.

Of note technologically are the full LED headlamps, and the completely revamped satellite navigation system with 3D landscape topography, guided view tours, and more, all on a much larger monitor. Best of all, its famous V12 direct injection engine has been updated with a new eight-speed automatic gearbox and rear differential, which results in 10-percent improved fuel consumption and reduced CO2 emissions.

The car’s appearance has also gotten a few updates. In addition to the aforementioned LED headlamps are a virtual constellation of stars in the interior, and a slightly tweaked bumper. Just as with its unparalleled customer service, the brand will go above and beyond to create a custom luxury vehicle to your specifications—from humidors to drink cabinets to constellations in the shape of your zodiac sign, virtually anything is possible.

“Since its first appearance in 2003, Phantom has reclaimed the pinnacle of automotive luxury and refinement,” said Müller-Ötvös. “It is a completely unique and unequaled achievement that goes beyond its primary role as a car and becomes to many a work of art, a fine piece of jewelry, or a rare and collectible object of desire.”

Private jet-setters’ excitement over the new Learjet 85 aircraft, scheduled for delivery in 2013, has reached fever pitch. Fractional ownership of one of the new 85s is available now, exclusively through Flexjet. For a cool $1 million, private jet fans can secure a one-sixteenth share, equal to 50 hours of private flight annually for five years. The 85s will feature the largest, most spacious cabins of any Learjet. Selling points include stand-up cabin room, space for eight passengers in a double club seating arrangement, and transcontinental range of up to 3,000 nautical miles. 888-503-8854 

Seth Van De Riet practicing tai chi

In the western world, Chinese medicine is often referred to as “new age” or “alternative.” Satori Healthcare Clinic owner Seth Van De Riet has a different perspective: “Ask the billion and a half people on the other side of the planet; to them this is not alternative medicine, it’s the medicine,” said Van De Riet. “It’s what they know works and they’ve been utilizing [it] for well over 5,000 years, as opposed to the mere 200 years of established and progressive western medicine,” he adds.

With clinics Glenwood Springs and, just recently, Aspen, Van De Riet apprenticed under tai chi master Bing Lee for 20 years and describes his specialty as focusing on “rare aspects of Oriental medicine.”  

Through the study of acupuncture, tai chi, and qui gong (internal kung fu), Van De Riet affirms that we can master our lives and invite abundant health and infinite joy. He teaches patients the secrets to becoming the person that they most want to be and helps them accept that they can create and attract all that they need. With those tools, he believes that patients can live beyond simple crisis management of health issues and emotional distress.

Among Van De Riet’s patients are head and spinal injury cases, Denver Broncos players, government officials, those struggling with substance abuse or transitioning back into society after a jail sentence, and the needy and suffering in parts of eastern Europe and Beijing. He has treated patients everywhere from his office to hotel rooms to castles to backstage at London’s National Theatre.

A consultation at Satori Healthcare Clinic includes energy reading, nutritional assessment, acupuncture, advanced medical qi gong, tui na, and massage, as well as the necessary herbs and supplements. The clinic boasts a full Chinese herb pharmacy, rare alchemical substances, elixirs, and 24-carat gold needles. “We will get you healed as quickly as humanly possible and get you back to your life. Send me the toughest cases,” said Van De Riet.  

Also trained in cosmetic acupuncture and fertility protocols, Van De Riet professes to be able to give facelift and tummy-tuck results without the use of toxic injections or a scalpel. Procedures such as these are the perfect example of the clinic’s motto: “ancient medicine, modern miracles.”  

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Posing with her gold medal after winning the women's skiing superpipe at Winter X Games 13 in 2009

 

Racing in the women's ski superpipe during Winter X Games 9 in 2005

 

Speaking onstage during the 30th Annual Salute To Women In Sports Awards at The Waldorf=Astoria, New York in 2011

 

Completing an aerial maneuver in the women's skiing slopestyle finals during Winter X Games 14 in 2010

 

On the red carpet at the 2011 ESPY Awards

 

Competing in the women's ski superpipe final during the European Winter X-Games in 2011

 

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A familiar face is missing from Aspen’s 2012 Winter X Games. Canadian Sarah Burke passed away last week after succumbing to injuries she sustained during a training accident on January 10.

At the 2009 X Games in Aspen, Burke had broken a vertebra in her back during the slopestyle competition. She had a full recovery from that injury, but was not so fortunate this time. The 29-year-old was practicing in the halfpipe at the Park City Mountain Resort in Utah when she crashed and ruptured an artery.She remained in a coma until her death on January 19.

During her 15 years as a competitive skier, Burke had been a trailblazer in lobbying to bring women’s freeskiing events to the Winter X Games and the Olympics. She was expected to compete in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, where for the first time women's ski jumping and ski halfpipe will be included. She has also been credited with helping to obtain equal prize money for female winter athletes.

In 2010, Burke married fellow professional skier Rory Bushfield. “She definitely had the best marriage I have ever seen to the coolest guy,” noted Steve Bellamy, CEO of The Ski Channel. “They were the simplest couple who appreciated every moment in life no matter whether it was winning gold medals, walking red carpets, walking through airports or fixing things around the house.”

Bellamy worked with the couple while filming for The Ski Channel. “They would spend a weekend building a table from a fallen tree or something so simple that became so beautiful,” he remembered.  “It is so sad that she is gone. And it is so sad that Rory has lost such an amazing companion.”

Burke was a six-time champion at the Winter X Games and was scheduled to defend her gold medal in the women’s ski superpipe. Even though both Burke and Bushfield were natives of Canada and lived there in the ski town of Whistler, they were frequent visitors to the slopes of Aspen, where the X Games have been held each year since 2002.

“Sarah was simply one of the sweetest people I have ever met in my life.  Sarah was the Roger Federer of female skiing,” said Bellamy, who is also the founder of The Tennis Channel.  “She was skiing up and down in a halfpipe. When you crash in skiing, you break a collarbone, you shouldn’t die from that.”

ESPN, which presented Burke with the ESPY award for female action sports athlete of the year in 2007, honored the skier with a live tribute during an opening day telecast of the 2012 Winter X Games. A fund has also been set up to help her family with medical expenses.

An East End listing from Brian Hazen

The West End has long been one of Aspen’s most sought-out neighborhoods. For many buyers, the stately Victorians and stunning modern homes along the West End’s leafy streets are the epitome of Aspen living. More and more buyers, though, are looking east, as this previously overlooked part of town experiences a renaissance.

“Some people call it Aspen’s Upper East Side,” jokes Brian Hazen, vice president and broker associate at Mason Morse. And why not? It’s hard to think about gentrification in Aspen. But for a long time the East End was home to some of Aspen’s less glamorous neighborhoods. In recent years, however, some of the area’s aging homes have been replaced with beautiful new houses and townhomes, with a convenience to downtown Aspen that the West End does not have. “In the last five years it’s taken on a new dimension out there,” Hazen says.

However, the biggest changes are yet to come. Much of the east side of downtown is getting a face-lift, with new commercial and mixed-use buildings replacing older, less functional structures. The most revolutionary of these is the new Aspen Art Museum (AAM). Designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban using woven wooden trusses and glass, and with a rooftop sculpture garden, the new art museum will add a cultural anchor to the East End that has been lacking. “With the Wheeler Opera House to the west and the new AAM on the east, Aspen will now have cultural ‘bookends,’” says Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson, CEO, director, and chief curator of the AAM. That could mean plenty of activity on the East End that does not just involve grocery shopping.

“It creates a new vitality in the downtown core,” says Adam Roy, a land use and development planner with David Johnston Architects’ planning and development branch. His firm is working with two major new projects on Spring Street: the redevelopment of the former Stage 3 movie theater into the 625 Aspen project, and the Spring Building. In all, Roy counts eight redevelopment projects on Spring Street, almost simultaneously. “It can be perceived as too much going on at one time, but my hope and expectation is that there is a synergistic opportunity here,” Roy says. “All the different property owners can work to create a vibe.”

For many home buyers, that’s the sort of vibe they’re looking for. The West End boasts being home to The Aspen Institute and near the Aspen Music Festival and School. It has the Red Brick Center for the Arts and Yellow Brick School Building, too. But the East End is also close to downtown restaurants, shopping, and attractions. “The West End will always be very popular,” says Scott Davidson, partner and broker at Aspen Associates Realty Group LLC. “It will probably always be one of the most desirable areas, no question. But the East End will continue to grow in popularity as the inventory gets better and is more inviting to the new buyer, because you can walk to town from [some parts]. It’s all about access.”

That access is important for a lot of home buyers. Many are looking to downsize, Hazen says, so the smaller homes and townhouses on the East End are a perfect fit, and are priced better than in many parts of town. And like in that other Upper East Side, it offers easy access to the action. “Many buyers are more concerned about convenience,” Hazen says, “in some cases walking into town, not [always needing] a car. In the East End, that’s what the amenity is.”

	Brad Reed Nelson crafts iconic pieces with modern functionality
	Chair forms and tools in the Board by Design studio
	Tools of the trade

The idea to design furniture first entered Brad Reed Nelson’s mind at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Maryland. He was 25 at the time and attending a Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia concert.

“I originally wanted to be a fashion designer,” Nelson, 44, says from his Carbondale studio, Board by Design. But the energy he drew from that show inspired him to create well-crafted, innovative furniture.

His latest work includes a line of modern-meets-traditional rockers called the Windsorrondack Rocker. While earning a design degree at Murray State University in Kentucky and a MFA in sculpture at Arizona State University, Nelson was heavily involved in the studio furniture movement—exploring ideas and themes through his opulently designed side tables and other imaginative pieces. Then while working with furniture at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, his focus shifted to reclaimed wood. “Green was the new thing to think about and reclaimed wood was not being utilized by the world,” he says.

The Windsorrondack Rocker represents a partnership of past and present, while also incorporating Japanese and Dutch designs. To make the chair “rock” the way he envisioned, he sought the help of his friend, engineer Garner Lee Britt, who developed the steel frames and rails that give the rockers the right pitch.

Since their introduction, the rockers have garnered both national attention and a loyal following of art collectors. “The metal really makes it groove,” says Sam Harvey, co-owner of the Harvey/Meadows Gallery in Aspen, which sells the Windsorrondacks. “We consider it to be highend artwork that is utilitarian but visually compelling. It can exist as a kind of sculpture, but [it is] also very functional.”

The modern-meets-traditional rocker incorporates bold color and elegance in design. Plus, the ability to interact with the art, by simply sitting and rocking, elevates the work to its full potential.

The rockers come in single- and double-sized, and are suitable for inside or outdoor use. Each is handcrafted in smart-harvested woods: walnut, cherry, and maple for indoors; teak, mahogany, and ash wood for outdoors. The frame is made from powder-coated aluminum, finished in such colors as Inappropriate Pink and Eggplant Purple. “I wanted it to be a rocker that you could put on your front porch and drink lemonade [in while talking] to your best friend,” Nelson says.

Currently, Nelson is working on the first children’s Windsorrondack Rocker and expanding his line of Iwear racks, an ingenious reinvention of an eyeglass display system sold at Aspen’s Radio Boardshop Store and the Aspen Art Museum. Also a bike enthusiast (not to mention Carbondale Clay Center board member and KDNK community-radio host), Nelson created a custom Iwear rack for Lance Armstrong’s 40th birthday.

“I want to make heirloom pieces and stay true to my beliefs,” Nelson says. “I want to make pieces that have their own purpose and own destination, and are really rewarding to the end user.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATT POWER

Meessen De Clercq gallery at Art Positions, Art Basel Miami Beach 2010

Miami’s tony private art collections are a favorite of visitors to the city year-round. These open-to-the-public outposts established by prominent local collectors are clustered around Miami’s Wynwood art district. In December, during Art Basel Miami Beach, private collectors pull out all the stops. “We always try to knock ourselves out with the new winter exhibitions,” says Rubell Family Collection director Juan Roselione-Valdez. In conjunction with ABMB’s 10th anniversary, the following six private collections have mounted a series of beguiling exhibits. With the season’s shows touting the conceptual, it might be best for a visitor to head first to the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation to see “Frames and Documents: Conceptualist Practices,” which traces conceptualism through the 60s, 70s and 80s.

The show draws upwards of 60 pieces from 41 artists in the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros collection to demonstrate the framing of history by the artist and the documentation of memory. A meditative primer, it includes notable works by well-known artists like Vito Acconci, Luis Camnitzer, Marina Abramovic, Gordon Matta-Clark, Sophie Calle, and Louise Lawler. At the de la Cruz Collection Contemporary Art Space, also in the Miami Design District, glimpse works by influential conceptual and performance artists of the 80s, 90s, and today—Gabriel Orozco, Jim Hodges, Ana Mendieta, and Felix Gonzalez-Torres—that continue the chronological and conceptual thread of the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation. “Always interested in what we consider the banal, their works share a delicate conceptual sensibility,” says Rosa de la Cruz. The organizers want to create “a dialogue between the individual artists” chiefly by assembling the works as a gigantic puzzle seen as one unified body of work.Three blocks south, the junction of NE 1st Avenue and NE 39th Street—former site of the Design Miami fair—will be taken over by the towering 24-foot Buckminster Fuller Fly’s Eye Dome and Sir Norman Foster’s Dymaxion car, both on loan from real estate developer and Design Miami principal Craig Robins. A block away at Dacra company headquarters, Robins has an exhibit of his own. The Dacra CEO invited the artist to select pieces from Robins’s own collection to create a show that scatters works by other artists amid Tiravanija’s own.

From there head to World Class Boxing, the Wynwood space that shows works from the collection of Debra and Dennis Scholl, where two iterations of contemporary conceptual art by young artists are on view: local artist Jillian Mayer’s brand-new “Love Trips: A Triptych on Love” and Jack Strange’s “g.” Also in the Wynwood art district, more than 1000 works of art will be unveiled at the Margulies Collection, with sculpture by Nancy Rubins and Yuichi Higashionna, video by David Claerbout, and photographs by John Baldessari in addition to installations by Ernesto Neto, Donald Judd, among others. Finally, at the Rubell Family Collection, the 45,000- square-foot space in 28 galleries features “American Exuberance,” a show that captures the diverse cultures within the United States.

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF ART BASEL

Aspen’s 2010–2011 ski season started with a bang in November, unfurling untracked snow to the powder-starved skiers and snowboarders on Ajax and Snowmass. On the Friday after Thanksgiving, a crew of local skiers sat in Hamilton Sports talking about the day’s conditions on the mountain. Blizzard of Aahhh’s—Greg Stump’s 1988 ski film—played on the ski shop’s televisions, foreshadowing that evening’s premiere of Stump’s newest film, Legend of Aahhh’s.

Stump’s unmistakable voice narrated a memorable scene in the film—the faux competition at Squaw Valley as Glen Plake, Mike Hattrup and Scot Schmidt battle for a spot on the trip to Chamonix. “Watch this line that Schmidt skis,” said Aspen local Chris Davenport excitedly. “I saw this film when I was 16 and I was like, that’s it, that is what I need to be doing. Blizzard of Aahhh’s was like my bible when I was growing up.”

Thanks to compelling storylines, adventure, a rocking soundtrack, iconic narratives, and mind-blowing skiing, Blizzard of Aahhh’s is a staple in every skier’s film library. It’s a timeless film that young park rats and weathered ski bums alike enjoy, which explains the excitement that surrounds Stump’s newest effort. Legend of Aahhh’s debuted at The Wheeler Opera House. Ski-lebrities turned out in droves: John Clendenin, Klaus Obermeyer, Davenport, Teton Gravity Research’s co-founder Dirk Collins, Micah Black and Aspen’s die-hard skiers of all ages came to watch.

Aspen Peak caught up with Stump and Schmidt over a beer at the Limelight Lodge prior to the premiere to talk skiing, filmmaking and inspirations.

ASPEN PEAK: There’s been a lot of talk about Legend of Aahhh’s. What’s the premise and how long was it in the works?
SCOT SCHMIDT: Essentially Legend is the history of ski filmmaking from Stumpy’s perspective. He’s one of the best editors and filmmakers in the biz.
GREG STUMP: It’s been two-and-a-half years in the making, from funding to finish. We use a lot of archived footage, stuff from Teton Gravity Research and Matchstick Productions, interviews with guys like Steve Winter and the late Dick Durrance and a lot of mashups to tell the story of ski films.

Did you know you were a part of something big when you were making it?
GS: I was really just making films for myself. I’ve heard people say things like, “That movie changed my life,” and I think it’s because it was all about escaping and doing what you dreamed about. One of the big reasons why I think people could relate so well was because of the characters—Scot, Glen and Mike.
SS: I was just doing what I do. We used to ski Squaw and the Palisades like that every day.

Who did you guys look up to?
SS: I was inspired by the World Cup Racers of the late 1970s. Guys like Ingemar Stenmark, Phil Mahre and Franz Klammer. I idolized them and learned to ski by studying their techniques.
GS: Well, Scot was our idol, actually. We used to sit in the ski shop and watch Schmidt’s footage from the Warren Miller movies and dream about being able to make a movie with him.

If you two were 25 today and making ski films, what would you be doing?
GS: Honestly, for a long time I didn’t watch any ski films. I didn’t quit working in film—I was doing music videos for Willie Nelson and Neil Young and making Super Bowl commercials with Tony Hawk—but I stopped watching ski films. They were total ski porn. But since I’ve been working on Legend of Aahhh’s, I started watching [them] again. Josh [Berman] at Level1 Productions and the guys at Teton Gravity Research are awesome, but Murray [Weis] and Matchstick Productions [MSP] are technically amazing. I tell kids now that there is no excuse for your video sucking because everything is a keystroke away. But there needs to be more storytelling.
SS: These guys are pushing it way further than we did, but they have to today to get noticed. There’s a lot of boldness out there. I never felt any pressure from the young bucks behind me back then. I have a keen sense for the fine line of control and that’s probably why I’ve never been injured. But there are guys like Nick Martini and Dana Flahr that definitely catch my attention. They have things in perspective and are in control.

Greg, you mentioned storytelling. Is that something you set out to accomplish in your films?
GS: I was always going for it, but I didn’t get focused until Blizzard. I’m not saying I always told a story, either. We came up short with Fistful of Moguls. But I could write and record my own narration, my dad introduced me to theater long before I ever made a ski movie, I had worked in radio since I was young and I skied for Dick Barrymore in Vagabond Skier. So I learned how to do it from the best. I don’t fault these current ski filmmakers for not telling a story, and some guys—like MSP and Level1—are doing it today.

Rumor has it that there was some stress leading up to the premiere of Legend of Aahhh’s…
GS: Serious shit went wrong with one of the computers in LA. I came to Aspen and didn’t have anything to work with. I thought I was done for. My investor, who lives in Aspen, is flying in on his jet, the ski industry is waiting to see what we put together, and I didn’t have a film to work with until about an hour and a half before we were about to screen it. I was just planning on making a game out of it. Like, “Aspen Skiing Company will give you a premier ski pass if you can pick out the five flagrant errors in the film tonight.” That would have been funny since Aspen Skiing Co. had no idea.

What happened?
GS: I called my spiritual advisor, my monk, and asked her to do some serious praying for us. After that, things started working. The hard drive came back to life and started flashing, and I was able to recover most of the film and make the edits. It’s all good now, and I hope people like it.

Trianon Palace Hotel

The luxury travel experts at France Guide Prestige are offering readers a chance to win a three-night stay for two at the lavish Trianon Palace Hotel in Versailles, France. Two round-trip tickets to Paris via Air France, plus breakfasts and two tête-a-tête dinners at Gordon Ramsay's La Veranda are included in the package. Winners will also be invited to the prestigious L’Académie du spectacle équestre, a sort of ballet for the equestrian world, and the Château de Versailles. Visit franceguide.com to enter.

I MOST ADMIRE: Two groups of people: those who are on the ground assisting in times of crises or disasters, and artists.

YOU MAY NOT KNOW I: Grew up in various countries, including Colombia and a small island area off Canada’s coastline.

MY FIRST DAY IN ASPEN WAS SPENT: Having lunch at the Main Street Bakery & Cafe, then driving along Owl Creek Road, overwhelmed by the extraordinary natural beauty of my new home.

MY FAVORITE PLACE IN ASPEN/SNOWMASS IS: Anderson Ranch—really! It is a beautiful jewel of a site, famous for its flowers, wonderful old-log buildings and pervasive sense of creativity, innovation and community.