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Paul Andersen

For over 40 years, Paul Andersen has been writing in Aspen, enlightening readers through his award-winning books, screenplays, and newspaper and magazine articles that depict life in this community and the interactions people have with wilderness.

Paul was born in Chicago in 1951 to parents of Danish descent. He grew up in Glenview, a northern suburb and after graduating high school attended Western State College, now Western State University, in Gunnison, Colorado.

He skied Aspen for the first time in 1966 when he was 15. A second Colorado ski trip brought him to Snowmass in spring 1968 for the ski area’s inaugural season. The mountains were soon in his blood and he took a hiatus from school in 1970 to live in Crested Butte, where he immersed himself in this small town, at the time just 300 people.

After college, he was hired as a reporter for the Gunnison Country Times. He then became editor, sole writer and photographer for the Crested Butte Chronicle.

In 1984, he applied to the Aspen Times and was summoned for a job interview. Loading up his mountain bike, he rode two days over remote high passes and presented himself to editor Mary Hayes and publisher Bil Dunaway, who hired him on the spot.

During his subsequent 40-year writing career in Aspen, Paul has written hundreds of articles and eighteen books. He’s covered numerous beats, including county government and the entire cultural campus of Aspen. Developing a close affiliation with the Aspen Institute inspired Andersen in 2008 to co-create with former Aspen Mayor John Bennett the “Wilderness Seminar,” an outdoor-based program at the 10th Mountain Hut System. He started the non-profit Huts For Vets in 2013 to help U.S. veterans heal from service related trauma.

Paul’s book, The High Road to Aspen won the Colorado Book Award’s Gold Medal. Recent books are Moonlight Over Pearl, featuring short stories about Aspen, and The Town That Said, ‘Hell, No!, which tells the story of Crested Butte’s fight for its soul. In 2024, he wrote a 10-part series, “In Search of Community,” for Aspen Journalism that is now in book form. He is currently publishing Elevations, his first book of poetry.

Paul continues leading wilderness hikes and Aspen culture tours for Aspen Institute seminar groups, enlivening participants with historical insights and philosophical values. He also curates and moderates the annual Great Books seminar series. On his own time, he enjoys reading philosophy and literature and playing guitar, piano and drums. He hikes, skis and bikes the mountains and deserts of the American West and beyond. Self-supported bicycle tours have led him across Europe, Eurasia and the Middle East.

Andersen and his wife, Lu, live at Seven Castles in the Frying Pan Valley, 25 miles from Aspen. Their 32-year-old son, Tait, his wife, Sarah, and their 14-month-old son, Axel, live nearby in Basalt.