The Town that Said 'Hell, No!'

Paul Andersen has been a writer for 45 years. He has written fifteen books and hundreds of feature articles for regional magazines. He has been a reporter, editor, regular columnist and contributing writer with the Aspen Times for 36 years.Paul's writing career has earned him credits as a television scriptwriter for ESPN and screenwriter for an IMAX film. He has authored a dozen books on regional history and a collection of fiction short stories, Moonlight Over Pearl. In 2015, his book, High Road to Aspen (2014) won the Colorado Book Award's Gold Medal.In 2005, Andersen co-created Nature & Society, an executive seminar for the Aspen Institute that immerses participants in wilderness while exploring philosophical, literary and historical perspectives on man and nature.In 2013, Paul founded Huts For Vets, a non-profit designed to offer veterans healing opportunities in the wilderness at the 10th Mountain Huts of Aspen. With a context of philosophical readings, veterans find solace from psycho-emotional trauma, post- traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury and military sexual trauma.Paul leads wilderness hikes, culture tours, and moderates the Great Books seminar series for the Aspen Institute. He enjoys reading philosophy and literature, writing poetry 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 was born in Chicago in 1951. He grew up in suburban Glenview, graduated New Trier High School in 1969, and earned a BA degree from Western Colorado University. Paul lives at Seven Castles in the Frying Pan Valley, 25 miles from Aspen, with his psychotherapist wife, Lu Krueger-Andersen. Their son, Tait, and his wife, Sarah, live nearby in Basalt