June 2018

90 91 LOCAL KNOWLEDGE, GLOBAL REACH SLIFER SMITH & FRAMPTON REAL ESTATE R ecreational snow skiing first came to Summit County, Colorado in December, 1961, when the Peak 8 Ski Area opened for business at Breckenridge. In neigh- boring Eagle County, the Vail Ski Resort opened its doors in 1962. Both resorts were owned by Vail Associates, a company established by Pete Seibert, a former ski trooper for the U.S. army in World War II, and Earl Eaton— two ski patrol guides at Aspen who were looking to find the “next great ski mountain.” Today, the company is known as Vail Resorts, and it’s the premier mountain resort company in the world. Rod Slifer was a ski instructor and realtor who start- ed selling properties for Vail Associates out of the lobby of the Lodge at Vail, the same year that it Slifer Smith & Frampton Real Estate AT A GLANCE SLIFER SMITH & FRAMPTON REAL ESTATE WHAT: A real estate sales company in the Colorado ski resort sector WHERE: Avon, Colorado WEBSITE: www.vailrealestate.com