Mountains of Culture : Come summer, after skiers have fled, the Colorado Rockies come alive with the sound of music and other world-class arts festivals.

Fred and Marjorie Cater give new meaning to life in the Aspen fast lane.

He’s a retired geologist in the deep shade of 75. She’s a part-time secretary old enough to collect Social Security. But they manage to take in at least two concerts a day at the Aspen Music Festival--matinee and evening performances--with a picnic on the grass outside the Music Tent sandwiched between.

For the Caters, it’s all part of savoring what the Rocky Mountains have to offer in the summer: world-class culture. In addition to Aspen, such renowned ski areas as Breckenridge, Telluride and Vail are gathering places for artists to perform ballet, opera, poetry and music ranging from symphony to bluegrass during the summer season.

Summer visitors drink in art near meadows filled with wildflowers, icy cold babbling creeks and sunlight reflected off shiny-clean pine needles. Night skies are overflowing with stars you never guessed were there. No smog. No humidity. No dress codes. Would that there were no traffic: Alas, two-lane Highway 82 leading into Aspen tends to clog near curtain times.

The Caters could choose from any of these Colorado cultural experiences, but Aspen happens be the one closest to their hearts. For 24 years they have made a tradition of savoring every experience possible.

Up at dawn to watch the hot air balloon launch at the Snowmass Balloon Festival nearby. Out on a mountain trail for a brisk walk before meeting friends for a quick breakfast at the Main Street Bakery & Cafe in downtown Aspen. Then off to watch an orchestra, opera or ballet master class (they like to think they can spot the future “greats”). Or maybe to take in a morning rehearsal at the Music Tent.

At noon, Fred leaves the music scene to stalk mountain trout for a couple of hours. Or he joins his wife at a brown bag lunch panel discussion on the lawn of the Historical Society Museum, where artists in denim and T-shirts, unshaved and unmade-up, tell what a life in the arts is really like and fill listeners in on what to expect at curtain time.

The Caters, who are from Denver, are among the older, quieter, more introspective crowd that claims the Colorado ski resorts in summer, when a Rocky Mountain high relates more to IQ than fitness rating. The young crowd’s there, too--art students for the most part--but even the muscled and bronzed set works in a cultural event or two, if only to polish their image between bouts of white-water rafting and hang gliding.

The summer art festivals in the mountains started in Aspen in July, 1949, two years after the ski area opened. The late Chicago industrialist, Walter Paepcke, and his wife, Elizabeth, investors in the Aspen Ski Co., managed to lure the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, Albert Schweitzer and 2,000 others to the then-remote mountain town for what they called the Goethe Bicentennial Convocation and Music Festival.

That first effort to make Aspen a center for artists and intellectuals, as well as skiers, was such a success it spawned a number of other cultural attractions: the nine-week Aspen Music Festival and School (this year June 28-Aug. 25); the Aspen Institute (July 2-Aug. 27); the Aspen Physics Institute (July 3-Aug.28) and the International Design Conference (June 16-21). Other arts--ballet, as well as the Aspen Theatre Company (June 25-Sept. 5)--were introduced beginning in 1969. By then the Paepckes had achieved a kind of alpine intellectual sainthood.

The impact of the cultural blossoming was twofold: The down-at-the heels mining town got a new image and the struggling resort became stronger because the arts kept the town booming during summer. Indeed, the more word got around about the appeal of creating art in an idyllic setting, the higher the quality of artists who responded.

A growing number of ski resorts are learning the Aspen lesson. Laid-back Telluride is host to the famous international film festival over the Labor Day Weekend. Vail has snagged the Bolshoi Ballet Academy of Moscow. And next-door-resort Beaver Creek has the National Repertory Orchestra with former President Jerry Ford narrating Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait.” There’s cowboy poetry at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs and, in honor of his bicentennial, everybody seems to have a little Mozart.

What follows is a sampling of the art offerings this summer in the Colorado Rockies:

ASPEN/SNOWMASS

Among the highlights of the Aspen Music Festival, which will include performances by the Aspen Festival Orchestra and the Aspen Chamber Symphony under the direction of Lawrence Foster, will be guest appearances by such renowned artists as Pinchas Zukerman and Cipa and Misha Dichter. In addition, the Aspen Opera Theater Center season will include two performances of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” at the Wheeler Opera House. The Aspen Music Festival will close its 43rd season (June 28-Aug. 25) with a Mozart marathon weekend (Aug. 23-25) to illustrate the thought that you can never be too rich, too thin or too high on Mozart in Pitkin County.

One incentive for summer visits to ski resorts is the lower overall cost, but “lower” doesn’t necessarily mean inexpensive. Aspen Central Reservations office boasts of $35 to $45 B&Bs;, as well as houses renting for $350 for a seven-night week.

About 10 miles from Aspen’s whirl, Snowmass has art attractions of its own--the Snowmass/Aspen Repertory Theater and the Anderson Ranch Arts Center. Packages start at $45 per person per night for townhouses.

Beware of grocery and gasoline prices in both Snowmass and Aspen. They are considerably higher than in Glenwood Springs, 41 miles down the road toward Interstate 70 and urbanization.

And speaking of price, while individual Aspen performance tickets are pricey, averaging about $25, there is a tradition of free seating on the grass outside the Music Tent on most concert nights. In addition, many rehearsals are free. Even so, it’s easy to run through $300 during a two-night stay, even before you pass through the valley of temptation, also known as the shopping mall. There are few real bargains in Aspen boutiques.

Packages that combine lodging and Festival tickets and transportation to and from Aspen can be good buys. A Music in the Mountains package, starting at $40 per person per night, includes four nights’ lodging and two tickets to the Music Festival.

Aspen Music Tours offers a five-night package that includes deluxe accommodations at the Hotel Aspen, a three-day pass to the festival and round-trip air fare on United Express/Aspen Airways and United Airlines from the West Coast, beginning at $673 plus state and local taxes.

Fred and Marjorie Cater and other veterans of many summers at the Music Festival share the costs of renting a house or condominium in Aspen or nearby Snowmass, then invest in season passes ($395 for the nine-week season) that offer a discount on each event, from concerts to rehearsals to master classes. They dine in for the most part, because even in summer, restaurant tabs add up quickly in resort areas.

BRECKENRIDGE/KEYSTONE

Mozart will break the alliteration barrier at the Breckenridge Music Institute where the theme is Bach, Beethoven and Breckenridge, June 27-July 28. The Festival Chamber Orchestra, plus ensembles and guest artists, will perform varied programs. Better known for its mountain bike trails over Vail Pass, jazz festivals and easy access to sailing on Lake Dillon, Breckenridge proves with this year’s musical menu that it can hold its own as a high altitude cultural draw.

The National Repertory Orchestra at Keystone has grown up from the Blue Jeans Symphony in Estes Park in the early ‘60s, to the Colorado Philharmonic in Evergreen 1966-86, to its present status as the highly respected in-residence summer orchestra at Keystone, east of Vail, where it has been since 1987. The National Repertory will share “Bravo! Colorado” billing with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, July 8-Aug. 7.

VAIL/BEAVER CREEK

Vail Valley locals, eager for a kinder, gentler, more intellectual and more affordable image, are excited about the July arrival of the Bolshoi Ballet Academy of Moscow, which first appeared there in 1990 as a smaller group. The Russian dancers went home last year with tales of meeting real cowboys on outings an hour’s drive away. The cowboys were impressed, too.

This year, Madame Sophia Golovkina, director of the Bolshoi Academy, along with six of her faculty and 25 students from the Moscow school, will conduct classes July 7-Aug. 16. Performances for the public will be Aug. 9-10 and 16-17. And from Japan, the Noh Theater and Bagaku Dancers will give a one-night performance on July 24.

On July 4, the mood will be red, white and blue when part-time Beaver Creek resident and former President Gerald Ford narrates the National Repertory Orchestra’s performance of Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait” at the Beaver Creek Resort Village Green. (Beaver Creek is one of the most upscale developments in the Vail Valley.)

Vail/Beaver Creek will also host chamber music concerts in plush vacation homes, the Beaver Creek Chapel and the Lodge at Vail.

Vail Valley, which includes Vail and Beaver Creek Resorts and a sprinkling of others, has 25,000 beds, the least expensive of which runs about $49 a night in summer. But big spenders may pay $400 per night per person for bed and gourmet meals at the remote Trapper’s Cabin (minimum two-night stay in summer).

CENTRAL CITY/COLORADO SPRINGS/BOULDER

The Central City Opera, in its last season before legalized gambling takes over the town this fall, has scheduled “Tosca,” “Die Fledermaus” and “Romeo and Juliet” for its July 6-Aug. 17 season.

In Colorado Springs, the swanky Broadmoor Hotel, nestled at the foot of Pike’s Peak, will be host to its second annual Great Pikes Peak Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Aug. 2-4.

And while you’re on the Front Range, the flatland east of the Continental Divide, it’s worth a 2 1/2-hour drive north to Boulder to take in the acclaimed Colorado Shakespeare Festival at the Mary Rippon Outdoor Theater at the University of Colorado (June 28-Aug.18). Take a pillow (the amphitheater benches get hard by the fourth act), an umbrella (you never know about Colorado weather) and a serious sweater (temperatures drop like Newton’s apples when the sun goes down).

TELLURIDE

In Telluride, the population will swell by thousands at the 18th annual Bluegrass, Country and Acoustic Music Festival (June 20-23). It seems as if every fiddler, mandolin and banjo player in the country makes it there sooner or later.

Telluride’s high mountain setting, surrounded by challenging peaks and passes, inspires everyone from wild mushroom hunters, to jeep tour adventurers, to art cinema groupies. In addition to the famous 18th Telluride Film Festival (Aug. 30-Sept. 2), Telluride also hosts the Composer to Composer symposium, with premiere performances at the Sheridan Opera House (July 11-14) and a chamber music series (Aug. 8-18). In fact, there seems to be a festival of sorts every week in a Telluride summer.

Accommodations in Telluride during festivals run from $55 for a B&B; to $400 a day for a house, not including tax. Money--or lack of--isn’t a big problem in Telluride. A large percentage of the festival-goers are young outdoor types looking for a party. They come prepared with sleeping bags and head for the campgrounds, where they stage jam sessions of their own, late into the night.

Where is it written that music lovers in the mountains “just listen”?

GUIDEBOOK: Colorado’s Cultural Peaks

Getting there: Fly nonstop from Los Angeles to Denver on United and Continental.

Aspen/Snowmass: About 200 miles southwest of Denver, it’s a four-hour drive via Interstate 70 to Glenwood Springs, then mostly two-lane Colorado 82 to the Snowmass turnoff, before another eight miles to Aspen (still on Highway 82). Alternative route, scenic but spooky for those not used to mountain driving, is I-70 to Highway 91 turnoff to Leadville, then Highway 82 over Independence Pass, entering Aspen by its backdoor that’s closed in winter.

Continental Express and United Express connect Aspen Airport with major airlines at Denver’s Stapleton Airport. Major airlines also fly to Grand Junction, Colo., where connecting ground transportation is available for the 2 1/2-hour drive along I-70.

Call Aspen Central Reservations at (800) 26-ASPEN or (303) 925-9000. For Snowmass accommodations (packages start at $45 per person per night in a condominium), call (800) SNOWMASS.

Aspen Music Festival information: Aspen Central Reservations or write to 425 Rio Grande Place, Aspen, Colo. 81611.

For information on the Aspen Music Tours packages with United Express/Aspen Airways, call (800) 33-ASPEN.

For information on the Aspen/Snowmass Repertory Theater, call (303) 923-3773. For information on the Anderson Ranch Arts Center at Snowmass, call (303) 923-3181.

Vail/Beaver Creek: The Vail Valley, encompassing several resorts along I-70, is a three-hour drive from Denver. For accommodations information, call Vail Valley Central Reservations at (800) 525-3875. For information on the Bolshoi Ballet Academy performances, Aug. 9-10 and 16-17 (tickets priced at $25 and $17.50), contact the Vail Valley Foundation, P.O. Box 309, Vail, Colo. 81658. Telephone (303) 476-9500. For information and reservations for the Bravo! Colorado Music Festival July 8 to Aug. 7, call (800) 477-7602 or write to 953 S. Frontage Road, Suite 104, Vail, Colo. 81657.

Breckenridge/Keystone: Southwest of Denver in Summit County, it’s an easy two-hour drive via I-70 and U.S. 9.

For accommodations information, call (800) 221-1091; for area activity information, call (303) 453-6018. Or write to Activity Center, Box 1909, Breckenridge, Colo. 80424.

The Breckenridge Music Institute Concert & Workshop series runs from June 28 to July 28. Season tickets are $150 for adults, $125 for seniors and students. Individual concert tickets are priced from $5-$12. For more information, call (303) 453-9142 or write to BMI, P.O. Box 1254, Breckenridge, Colo. 80424.

Telluride: In the southwestern part of Colorado, a seven-hour drive from Denver, Telluride Airport is served by Continental Express and United Express from Denver or Mesa Airlines from Albuquerque, N.M., or Phoenix, Ariz.

For festival information, call (303) 728-6079. For accommodations and package information, call Telluride Central Reservations at (800) 525-3455, or write to the Telluride Chamber Resort Assn., P.O. Box 653, Telluride, Colo. 81435.