‘Grandpa’s pace’: Niklaus Kuhn completes Highland Bowl hike for 82nd birthday

The bowl is his church.

Aspenite Niklaus Kuhn has hiked the Highland Bowl over 1,700 times, and the goal is 2,000. On Tuesday, he hiked the bowl for the 85th time in his 82nd year of life — a tradition he started last year on his birthday when he hiked the bowl 86 times for his 81st year. 

At a rate of 80 times per year, he is looking at another four years of hiking before he hits his goal, but he’s not worried. Because for him, the bowl is his church, and it is there — standing 12,000 feet above the world — he is closest to God.

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“To me, the Highland Bowl is everything; it’s the healthiest thing a person can do,” he said. “If I can get one young kid off the couch to kind of imitate me, you know, if somebody can do it when he’s 82-years-old, I think any young person should be able to do it.”

Kuhn first started hiking the bowl when he was 65-years-old. Originally from Switzerland, he moved to the US in the ’60s where he worked as Chicago’s youngest chef before moving to Aspen in the early ’70s with his wife, Gertrude. 

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Together, the two managed the Cliffhouse Restaurant on the top of Buttermilk Mountain until 1990 when Kuhn would leave the restaurant business behind for good to become a ski instructor.

After the untimely passing of his wife last year, he now spends as much time as possible with his two sons, Andre and Roget Kuhn, and his three grandchildren, Adrianna, Emma, and Niklaus. He soon plans to travel through Europe with his youngest grandson, but that’s not before squeezing in six weeks of surfing in Hawaii and a week of helicopter skiing in Canada, of course.

“I just like to keep out as long as I can and keep a healthy lifestyle because that’s what’s most important to me,” he said. “It’s a very important thing, and you don’t want to let your body go. I think it’s very important that young people realize health has a lot to do with exercise.”

Exercise had a lot to do with Kuhn’s eventual meeting of valley artist Tamara Susa. Not only a Serbian documentary photographer and filmmaker based in Aspen, she is also a level 2 Certified AASI Snowboard instructor. With both having connections to the ski school, it was only a matter of time before their paths would cross.

“He’s just such a legend up there, everyone knows him,” she said. “He introduced me to everyone anytime we’re there, and everyone in the patrol knows him. I think he’s just like a big inspiration for people. It’s really cool to see the 20-year-olds taking pictures with him at the top of the bowl because everyone wants to be like Niklaus is basically what it’s like. So, I think it’s a very interesting story.” 

Kuhn’s son Roget reached out to Susa two years ago, asking if she would be interested in documenting his dad’s hike. At that time, it was to be his 80th hike for his 80th year, but due to an ankle injury, the event was postponed for the following year. She has been filming him ever since, in fact, she said she planned to be finished filming long by now, but there’s just one problem: Kuhn won’t stop hiking.

While her film is primarily about him, she said along the journey of learning his story, she also started learning the story of the Highland Bowl and its culture, as well. She said it was as she started spending more time with the ski patrol learning the details behind maintaining the bowl and the tremendous community effort involved that her idea about what the film could be started to change.

“I wanted to share that information, not just with our community, but to people that are not from here because I think it’s such a special thing that we have here,” she said. “Having the terrain being controlled by patrol and keeping it safe for us to go and ski up there, I think it’s maybe not something that every other resort gets to claim that they have. I hope that it’s going to be an interesting thing for people to see.” 

For his birthday on Tuesday, Kuhn was surrounded with roughly 50 of his closest friends and family who made the hour-long hike just to see him. Susa said ski patrol helped by bringing the food and champagne while he took care of cake arrangements by baking and decorating one himself because, as Kuhn put it, “That way you know it’s good.” But perhaps the best gift to come from the entire day, however, was getting in another Highland hike with son Roget.

Susa, too, knows the joys of hiking alongside Kuhn. In the two years she’s known him, she estimates having gone on nearly 15 hikes with him that only seem to get better with time. While his continuous hiking may play a role in the film’s delayed completion, she admits to loving his stories so much that she’s never sure when she should stop recording them or if she wants to.

“He has a rule that we always go slow and steady and go ‘grandpa’s pace.’ He has a sign on his backpack that says ’80+, please pass’ and if you’re faster than him, you’re welcome to pass him, but otherwise, he’s not stopping,” she said. “So often, I’d be hiking with him, and when we get to the top of the Heart Attack Hill, people come up to us like, ‘Oh man, I really liked your pace.’ He’s just so proud of that, you know, he’s like, ‘See? Everyone loves grandpa’s pace.'”

With the film now scheduled for a release next fall or winter, Susa is in no rush. Though she’s made shorter films in the past, this will be her first longer project where she’s had to oversee all aspects of filming and editing. But it’s hardly hard work when you love what you do. Whether it’s making films or hiking mountains, she and Kuhn agree, loving what you do in life is key.

Among Kuhn’s many inspiring qualities, Susa said it’s perhaps what he teaches her about staying young that she appreciates the most. Through her time with him, she’s learned the importance of staying active, to stay happy, and stay close to what you love.

“I think it’s something for all of us — we don’t need to retire and feel old; we can just stay young, like Niklaus,” she said. “One of the big things he says is that the bowl is his church, and when he’s up there at the top, he feels like he’s closer to heaven. When his wife died right before his birthday a couple of years ago, I think this became a way for him to honor her.”

When asked if he’ll continue the birthday tradition, Kuhn said it all depends if he can maintain a healthy lifestyle. But, as he explained, when your doctor is asking you for health secrets, there’s a good chance you’re doing something right. From rollerblading to biking to hiking and hitting the gym, he said there are really only three secrets to a happy and healthy life: healthy exercise, healthy diet, and a healthy appreciation for chocolate.

“I have a pretty good life,” he said. “I didn’t have any money when I came to this country, but luckily, I had a good wife. We both worked hard; we invested our money wisely. I cannot reach more than what I have. It’s nice when you can say that.”

To reach Jonson Kuhn, email him at jkuhn@aspentimes.com.