<p class="ingestion featured-caption">A 3,700-acre monastery in Snowmass, Colorado, is on the market for $150 million.Camera Head Media</p><ul class="summary-list"><li>A monastery compound on over 3,700 acres near Aspen, Colorado, is on the market $150 million. </li><li>There aren't many monks left, and the land near the ritzy ski town is mostly used as a ranch. </li></ul><p>A 3,720-acre ranch in Snowmass, Colorado — a ski<strong> </strong>town 15 miles north of Aspen — is on the market for $150 million.</p><p>Its current owner is St. Benedict's Monastery, which no longer has enough monks to support itself<strong> </strong>and is looking for buyers who want a lot of land close to the slopes.</p><p>Listing agent Ken Mirr, who specializes in ranches, knows how rare a property like this is.</p><p>"It is such a unique landscape. Somebody will sit there and go, 'Wow, there's nothing like this,'" Mirr told Business Insider. "You're not going to duplicate it."</p><p>Mirr, of Mirr Ranch Group, shares <a target="_blank" class href="https://michaellatousek.elliman.com/sales/detail/594-l-681-91_183340/1012-monastery-road-snowmass-co-81654#">the listing</a> with Michael Latousek of Douglas Elliman.</p><p>The Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance, a Roman Catholic religious order colloquially known as the Trappists, bought the property in 1956 for an unknown price. It built the original monastery in 1958.</p><p>Early on, the monks supported themselves by cattle ranching, making candy, and selling eggs to local restaurants and farmers. Later, they tapped a local cattle rancher to do the physical work with livestock on the land.</p><p>The monastery includes a chapel, prayer areas, and living quarters for the monks. The compound added more buildings since the 1950s, including a retreat center hosting events.</p><p>The late <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.5280.com/father-thomas-keating-rebel-cause/">Reverend Thomas Keating</a> founded the Snowmass Interreligious Conference in 1984, bringing regular interfaith retreats to St. Benedict's. The space has also been used by the Aspen Institute, Mirr said, which hosts the yearly <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/airbnb-ceo-ai-will-start-changing-daliy-life-soon-2024-6">Aspen Ideas Festival</a> that is attended by business executives, public officials, and other thinkers.</p><p>The property might sound like the perfect location for an <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-planning-lake-tahoe-compound-2024-6">ultrawealthy buyer to erect a massive family compound</a>. But Pitkon County, where Snowmass and Aspen are located, won't let large developments be built without scrutiny.</p><p>The county has caucuses that uphold its laws and approve land uses. In Snowmass, the caucus approved a 5,750-square-foot limit to the floor area of homes — so putting up an extra-large megamansion on the ranch is out of the question.</p><p>The county is known for oversized luxury homes that trade for handsome sums — a 22,405-square-foot mansion in Aspen sold for a record-setting <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.aspentimes.com/news/108-million-home-sale-eclipses-last-weeks-record-setting-aspen-sale/">$108 million in April</a> to an LLC called Buddies Aspen, which the Wall Street Journal reported is <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/luxury-homes/aspen-colorado-110-million-home-sale-759b70bb">a powerful duo</a>: billionaire financier Thomas Peterffy and former casino developer Steve Wynn.</p><p>Mirr said he has already turned away buyers who are not the right fit for the property. He and the monastery leadership<strong> </strong>are looking for someone who want to do a little with a lot.</p><p>"There's going to be a limited buying pool, and we understand that," Mirr said. "Our focus really is to look at a conservation buyer ultimately who can work with the code and work with the open space."</p>