It’s a Tuesday morning in early January and there’s fresh snow on the Colorado mountains but inside the Off the Beaten Path bookstore café no one’s dressed to ski. An older couple read morning papers. Two middle-aged women chat and laugh. Several people sit alone, sipping coffee and typing on laptops. Smile and they’ll probably smile back.

Welcome to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, a town on the Yampa River 160 miles north-west of Denver that’s known to visitors for its 3,000 acres of world-class skiing but valued by locals for its sense of place, history and diversity.