BETTS: In 1996, I was working in a law firm. One night at dinner I opened a bottle of wine, and when I stuck my nose in the glass I was immediately back on Borgo San Jacopo, in Florence. The next day someone started talking about billable hours and I said, "You know, I think I want to get into food and wine." I left that afternoon.
HARDY: It's a myth that you have to go to culinary school. I dropped out after five months and started volunteering in kitchens. It's all about getting a lot of quality experience.
BETTS: I read and tasted everything I could and moved to Tucson to volunteer as a sommelier.
HARDY: I'm in the restaurant, Montagna at the Little Nell, 60 hours a week; that's not a problem if you have a passion for it. In our business we travel to Italy, New York, San Francisco ... then we come back to Aspen, and every spring we get five weeks off to cycle, fly-fish, climb fourteeners. In the winter? My kitchen is 24 steps from the gondola.
BETTS: I can run, ski, and have a big lunch every day before even thinking about work.