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Aspen Ski Resort

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Ski Free In Aspen With Killer Hotel Deals

Think you can’t afford Aspen? Think again. Two of the most elite hotels in town are offering can’t-miss winter season packages that include free ski passes.

It’s part of a “ski free” promotion designed to draw visitors back to the Rockies after last year’s notoriously dry winter. Happily, this year looks good, as I can attest from an Aspen visit earlier in the week, and the town is buzzing with holiday festivities.

Local favorite The Little Nell is offering two separate packages for skiers. “Ski Free” gives guests who stay three nights or longer up to two free lift tickets (by comparison, a two-day, seven-day advance purchase adult pass will run you $202, high season) per day. The “Ultimate Ski Free” package: Stay four nights, and ski gratis at all four mountains of Aspen/Snowmass (Aspen, Aspen Highlands, Snowmass, and Buttermilk), on top-of-the-line demo equipment. A full-day private lesson is also included.

The newly revamped, groovilicious Limelight Hotel is doing its own “Ski Free” special, in addition to offering complimentary snowshoes to all guests. The ski package includes up to two free lift tickets per day (good at all four mountains), with a three-night minimum stay, based upon availability; some blackout dates apply.

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Aspen Ski Company Harnesses Methane From Coal Plant for Energy

Another ski area has harnessed the power of methane to create electricity — but this time much less manure is involved.

Aspen Ski Co. has partnered with Elk Creek coal mine, Holy Cross Energy and Vessels Coal Gas to harness the methane gas vented from the coal mine in Somerset.

The mine typically would vent the methane — a greenhouse gas that is more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat the in atmosphere — to protect the safety of the mine workers. By capturing the previously wasted gas, the 3 megawatt project can produce about the same amount of energy Aspen Ski Co. uses in a season: 24 million kilowatt hours, according to the ski company.

In a report on sustainability efforts, the company states that the project eliminates three times as much greenhouse pollution — in the form of methane — as the resort produces each year.

The switched was flipped on the generator Nov. 9, and power from a truck engine burning methane from the mine began to hit the utility grid.

Aspen Ski Co. reports that it invested $5.5 million in the project.

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Nation’s Ski Areas and U.S. Forest Service Fight Over Water Rights

Ski-area operators and their federal landlord faced off in federal court Thursday, arguing over ownership of the resorts’ rights to water they use for snowmaking and other purposes.

Last year the Forest Service introduced a new rule in its ski-area permitting process that required ski areas to transfer some water rights to the federal government, arguing the water should stay connected to the publicly owned land. The Lakewood-based National Ski Areas Association — or NSAA — sued, calling the new permitting condition a federal takeover of private property that ski areas acquired legally through state water courts.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge William Martinez entertained oral arguments from both sides in a case that could decide the fate of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of ski-area water rights.

Click here to read the entire article. 

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Aspen Skiing Co. Helps Its Workers Weather The Slow Start

Aspen Skiing Co. revived an effort Tuesday to take care of its own at a tough time.

Skico offered free dinner at Bumps Restaurant at the base of Buttermilk to employees who had their work schedule altered because of lack of snow.

“We had 88 people there,” said Jim Laing, Skico vice president of human resources and retail operations. “With social media, word just got out fast.”

The diners were predominantly seasonal employees who are new in town and scraping by on limited funds, he said. There were also a handful of longtime Skico workers present. Some workers have had their hours reduced; others haven’t been needed yet. Many employees are going through training related to their positions — ranging from the proper way to load a chairlift to learning about the merchandise in Skico’s Four Mountain Sports stores to guest services at a hotel. They get paid for that training, Laing said.

Click here to read the entire article. 

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Meteorologist Forecasts Good Start to Ski Season

In October, skiers and riders had high hopes for winter after Aspen and other Colorado ski resorts got hit with a big snowstorm early in the month. The season quickly petered out, though, with lower-than-average snowfall and higher-than-average temperatures.

Meteorologist Jack Boston doesn’t think skiers will be heartbroken two years in a row.

“You had that early-season wallop and then nothing much after that. This year is going to be different,” said Boston, expert senior meteorologist with AccuWeather, a weather service with headquarters in State College, Pa.

Boston said conditions will be favorable for snowfall in the Colorado mountains starting in late September and continuing through at least November. Ski resorts should be able to build up a decent snowpack early in the ski season, he said.

Click here to read the entire article.

 

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Most Aspen-Snowmass Ski Pass Prices Up $40

It will cost Aspen Skiing Co. customers $25 to $50 more to hit the slopes in the coming winter if they purchase season passes by the “super-early” deadline of Sept. 14.

Skico officials feel that the economy has bounced back to the point where customers can absorb a modest increase in pass prices, said company spokesman Jeff Hanle. In addition, Skico’s costs of doing business continue to go up, so it needs additional revenue, he said.

Skico raised the price of the Premier Pass from $1,549 last season to $1,599 for the coming season. That $50 increase was the largest for any ski pass.

Customers who can purchase ski passes as employees of businesses that belong to local chambers of commerce get the customary discount. Chamber-related Premier Passes increased from $1,139 last season to $1,179 this season. Click here to read the entire article.