Aspen Snowmass is opening for the Summer Season.

A family enjoying the outdoors in Aspen Mountain. Copyright: Aspen Skiing Company. Aspen Snowmass is opening for the Summer Season.

Aspen Snowmass is opening for the Summer Season.

Great news as Aspen and Snowmass are opening for the Summer Season. Aspen Mountain will open on June 12, while Snowmass will do so on June 21. Camp Snowmass will open on June 15.
 
A family hiking under the Silver Queen Gondola in Aspen. Photo: Aspen Skiing Company. Aspen Snowmass is opening for the Summer Season.
A family hiking under the Silver Queen Gondola in Aspen. Photo: Aspen Skiing Company. Aspen Snowmass is opening for the Summer Season.
Aspen is in my heart as I was lucky enough to live there for a while. Beautiful town, lovely people and amazing views. There is lots going on to keep you busy! This summer new policies and operating guidelines will be in place to protect guests. And also protect employees.

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What will open in Aspen Snowmass for the summer

There will be opportunities of sightseeing, riding gondolas, hiking and mountain biking. Or you can ride the mountain coaster. You can choose to be as active or lazy as you want. By seating and staring at the mountains, you can forget about daily chores!
The Lost Forest mountain coaster. Aspen Snowmass is opening for the Summer Season.
The Lost Forest mountain coaster. Aspen Snowmass is opening for the Summer Season.
On June 12, the Silver Queen gondola will start running from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to go up Aspen Mountain. There you will have a chance to do some sightseeing, play disc golf or hike. You can take a nature program offered by the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies. Or ride up the cablecar to take your kids to play at the children’s play area. Going up and down the gondola is a great day out, at least for my kids!
Some food and beverage services will be available, all with strict social distancing. The operations on Aspen Mountain will run daily till September 7 and then on weekends till October 4.

Aspen Skiing Company Announces New Partnership with Taiga Motors

Taiga - Aspen's route. Photo by Taiga Motors. Aspen Skiing Company Announces New Partnership with Taiga Motors

Aspen Skiing Company Announces New Partnership with Taiga Motors

For the 2019-20 winter season, Aspen Skiing Company (ASC) enters a new partnership with Taiga Motors that will introduce electric snowmobiles to the resort with the goal of efficiently accelerating the transition to more sustainable mountain operations vehicles.

Taiga Motors Eikko specs. Photo: Taiga Motors.  Aspen Skiing Company Announces New Partnership with Taiga Motors
Taiga Motors Eikko specs. Photo: Taiga Motors. Aspen Skiing Company Announces New Partnership with Taiga Motors

ASC was selected to participate in the Flagship Partner Program which gives rights to test out a new, Taiga Motors electric snowmobile. The program helps showcase the commitment of ski resort brands leading the charge towards increased winter sports sustainability.

“We are thrilled to be at the forefront of a new wave of sustainability and are looking forward to someday having a full electric fleet of snowmobiles at our resort,” says Greg Hoffman, lift maintenance director, Aspen Skiing Company. “The electric sled is a great fit for a ski area since we are going downhill close to half the time and the batteries charge when going downhill. When the battery charges it slows the sled down which keeps the operator from riding the brakes and causing a potential failure.”

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Audi Power of Four Ski Mountaineering Race Mar. 2-3

Audi Power of Four Ski Mountaineering Race Mar. 2-3 - New United States Ski Mountaineering Association National Championship. Photo courtesy of Aspen Skiing Company.

Audi Power of Four Ski Mountaineering Race Mar. 2-3 – New United States Ski Mountaineering Association National Championship

 For the ninth year in a row, Aspen Snowmass, is scheduled to host the Audi Power of Four Ski Mountaineering Race Saturday, Mar. 2. For athletes not quite ready to take on the full course, participants have the option to race the Power of Two that covers the last two mountains of the full route, Aspen Highlands and Aspen Mountain.

New this year, The Power of Four will play host to the National Championships for both the team and vertical disciplines.

Snowmass Burnt Mountain Climb. Photo: Aspen Skiing Company. Audi Power of Four Ski Mountaineering Race Mar. 2-3. New United States Ski Mountaineering Association National Championship.
Snowmass Burnt Mountain Climb. Photo: Aspen Skiing Company. Audi Power of Four Ski Mountaineering Race Mar. 2-3. New United States Ski Mountaineering Association National Championship.

The new Vertical Race will take place on Aspen Mountain Sunday, Mar. 3 with a 7 a.m. start at the base of the mountain. Racers will skin roughly 2,000 feet to the finish line and awards will be held at the base after the race.

“We are excited to be selected as the host resort for two of this year’s national championship events” says, Daragh Kneeshaw, events marketing manager, Aspen Skiing Company. “As the race grows in popularity each year, we are ready to welcome and watch the top athletes in the US compete on our home stage.”

The Audi Power of Four Ski Mountaineering Race is the winter edition of the Power of Four series that includes both a bike and run race in the summer. The ski mountaineering event tests athlete’s endurance as they race in teams of two across all four area mountains on a grueling course that covers 24 miles and more than 10,000 feet of vertical climb. Teams start in Snowmass Village at 6 a.m., traverse to West Buttermilk, skin up Aspen Highlands, including Highland Bowl, ski down the backside of Aspen Highlands along the Congo Trail, skin up Midnight Mine Road and proceed to ski down the front side of Aspen Mountain to complete the race in Gondola Plaza.

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ASPEN SKIING COMPANY RELEASES 2018 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT In the style of Stan Lee

Snowmaking. Photo: Aspen Skiing Company. ASPEN SKIING COMPANY RELEASES 2018 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT In the style of Stan Lee.

 

ASPEN SKIING COMPANY RELEASES 2018 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT in the style of Stan Lee

Departing from its usual format, Aspen Skiing Company’s (ASC) twelfth Sustainability Report is a graphic novel. The report highlights Aspen’s history and details the company’s story of how sustainability became one of ASC’s principal efforts.

Photo: Aspen Skiing Company. ASPEN SKIING COMPANY RELEASES 2018 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT In the style of Stan Lee.
Photo: Aspen Skiing Company. ASPEN SKIING COMPANY RELEASES 2018 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT In the style of Stan Lee.

The report follows ASC’s founding, its journey to find a mission beyond skiing, and the impact of the 2016 election on the company’s renewed commitment to community and the environment. It concludes with ASC’s very public stance in support of tolerance and climate action, and the resulting Give a Flake campaign, which evokes Elie Wiesel’s advice that: “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere.”

More benignly, in true Sustainability Report form, the 2018 version includes data on ASC’s carbon emissions and philanthropic contributions.

“Nobody reads corporate sustainability reports – they’re too boring,” says Auden Schendler, senior vice president of sustainability and one of the report authors. “We decided it’s less important to deliver every detail. Instead, we try to tell the story of our strategic and philosophical evolution, with Batman-style graphics.”

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Aspen Snowmass Receives up to Eight Inches of New Snow Overnight

Photo: Aspen Snowmass. Aspen Snowmass Receives up to Eight Inches of New Snow Overnight.

Aspen Snowmass Receives up to Eight Inches of New Snow Overnight

Overnight Powder Pancake Day at Aspen Highlands

Aspen Snowmass Snowpack at 120% of Median

Aspen Snowmass welcomed eight inches of new snow overnight Wednesday at Aspen Highlands followed by Snowmass with seven inches, Aspen Mountain with five inches and Buttermilk with three inches.

Photo: Aspen Snowmass. Aspen Snowmass Receives up to Eight Inches of New Snow Overnight.
Photo: Aspen Snowmass. Aspen Snowmass Receives up to Eight Inches of New Snow Overnight.

Since Aspen Highlands received eight inches of new snow, it was announced as a Powder Pancakes day at the mountain. Free pancakes will be handed at Merry-Go-Round restaurant, located mid-mountain on Aspen Highlands, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. this morning. This takes place every time an Aspen Snowmass mountain receives eight inches or more of new snow overnight.

As of today, the Aspen Snowmass snowpack is at 120% of median with 3,960 acres of terrain open across all four resorts.

For the detailed snow report, visit www.aspensnowmass.com/our-mountains/snow-report.

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Snowmaking Operations Underway at Aspen Snowmass for the 2018-19 Season

Ajax - Aspen Mountain Snowmaking -picture by Dan Bayer. Aspen Skiing Company. Snowmaking Operations Underway at Aspen Snowmass for the 2018-19 Season

Snowmaking Operations Underway at Aspen Snowmass for the 2018-19 Season

 Up to 11 Inches of New Snow in the Last 48 Hours

ASPEN SNOWMASS, Colo.—Nov. 1, 2018—Last night, Aspen Snowmass officially kicked-off snowmaking operations in preparation for the 2018-19 season. With the necessary sustained cool temperatures, the snow guns were fired-up starting the highly-anticipated countdown to the ski/ride season. Aspen Mountain and Snowmass are scheduled to open Nov. 22 followed by Aspen Highlands and Buttermilk Dec. 8.

A lonely snowmaker working in Ajax. Photo: Dan Bayer. Aspen Skiing Company. Snowmaking Operations Underway at Aspen Snowmass for the 2018-19 Season
A lonely snowmaker working in Ajax. Photo: Dan Bayer. Aspen Skiing Company. Snowmaking Operations Underway at Aspen Snowmass for the 2018-19 Season

“All of our systems are tested and ready and you should hear the sounds of snowmaking on the streets of Aspen. Bootpacking has started, our maintenance projects are wrapping up and our teams are preparing the mountains for opening day,” says Katie Ertl, senior vice president of mountain operations for Aspen Snowmass.

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Aspen to “Give A Flake” In New Ad Campaign

wwwMattpowerphotography.com Jan 27, 2017 Aspen Mountain Groomer Shoot Klug, Packey, Tucker, Seth

KSNO News – With its 2018-19 national advertising campaign—Give A Flake—Aspen Snowmass has once again departed from traditional ski resort marketing. Rather than enticing potential visitors to Aspen Snowmass with pictures of blue skies and bountiful snow, the campaign instead invites them to join the ski resort in becoming activists on behalf of climate change and equal rights.

Aspen Snowmass created Give A Flake in conjunction with Karsh Hagan, a Denver-based marketing, design and technology company that worked with Aspen Snowmass to produce 2017-18’s The Aspen Way, laying the groundwork for this year’s campaign.

The Give a Flake campaign that Aspen has launched as a political campaign this season.
The Give a Flake campaign that Aspen has launched as a political campaign this season.

“Our founding vision, the Aspen Idea, was never about escaping reality or retreating from the world’s challenges. That’s why we are taking the bold step of launching the Give A Flake campaign,” says Mike Kaplan, president and CEO, Aspen Skiing Company. “This is not just an advertising slogan, rather it’s an all-out call to action. Collectively, we are a powerful voice, and by using it, we can make a difference.”

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Finally the new company of KSL and Henry Crown company has a new name: Alterra Mountain Company!

Squaw Valley Funicular - Alterra Mountain Resorts. Skier Visits Top 59 Million in US Ski Areas for the 2018/19 Ski Season.

Finally the joint venture formed by KSL Capital Partners and Henry Crown and Company has been named as Alterra Mountain Company. Based in Denver, Alterra has now under its belt 12-mountain resorts across North America, many of which purchased last year. Until today, this new company was being called ‘NewCo’ and today their new name has come out to light.

Steamboat Resort - Barn - Photo: Loryn Kaster - Alterra Resorts
Steamboat Resort – Barn – Photo: Loryn Kaster – Alterra Mountain Company

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