Tourist Office

Aspen Skiing Company
PO Box 1248
Aspen
Colorado
USA
CO 81611

Telephone: (970) 9251220
Website: www.aspensnowmass.com

Description

Located 12 miles (18km) from Aspen and sharing its lift pass, Snowmass offers 95% ski-in lodging and free postcards and stamps to anyone wanting to write home about their experiences on North America’s longest half-pipe. In 1997 the installation of a high altitude surface lift to access the powder filled bowls of the Cirque, previously only available with the aid of a snowcat or a hike, gave it the highest lift in the USA and the biggest lift-served skiable vertical in the country (taken from Big Sky Montana). The lift operates 60 – 75 days of the year accessing terrain suited to intermediates or experts. The idea of the limited access is to prevent over-exploitation of the terrain and a surface lift can operate in the windy conditions that are sometimes present and which could stop a chair.

Review

The largest of Aspen’s skiing areas, Snowmass is more than 4 times the size of either Aspen Mountain or Aspen Highlands. With more than 3,010 acres of skiing and snowboarding terrain it’s a family favourite with hundreds of acres of beginner trails, steep and deeps, wide open cruisers, endless moguls, terrain parks and half-pipes. It also has the advantage of easy slope access with 95% of its accommodation ski-in/ski-out.

Snowmass officially opened to skiers in 1967 as a joint venture of Aspen Skiing Corporation and Janss Corporation. The development of Snowmass cost $10 million and converted the Brush Creek area, 12 miles west of Aspen, from what had previously been ranchlands into a planned ski resort complete with water-heated access road named appropriately “Snowmelt Road”.

At one time it was silver which brought Aspen prosperity. Silver mining peaked in 1892 when Aspen was the largest silver producing district in the nation with a population of 12,000. The demonetisation of silver in 1893 put Aspen into a rapid economic decline with the closing down of many of the mines and farming and ranching becoming the mainstays of the local community. It was in one of the few remaining mines that the world’s largest silver nugget, weighing 2,200lbs was discovered in 1894. During what is now known as the “Quiet Years”, Aspen’s population hit an all-time low of only 700 residents who had become a quiet, close-knit community full of local characters.

In 1936 Swiss ski racer Andre Roch mapped out the first run on Aspen Mountain and the locals built a 10-passenger boat tow, powered by an old mine hoist and truck engine and cut the first ski run – Roch Run. Aspen received international acclaim in 1950 when it hosted the first FIS World Alpine Championships in North America. It was in 1958 that William Janss, a former ski racer and land developer first became interested in Snowmass and purchased the majority of the land at its base – 17 years after having first visited Aspen to compete in the National Alpine Championships.

The first organised skiing took place on Snowmass that year, 1958, with Aspen Ski Corporation offering snowcat powder tours on the Big Burn and Sam’s Knob. At that time there were 5 chairlifts and 80km/50 miles of trails. The Elk Camp area was developed and opened to skiers in 1971 while the Two Creeks area opened in 1995 providing a second gateway to the mountain.

Snowmass has the second highest lift served skiing terrain in North America, serviced by the country’s first environmentally friendly wind-powered lift. Not burning fossil fuels to run the lift keeps 40,000 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, thats the equivalent of planting 17 acres of trees or not driving 95,000 miles. To protect wildlife, the lift was built between mating and nesting periods and to protect the land, workers carried equipment up the mountain on foot.

The Cirque at Snowmass is legendary among advanced skiers and boarders, at 3,813m/12,310ft above sea level it provides a breathtaking experience. When it really snows at this point it is almost impossible to see the tips of your skis.

The ski run served by the Cirque was renamed Rocky Mountain High in 1998 in tribute to the late John Denver who was a regular on the mountain.

keywords

Ajax Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk, Snowmass, Tiehack, Pitkin County, USA, Colorado, Rockies, Rockys, Rocky Mountains

Tourist Office

Aspen Skiing Company
PO Box 1248
Aspen
Colorado
USA
CO 81612

Telephone: (970) 9251220
Website: www.aspensnowmass.com

Description

Few can agree on the world’s greatest ski resort, but most would have Aspen in their top five, like St Moritz, just because of its reputation. Apart from being a remarkable resort, dripping with wealth, Aspen has great skiing over four mountains, a world-class lift system and more alternative things to do (underground loco pulled silver mine tours for example ) than anywhere else. Aspen Highlands offers one of the biggest verticals in North America (Snowmass has the biggest in the US), and both it and Aspen Mountain have plenty of expert terrain. Beginners have their own mountain – Buttermilk. Snowmass Village is a semi-autonomous resort, 12 miles from Aspen valley. It has immediate access to the most black and double black diamond skiing in area and offers 95% slopeside lodging.

Review

Aspen has established itself over many years as one of the world’s leading ski resorts, with a reputation for superb skiing for all standards and for being a lively and diverse ski town. Although it also has a deserved reputation for being one of the few winter sports destinations for the world’s rich and super-rich, the Aspen Skiing Company, which owns all four of Aspen’s ski areas, is keen to point out that it’s possible to ski Aspen “on a budget”. About two thirds of Aspen’s visitor beds are located in Aspen itself, while most of the remainder are 12 miles (20km) down the road at Snowmass, where 95% of the accommodation is slope-side. There is a third development, the newest, at Aspen Highlands.

Given its status, it is not surprising that Aspen tends to be in the ski world headlines for one reason or another every year. In 1997/’98 it was for taking the “Biggest Lift-served Skiable Vertical in the US” crown from Big Sky in Montana, after Aspen added a high altitude surface lift to open up the powder bowls of the Cirque, high above Snowmass.

Aspen’s fame actually dates back to a time before skiing, although it was only settled as recently as the 1880s, having originally been a summer destination of the Ute Indians. Prospectors arrived in 1879 and within 15 years the town was the largest silver mining district in America, producing a sixth of the national and a sixteenth of the world’s silver needs. It had hydro-electrically powered mines, a primitive cable car /cable tram for miners and ore, a railroad link, an opera house, a population of 12000 and six newspapers. Mining decreased at the turn of the century but Aspen was resurrected as a ski resort in the mid 1940s.

keywords

Ajax, Aspen Highlands, USA, Colorado, Pitken, Aspen Mountain, Buttermilk, Tiehack, Snowmass

Tourist Office

Aspen Skiing Company
PO Box 1248
Aspen
Colorado
USA
CO 81611

Telephone: (970) 9251220
Website: www.aspensnowmass.com

Description

Few can agree on the world’s greatest ski resort, but most would have Aspen in their top five, like St Moritz, just because of its reputation. Apart from being a remarkable resort, dripping with wealth, Aspen has great skiing over four mountains, a world-class lift system and more alternative things to do (underground loco pulled silver mine tours for example ) than anywhere else. Aspen Highlands, the last to comre under the joint aspen ownership, offers one of the biggest verticals in North America (Snowmass has the biggest in the US), and one of the world’s newst lift systems. A base village is currently undrer construction here. Both it and Aspen Mountain have plenty of expert terrain. Beginners have their own mountain – Tiehack. Snowmass Village is a semi-autonomous resort, 12 miles from Aspen valley. It has immediate access to the most black and double black diamond skiing in area and offers 95% slopeside lodging.

keywords

Ajax, Aspen, Highlands, Buttermilk, Tiehack, Snowmass, Pitkin, USA, Colorado, The Rocky Mountains, Rockys, Rockies

Tourist Office

Aspen Skiing Company
PO Box 1248
Aspen
Colorado
USA
CO 81611

Telephone: (970) 9251220
Website: www.aspensnowmass.com

Description

Buttermilk is one of Aspen’s four ski areas. Not lift-linked to the other three, it is a short drive from Aspen resort off the road to Snowmass and has a reoputation as a beginners ski area of a very high standard. However it also has little known powder stashes off its black diamond runs – often under used because Buttermilk does not have a toiugh mountain reputation to attract black diamond skiers. The area has also built up a reputastion with boarders, having a 3km (2 mile) long terrain park added in 2000.

keywords

Ajax, Aspen, Highlands, Buttermilk, Tiehack, Snowmass, Pitkin, USA, Colorado, The Rocky Mountains, Rockys, Rockies

Americans are still flocking to Vail and other Colorado resorts instead of Canada or Europe.

An annual survey of the ski vacation market in the United States has revealed some interesting stats in booking patterns for some of the biggest buyers in North American skiing.

The National Ski Club Newsletter carried out their eighth annual survey which showed that Colorado continued to dominate the ski club market, with Vail, Telluride, and Steamboat all sharing the top of the list with a six per cent market share each. Snowmass, Breckenridge, Crested Butte, Whitefish, Heavenly, Taos, and Banff each sold four per cent of ski club trips this season.

Continue reading ‘Americans choosing Banff over Whistler, and Colorado above all: study’

An optional environmental levy introduced in Aspen on seasonal and day tickets this past year has brought in almost $7,000 (US) in revenue towards an as yet unspecified environmental spend by the Colorado Carbon Fund, run by the state Governor’s Energy Office.
Over 2,000 skiers and boarders who wanted to paid an extra $2 for a day pass or $20 for a full season ticket which was contributed to the fund.
The fund was set up last summer and has received several hundred thousand dollars in contributions from hundreds of individual and corporate donors. It has not yet decided what will be its first project but expects to shortly.

Click here to read more stories about the Environment.

In Snowmass and Aspen, the covers are set to come off the turnstiles on November 27 as the lifts start cranking up skiers for a fresh new season, as the region recently unveiled the skiing calendar for the 2008-09.
The traditional sanctioned events will be there with the Women’s World Cup set to kick things off from November 28-30, on Aspen Mountain. ESPN Winter X Games return to Aspen/Snowmass on Buttermilk for the seventh consecutive year, January 22-25, 2009.
Buttermilk will also introduce a new Olympic sanctioned 22-foot half pipe next season, which adds four additional feet to each wall of the pipe, sending skiers and riders higher than ever.
Aspen Highlands will add 18 additional acres of skiing and riding in the Deep Temerity area of the mountain called Canopy Cruiser.
The 2007/2008 season was a record snowfall season for the region with 1,142 cm/11.4 meters/ falling over the six month winter despite a disappointing start to the winter.