aspen to REOPEN this weekend!

[skiadikt]

Aspen/Snowmass, CO., June 9, 2008 – Aspen Skiing Company announced today that it will open the top of Aspen Mountain for skiing this weekend, June 13-15, 2008. Record winter snowfall has left the top of the mountain covered in snow as the traditional summer operating season begins. With an average depth of more than three feet on upper slopes, the mountain will open with seven runs and about 45 acres of mostly intermediate terrain, served by the Ajax Express chairlift.

“We are a skiing company,” said Mike Kaplan, president and CEO, Aspen Skiing Company. “We have the unique opportunity to offer skiing and riding as we open for our summer season, and we thought it would be a great way to have some fun and once again thank the community for all their support.”

The mountain will be open to the 11,212-foot summit with uploading and downloading on the Silver Queen Gondola. Skiing and riding will be open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the Ajax Express chairlift. The Sundeck restaurant will be open serving barbecue lunch and beverages on the outdoor deck. Nonskiing gondola hours are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily with the last ride down at 4:30 p.m.

“It’s your typical early summer conditions,” quipped Rich Burkley, vice president mountain operations, “better than a glacier, but not as good as a powder day. It will certainly be fun and is the perfect excuse for having a beer or two at the Sundeck. If you’ve got it, ski it.”

Aspen/Snowmass Premier, Silver and 6-and-under passholders are free. All other Aspen/Snowmass passholders pay a discounted rate; adult passholders pay $19, youth and senior passholders pay $17 and child season passholders pay $12. Adult single day tickets will be $29 per day, youth and seniors will pay $26 and children’s tickets will be $18. Tickets will be sold at the Aspen Mountain ticket kiosk on Gondola Plaza from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily beginning Thursday, June 12. Regular summer rates will be in effect for foot passengers.

 

[deadheadskier]

I'm assuming its their lease agreement that forced them to close for a couple of months?

 

[frozencorn]

Awesome. Now if only gas weren't at a record cost, perhaps a weekend jaunt would be in order....

 

[skiadikt]

I'm assuming its their lease agreement that forced them to close for a couple of months?

don't know. but seems they're timing this reopening with the start of their summer season and i'm guessing since there's still enough snow they felt pr-wise that it would be cool to ski. unlike their eastern brothers, many of these big western destination resorts do as much business in the off ski season as they do during the ski season at least according to the ceo of vail.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

steezy,,to bad Aspen is in Colorado..

 

[snoseek]

I do wish the mountain was open for a little longer than 3 hours. Might go ski Independence pass in the early a.m. then fork over the 29$ to ride chairs. I bet it's pretty busy.

 

[Bostonian]

For $498 you can fly Jetblue Boston to Denver... It's damn tempting...

 

[frozencorn]

For $498 you can fly Jetblue Boston to Denver... It's damn tempting...

It is. But a 2008-09 season pass vs. 3 hours of skiing on limited snow kinda ends any thought I would seriously have about it.

 

[jaywbigred]

Wow came here to start this thread just now...guess I am late to the party!

Any lift-served sounds awesome to me right about now...even if it has the smell of a PR stunt, as the reopen coincides with a big wine and food festival this weekend, as reported here:

http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20080610/NEWS/310051774/0/FRONTPAGE

 

[lloyd braun]

I'm assuming its their lease agreement that forced them to close for a couple of months?

the gondola plaza was under construction and there for the lift was unable to open. If there was no construction the season would have continued, that is what I was told.

 

[nycskier]

Timberline at Hood is still open too and Snowbird is Utah is closing this weekend (although they might extend). One of the reasons Aspen is really doing this because A-basin closed last weekend (they closed early to re-do the parking lots) so they can now claim they are the only open ski resort in Colorado.

 

[skiadikt]

Timberline at Hood is still open too and Snowbird is Utah is closing this weekend (although they might extend). One of the reasons Aspen is really doing this because A-basin closed last weekend (they closed early to re-do the parking lots) so they can now claim they are the only open ski resort in Colorado.

there's lots of reasons ... nonetheless the fact they're reopening in the middle of june is a very cool thing. i'd be there if i could.

 

[lloyd braun]

Skiing was great today! Lots of fun, lots of positive energy. Can't wait till tomorrow!

 

[snoseek]

Drove by A-Basin yesterday and didn't notice any parking lot construction like they said they were closing early for.

I would rather see Loveland open right now as they have even more snow and hardly a bare patch on the hill. Can't make it to Aspen because of stupid work, guess I'll have to hike from here on.

 

[lloyd braun]

Thousands hit Ajax, surprising SkiCo
by Catherine Lutz
Monday, June 16, 2008

About 4,000 schussers flocked to the upper slopes of Aspen Mountain over the three days it reopened this past weekend, according to the Aspen Skiing Co. — and some traveled far distances to do so.

“It was shocking, the number of people who skied this weekend,” said SkiCo spokesman Jeff Hanle, adding that while officials had no way of estimating how many people would show up for the bonus summer skiing, “we certainly didn’t think we’d have 4,000 people.”

Hanle didn’t have the tally of local vs. destination skiers — although he estimated slightly more than half on Friday were season-pass holders, and “we got more people from out of town than we expected.” Many were likely diehard Colorado skiers who shifted their attention from Arapahoe Basin, which closed last weekend, to Aspen. Hanle said he was told of two men who drove overnight from Kansas City and slept in their car near the base in order to be first in line on Saturday.

Friday, the first day of lift-served skiing on Ajax since April 13, saw approximately 900 skiers and snowboarders enjoy about a dozen freshly groomed, mostly intermediate runs off the Ajax Express lift with mostly cool temperatures. As the weekend heated up, so did the numbers: Approximately 1,600-1,700 people skied Saturday, the busiest day, and approximately 1,400-1,500 closed out the weekend on Sunday. And as temperatures hovered at a high of around 80 degrees in the valley below, the brown spots expanded and more rocks surfaced several thousand feet above, leading some to do what came naturally: huck ’em.

“Everyone was just excited, happy to be able to do it,” said Hanle. “No one was whining about the conditions.”

SkiCo flew the Epic flag — normally reserved for major powder days at Aspen Highlands — all weekend in the gondola plaza. June lift-served skiing had only happened once before on Ajax, in the spring of 1995, when the mountain reopened on Memorial Day weekend and stayed open weekends through June 25.

Although rumors have been circulating of another reopening next weekend to coincide with the first official day of summer, Hanle said Sunday that “it doesn’t look promising. It was melting pretty quickly up there, so we’ll end it on a good note and call it a good season.”

The “overwhelming response” to $29 adult lift tickets had the ticket line snaking out across the gondola plaza and to the Little Nell Hotel, further complicated by a new ticketing system that required passholders to get their passes reissued or purchase day tickets. But officials figured out the kinks and soon had employees taking cash for lift tickets to speed the process. One ticket seller said some people were practically throwing money at him without waiting for change in their eagerness to get to the mountain.

Hanle said that while it was great to get nationwide media coverage for the weekend mountain opening, officials don’t expect to sell more tickets and passes next year as a result.

“I can’t imagine it doing anything measurable for next year,” he said. “It was just good to walk through town seeing people going to Food and Wine, and other people walking through town in ski gear.”

 

[Moe Ghoul]

Not too shabby despite high gas price concerns.

 

[ctenidae]

Talked to some guys based in Denver yesterday. They said it was amazing.