SandBox Comments: Aspen Daily News "Winter X Games impact a multimillion dollar question"

Carolyn Sackariason:

"The Winter X Games are all about going big, and Aspen on Saturday will do just that, based on lodging occupancy reports, which suggest town will be 97 percent full.

“Aspen is as close to completely sold out as I’ve ever seen it, although we can still find some rooms and condos in Snowmass, whose occupancy according to this report is peaking around 80 percent,” Bill Tomcich, president of central reservations agency Stay Aspen Snowmass (SAS), said in an email.

He noted that Saturday’s numbers are the highest he’s ever seen since SAS started tracking nightly occupancies in 2006. There are only a “handful” of rooms available in Aspen and the occupancy report is based on a sampling of 65 percent of 2,304 rentable units in Aspen, Tomcich said.

Before ESPN brought the X Games to Buttermilk in 2002, the last weekend of January and the beginning of February were not considered to be peak times for the resort.

From Jan. 21-28, 2001, the year prior to the X Games coming here, occupancy in Aspen was 73 percent, while the week of Jan. 29-Feb. 5 was 69 percent, according to Tomcich. He noted that at the time, there was no ability to track occupancy rates on a nightly basis so the above numbers are not an apples-to-apples comparison.

Neither the city of Aspen nor the Aspen Chamber Resort Association (ACRA) have done any analysis on what the Winter X Games contribute to the local economy since 2007..."

SandBox Comments: Aspen Daily News "A multimillion dollar season"

"The finishing touches are being made to the several million dollars worth of on-mountain improvements that are about to come online at Buttermilk and Aspen Highlands.

The chairs have been hung on the new Tiehack lift and the renovation of the Merry-Go-Restaurant mid-mountain at Aspen Highlands is three-quarters complete. The new amenities will be ready for skiers and riders when the mountains open on Dec. 10.

A load test of the Tiehack chairlift is scheduled to be conducted on Wednesday, said Rich Burkley, Aspen Skiing Co. vice president of mountain operations.

Engineers from POMA, the lift’s manufacturer, SkiCo lift technicians and representatives from the National Tramway Safety Board will be on hand for the Nov. 9 load test.

“We fill trash cans full of water, representing people and we run the lift at absolute extremes in terms of speed and braking,” Burkley said.

The barrels of water will be strapped into the chairs and the line will be loaded to represent the average number of people who will ride the lift at any given time. The metrics of the chairlift will be tested multiple times — running backwards, forwards and at the fastest speed possible.

The $7 million high-speed quad will serve the only advanced terrain at Buttermilk, and replaces both the Upper Tiehack and Eagle Hill — aka lower Tiehack — chairs. Combined, those two lifts took 18 minutes to ride. They were built in 1969.

The new “Tiehack Express” will take skiers 1,640 vertical feet to the top in seven minutes on 71 chairs. The lift has a fairly low profile — the highest point is 48 feet, Burkley said...."
( Carolyn Sackariason)

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SandBox Comments: Aspen Times "Aspen Skiing Co. 'didn't do well enough' last season"

And yet, after hearing very specific and direct concerns, complaints and dissention from local, regional, national and international workers and customers; Aspen Skico still resorts to excuses and disinformation as propaganda to the masses.

Reality, is that Beaver Creek, Vail Resorts and Breckenridge refuse to discount rooms and hold sales.  Instead they offer more value and are light years ahead of Aspen Skico with pass offerings, infrastructure and overall guest experience.

What a shame Skico keeps making the situation worse by not accepting the fact that numbers steadily decline because...it's about them.

Here's to the little guy in Aspen.  Hanging on, hoping to survive the double dip recession while Aspen Skico stays flat.

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"Truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident."

SandBox Comments: Aspen Daily News "Saturday night ski pass fever"

My goodness, says, SandBox Nanny.

'kids' are all up early and her cup of tea is now cold.

Usually most of the day's posting is done by now.  Yet today, she's barely made it through reading the PI and The Aspen Daily...

(sigh...rolls eyes...)

"..Can you imagine if our illegal workforce were all die-hard skiers? That would be an awesome spectacle, and a quandary of sorts. Think of the massive festive crowd at the gondola on a powder day filled with people selling burritos, listening to Mexican radio. The town would come to a complete stop. It’s already bad enough getting a fresh line after 10:30 a.m. It seems like the mountains get chewed up more quickly now on a powder day. And not to mention one beginner snowboarder can do the same damage as four expert skiers to a field of freshies...

...Do whatever it takes to get a ski pass. Make a deal with the devil. I have his number if you need it..."
(Lorenzo Semple)

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"Truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident."