Resort industry reeling after Crown’s death driving a racecar on a track near Aspen on his 70th birthday
Aspen Skiing Co.
Posted inOutdoors
Colorado ski resorts enjoyed a record season with mountain towns harvesting highest-ever tax revenue
Colorado’s 27 lift-served ski areas saw a record 14.8 million visits in 2022-23, marking an 18% increase over the five-year average
Posted inBusiness
How to retain resort employees? Colorado ski areas are building workforce housing — at the resorts
Like nearly every Colorado ski hill, Winter Park needed big money to help fix its employee housing problem. Enter its deep pocketed operator, Alterra, with a blueprint others can follow.
Posted inOutdoors
ESPN sells X Games to MSP Sports Capital, which calls Aspen “a really important cornerstone” of the franchise
Aspen Skiing Co. has hosted the Winter X Games since 2002 and has a contract to host the games through 2024.
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors
Vail Resorts promises $175 million more for employees, bumps starting pay to $20 an hour
Vail Resorts will spend $175 million more a year on employees, increasing pay by more than 30% after a grueling season that saw North America’s largest resort operator vilified as it struggled to open chairs and handle crowds. Kirsten Lynch celebrated her 100th day as CEO of Vail Resorts this week, marking what was likely […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors
It has been 20 years since snowboarders were allowed on Aspen Mountain following a “big stink”
By Andrew Travers, The Aspen Times ASPEN — It was billed as a generational battle, as an on-mountain culture clash, a safety hazard and “the end of Ajax.” But when the Aspen Skiing Co. finally opened Aspen Mountain to snowboarders on April 1, 2001 and then for the 2001-02 season, the result was an anti-climactic […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors, Outsider
Snow may not be piling up at Colorado ski resorts this season, but anxiety sure is
It wasn’t that long ago that ski resort operators lost sleep over snowfall. Then they had to fret over once-in-a-lifetime protocols to limit the spread of contagion at their ski areas. Now, the worries are stacked even deeper, with affordable housing, dwindling numbers of workers and ever-lengthening lift lines joining the perennial fretting over snow […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors
Colorado ski resort operators turbo-charged technology last season, and many of the upgrades are here to stay
For many years, resort captains have been slow and steady with investment in technology. The behind-the-scenes stuff — wireless networks, point-of-sale and lodging reservation systems, online ticket sales — typically was overshadowed by flashy projects involving new chairlifts and terrain. The coronavirus turbo-charged ski resort interest in decidedly unsexy technology, which is now a top […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors
Ski patroller unions set to grow in Colorado’s consolidating resort industry
The letter to ski patrollers landed a few days before Vail Resorts told investors it was sitting on $1.4 billion in cash. The company was not going to include unionized ski patrollers in the end-of-season bonus program, saying the extra cash — up $1,500 — would violate federal law governing labor contract negotiations with the […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors
Missing Carbondale man found dead in backcountry near Snowmass
A missing Carbondale man was found dead Thursday after a two-day search at Snowmass Resort, according to a Pitkin County officials. Rescue personnel found David Cross, 32, deceased in “very hazardous terrain” in the West Willow area off Snowmass Ski Area, according to a news release. Cross had snowboarded into difficult backcountry terrain that can […]