The rise of a competitor to Vail Resorts’ industry-transforming Epic Pass this year has slowed the growth in season-pass revenue for the continent’s largest resort operator, which on Friday announced a big boost in capital spending as yet another volley of a blossoming pass war. The market apparently did not like the decline in pass […]
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Posted inEnvironment, News, Water
Colorado’s snow season is starting off strong. These satellite photos tell the story.
Colorado’s snow season is starting off strong, giving the state’s drought-parched agricultural industry high hopes for a quenching runoff come spring. “Definitely been a good start here,” said Russell Danielson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boulder. “Overall, the state has seen pretty healthy precipitation, snowpack so far this fall.” Compared with last […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors
More Colorado ski areas — including Vail, Beaver Creek and Aspen — to open early for 2018-19 season
Vail and Beaver Creek mountains will join other Colorado resorts in opening early for the 2018-19 season. The Vail Daily reports Vail, originally slated to open Friday, will open for the season at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. Beaver Creek will open Saturday, four days ahead of its scheduled Nov. 21 opening date. The early openings come as […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors
Alterra expects to sell 250,000 Ikon Passes, Vail Resorts says Epic Pass sales are up
VAIL — When executives from Vail Resorts and the nascent Alterra Mountain Company get together to discuss skiing, there are never fireworks. Or even a hint that the fiercely competitive rivals are locked in a raging season-pass battle. This is not surprising. Ski industry execs from competing companies do not gather in public meetings and […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, News, Outdoors, Water
How Colorado’s ski resorts can continue making snow in drought years like this one
Reservoirs have turned to dust. Farmers have fallow fields. But don’t expect the skiing to languish. Ski resorts have spent many decades amassing water rights and water storage and continuously upgrading snowmaking systems to make the state’s vibrant, multibillion-dollar resort industry virtually immune to drought — so long as this winter, farmers and ranchers have […]
Posted inColoradans, News, Outdoors
“If I can prevent at least one kid from going through what my kid goes through every day, I will do whatever it takes. I have to.”
SURVIVORS: Part of a Colorado Sun series on close calls in the outdoors and life after a crisis Ian Lamphere was sitting in his home office when he was struck with an idea. He yelled down to his fiancée, Elizabeth. “I don’t know, he’d read something about someone dying, and all the sudden, he says, […]
Posted inColoradans, News, Outdoors
“It was like he was an angel”: How a well-prepared ER doctor on skis saved a boy’s life after a mountain crash
SURVIVORS: Part of a Colorado Sun series on close calls in the outdoors and life after a crisis. His buddy was ribbing him about the big backpack he wore skiing every day. “He was saying, ‘Man that’s dumb. When are you ever going to use that thing?’ ” said Dr. Heston LaMar, a North Carolina […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
Aspen Skiing Co. takes leap in its political activism by targeting 3 Republican U.S. senators in new ad campaign
Aspen Skiing Company is taking its political and environmental activism public with a new ad campaign that in part asks outdoor enthusiasts to help pressure three Republican U.S. senators, perceived as malleable, to do more to address climate change. While the glitzy, world-famous ski area has worked quietly for years on everything from immigration to […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Crime and Courts, News, Outdoors
Colorado Ski Safety Act tested in two trials involving in-bounds avalanches
EAGLE — Every skier in central Colorado was fired up when the snow finally arrived that fourth Sunday in January six years ago. It had been a cold, dry season with too few powder days. By the end of the day, inbounds avalanches had killed two skiers, marking one of the darkest days in Colorado […]
Posted inBusiness, Outdoors
At the height of the ski pass war, Wolf Creek — with its $70 lift ticket — remains defiantly independent
WOLF CREEK — As the first flakes frost the highest peaks, the Colorado-sparked season pass war is ablaze. It’s a new world for skiers, with resorts across the U.S. aligning into two distinct camps. In one corner, the nascent Alterra Mountain Company this week fired off a list of new partners for the Ikon Pass, which offers unlimited […]