{"id":2448313,"date":"2019-09-03T21:30:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T03:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=312283"},"modified":"2019-09-03T21:30:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-04T03:30:00","slug":"sean-becwkith-skico-needs-to-pick-a-side-and-develop-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/sean-becwkith-skico-needs-to-pick-a-side-and-develop-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean Becwkith: Skico needs to pick a side \u2014 and develop it"},"content":{"rendered":"
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You know when you put a ton of effort into something and it turns out it was just a huge waste of time? Like when you force an entire city to vote on a project, lobby for it and get it passed only to see developers pull out? Or you write a column decrying the proposal in the first place and it ultimately doesn\u2019t matter due to the aforementioned bailing developer?<\/p>\n

Aspen Skiing Co. is facing two such situations with the Lift 1 redevelopment and the Pandora\u2019s expansion. While it\u2019s back to the assessment board with Pandora\u2019s and who the hell knows with Lift 1, it seems like Skico\u2019s attempts to reassert Aspen Mountain as its Crown jewel are fizzling.<\/p>\n

However, if you were able to mess around on Ajax this winter, you wouldn\u2019t know the ski area is falling behind other mountains. Sure, people rarely go to Lift 1 but that can be said for certain areas at each of Skico\u2019s four mountains. Campground and Two Creeks at Snowmass, West Buttermilk at Buttermilk and Thunderbowl at Highlands are all open for the plundering any time you want to go out of your way for solitude and untainted snow.<\/p>\n

Would a new lift at Lift 1 or access to Pandora\u2019s really improve the way people ski Aspen Mountain? The Elk Camp Gondola changed the way people ski Snowmass and probably for the worse. Instead of rarely touched terrain filled with stashes, it\u2019s now a cluster of people who gravitate to a gondola like zombies to fresh human flesh.<\/p>\n

Adding new lifts and terrain could spread out the crowds but it also could simply add more skiers. I\u2019m not trying to be territorial like a surfer cutting your leash but eventually the mountain is going to look like a page out of \u201cWhere\u2019s Waldo?\u201d<\/p>\n

However, providing opportunities to people who normally can\u2019t afford to ski, which includes a lot of locals\u2019 families and friends, while retaining the exclusivity those same locals complained about losing with the creation of the Ikon Pass is its own column.<\/p>\n

With Skico\/Alterra doing its best Amazon impression to acquire, expand and test the boundaries of monopoly restrictions, it\u2019s worth asking, does it really need to encroach on wildlife habitat and force Aspenites to pay for its playground expansion?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s an either\/or question, not one about the moral compass of the company. Why does it need to do both? If it really wants to keep Aspen Mountain on par with the world\u2019s best resorts, and at this point it essentially is, one massive move could be enough to satisfy whomever\u2019s ego needs that No. 1 spot in the annual arbitrary ski industry rankings.<\/p>\n

The karma of Skico lusting over a Lift 1 expansion, asking the city for money and getting it approved only to see a squabble over the controversial hotels submarine the deal is enough to revel in. (And allow me to revel. \u2026 Revel, revel, revel.) I guess if you want something developed right, develop it yourself?<\/p>\n

The fairy tale route would be for Skico to go back to the city with plans to build and run the properties still unnecessarily proposed as part of the push to \u201cmake the west side of Aspen Mountain relevant\u201d and only pursue Pandora\u2019s if the shiny new lifts and hotels don\u2019t push the ski area back to whatever tier is above prominence. But while we\u2019re dreaming, it should put its political power and money behind fixing \u2014 or even marginally stabilizing \u2014 the affordable housing problem in town.<\/p>\n

Hosting the World Cup is an incredibly cool honor for Skico as well as a boon to the pockets of its residents, but one gets the feeling that bringing the event back isn\u2019t the driving motivation behind redevelopment. And if you\u2019re looking for proof, look at the Pandora\u2019s expansion.<\/p>\n

Skiers can already access it via backcountry, forest would be removed and habitat would be destroyed all to make sure there\u2019s gladed skiing on Aspen Mountain, something I\u2019ve never seen a shortage of.<\/p>\n

The only positive to adding a lift would be more runs on a mountain that the company already says isn\u2019t being fully utilized. According to that logic, it should try to fix Lift 1 before needlessly expanding.<\/p>\n

All of this effort to rezone and redevelop is nearing a point where it could all be for naught. Who knows how the Pitkin County commissioners perceive Skico\u2019s endeavor at local domination but they\u2019re only one vote away from irreversibly altering the landscape of Aspen Mountain.<\/p>\n

However, even if both proposals fall through, you can count on Skico acting as undeterred as \u201cPinky and the Brain\u201d:<\/p>\n

\u201cGee Brain, what are we gonna do tonight?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe same thing we do every night, try to take over the (ski) world!\u201d<\/p>\n

Sean Beckwith is a copy editor at The Aspen Times. Reach him at sbeckwith@aspentimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You know when you put a ton of effort into something and it turns out it was just a huge waste of time? Like when you force an entire city to vote on a project, lobby for it and get it passed only to see developers pull out? Or you write a column decrying the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2448313","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-26 03:13:53","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2448313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448313\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2448313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2448313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2448313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}