{"id":2454451,"date":"2020-02-12T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-12T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=320733"},"modified":"2020-02-12T05:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-02-12T12:00:00","slug":"guest-commentary-ski-area-improvements-dont-mean-ski-area-expansions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/guest-commentary-ski-area-improvements-dont-mean-ski-area-expansions\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest commentary: Ski area improvements don\u2019t mean ski area expansions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A lifetime on the internet has made me immune to most viral moments and movements. I don\u2019t care about trick shots or balancing a broom or flipping a semi-full bottle of water so it lands right side up. Take the time you spent doing a challenge and waste it making fun of challenge idiots on social media like normal people.<\/p>\n

I even shrugged off the insane lift line photos from Vail on Feb. 8. The easier you make it to access ski areas, the more people are going to visit. I personally welcome crowds and the popularization of snowboarding and skiing because it\u2019s one of my favorite hobbies and more people would love it if they tried it.<\/p>\n

That and I work on weekends so it gives me comfort knowing the powder day I\u2019m missing also includes gobs of jerrys skiing off runs they\u2019re not good enough to be on.<\/p>\n

However, my concern about the increase in crowds isn\u2019t over goons clogging chair lift corrals when I\u2019m trying to lap Deep Temerity; people who enjoy the outdoors theoretically respect nature. It\u2019s the nature that I\u2019m concerned about. More skiers leads to more money and more money leads to more expansion because that means more skiers and more skiers means more money.<\/p>\n

Aspen Skiing Co. isn\u2019t the only skiing company trying to add terrain. Vail also is looking to expand its ski area and who could blame them because that line was like the anti-Christ of advertising. It\u2019s like if the MGM Grand aired video of them cleaning their pool filters after a holiday weekend. Think about if you spent a couple hundred dollars to ski and you spent almost a third of your day in one line.<\/p>\n

There are obvious drawbacks to cutting down trees, destroying animal habitat, interrupting wintering wildlife and other infringements. Lynx, moose, elk, bears, mountain lions, deer, bighorn sheep, etc. are pretty dope and deserve consideration. (Also, shout out sage grouse and potentially wolves. I\u2019m game to go out Liam Neeson \u201cThe Grey\u201d style.)<\/p>\n

The other issue with watching corporations buy up ski resorts like me stocking the bar after that Christmas bonus is the money could be spent to help the small towns they occupy to combat climate change.<\/p>\n

Aspen and Basalt recently had public recycling centers close or downgrade because the towns couldn\u2019t afford the program. Yo, Skico and Vail, those cities are located in your counties. I know it\u2019s a hard sell for these businesses to fund causes they allegedly champion but I can\u2019t think of an easier PR win.<\/p>\n

(Side rant: If billionaires ever had a conscious about people actively hating them \u2014 which, let\u2019s face it, they don\u2019t, but if they did \u2014 the best way to gain public adoration would be to spend sizable sums of money on recycling programs and infrastructure. The fact that recycling plants are actively turning away waste because the process isn\u2019t profitable is appalling and deeply concerning.)<\/p>\n

The amount of garbage a hotel\/ski resort produces also should be taken into consideration in any new hotel or expansion proposal. From my time working on the loading dock at The Littel Nell, I\u2019ve seen how much trash comes out of there. Adding hotels, residences, mountain clubs, restaurants and more is only going to fill Pitkin County\u2019s already rapidly filling dump, and that\u2019s not even including the demolition debris from tear downs\/renovations that can\u2019t be diverted.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure what the solution is to this influx of skiers caused by the Epic-Ikon acquisition off without going bigger. However, improving existing lifts and newly acquired sister resorts is an option.<\/p>\n

While Big Burn is getting an upgrade, Snowmass could spread out skiers across its mountain even further by improving Campground. It\u2019s slow and drops off in a place that makes traversing back to Sam\u2019s Knob hard for people who aren\u2019t good at snowboarding (See: Passholders, Ikon).<\/p>\n

The Couch on Aspen Mountain almost takes as long as the gondola but people would use it if it were faster regardless of whether it\u2019s in Pandora or at the same location. They also could move the bottom a tad to make that run out from Walsh\u2019s more bearable.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure there are numerous upgrades like those examples that could be made at ski areas under the Vail and Alterra umbrellas that would improve skier experience but don\u2019t involve unnecessary expansion. Vail sounds like it\u2019s going to stay overrun by Front Range enthusiasts but putting loot toward widening ski boundaries is only going to encourage visitors. Incentivizing people to utilize sister resorts could be the best way to avoid Gaper-maggedon.<\/p>\n

If everyone has access to the crown jewel, why would they go anywhere else? Polish those little gems and make them worth seeing, too. These resorts are being bought up because people go to them. A fine tune will do.<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t heard any complaints about the new Clark\u2019s Market at the Snowmass Center. Why does that need to be bulldozed after what seemed like a 15-minute run?<\/p>\n

The post office can be made over the same way the old market was without plopping a couple free market condos on top of it. I\u2019m not sure what the construction schedule would be but Snowmass will really struggle if it doesn\u2019t have a grocery and\/or full liquor store during peak season.<\/p>\n

You could say that\u2019s unfair to Skico because technically the Center isn\u2019t its development, but at the same time I\u2019ve seen their commercials advocating for airport expansion and ads backing Lift 1A over development.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not shocked by much because the internet has made me numb to a lot. One thing that I would be surprised by, though, is if a ski company made sustainable, reasonable enhancements that don\u2019t blatantly run counter to their climate-forward message.<\/p>\n

Sean Beckwith works part-time in Snowmass and is the designer for the Snowmass Sun. Reach him at sbeckwith@aspentimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

A lifetime on the internet has made me immune to most viral moments and movements. I don\u2019t care about trick shots or balancing a broom or flipping a semi-full bottle of water so it lands right side up. Take the time you spent doing a challenge and waste it making fun of challenge idiots on […]<\/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":["post-2454451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 16:06:46","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\/2454451","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=2454451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454451\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2454451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2454451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2454451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}