{"id":2454716,"date":"2020-02-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-19T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=321125"},"modified":"2020-02-19T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-02-19T07:00:00","slug":"meredith-c-carroll-sometimes-being-reminder-were-not-vail-is-a-good-way-to-check-ourselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/meredith-c-carroll-sometimes-being-reminder-were-not-vail-is-a-good-way-to-check-ourselves\/","title":{"rendered":"Meredith C. Carroll: Sometimes, being reminder we\u2019re not Vail is a good way to check ourselves"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When I asked the front-desk clerk at the chic Denver hotel where I was staying if my reservation could be amended, he peered down the bridge of his nonexistent glasses, first at a computer screen and then at me.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no flexibility with the booking,\u201d he announced, his leading-man voice dropping into a stage whisper, \u201cbecause you reserved on a discount site.\u201d<\/p>\n

I shrugged off the no-change policy even if I never forgot the sneer. Why would a first-class resort offer an incentive to galvanize sales only to make the people taking advantage of it feel like second-class citizens? It was something I wondered again a few days ago when making plans with one of my oldest and best friends who is vacationing this week in Snowmass Village by way of Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

She texted a weary-face emoji and wrote: \u201cI\u2019m also OK with not skiing full days every day. We all have Ikon Passes (don\u2019t tell anyone) so the lift tickets are already paid for.\u201d<\/p>\n

I suppose I\u2019ve caught wind of some griping about Ikon Pass crowds via Facebook posts and newspaper columnists and letter writers, although I usually figure I\u2019m either misinterpreting the tone of the missives, or simply missing the problem. Aspen Skiing Co. finally offers a revolutionary deal to goose visitor numbers \u2014 and then as soon as the new skiers arrive we talk loudly about how much we wish they\u2019d leave? I may not have an MBA from Cornell\u2019s Hotel School yet I\u2019m still pretty sure this is not an effective way to demonstrate hospitality. (I did, however, graduate from middle school, so irrational jealousy and unkindness are familiar-enough concepts.)<\/p>\n

Aspenites griping about the overcrowding of local mountains (what, did you have to stand in an actual lift line? Don\u2019t they know who you are?) is akin to someone seated in coach whining about a crying child: You\u2019re both using up the same amount of oxygen so if you require more of it, fly private. (In the case of Aspen, if you\u2019re getting bent out of shape because the 6-inch rule triggered an 11-minute wait at the gondola, maybe look into getting a membership at the Cimarron Mountain Club. Or just google photos and stories of the three-hour lines from Vail\u2019s most recent powder day.)<\/p>\n

Certainly Aspen can\u2019t be everything to everyone, but if it falls short of being a destination that manifests gratitude and grace, it seems doomed to reap what it sows in terms of the local and guest populations. Each time I hear chatter about the right and wrong visitors (although come to think of it, it\u2019s always about the wrong ones), I am reminded of something my husband once said:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you meet three jerks in a day, chances are you\u2019re the jerk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s to say it\u2019s the Ikon passholders who need to yield the mountain? Maybe Aspen needs to rethink its own footprint and keep the slopes, shops and restaurants clear until the new people all get a turn, because who\u2019s to say who it is that\u2019s actually doing the crowding? (Oh, wait. It\u2019s Skico, that\u2019s who. And yes, that\u2019s right, Ikon passholders only accounted for a 12% increase in skier numbers over all four area mountains last season.)<\/p>\n

My friend skis frequently \u2014 back East, out West \u2014 and it\u2019s the Ikon Pass that prompted her family\u2019s vacation this week in Snowmass, their first one in my 17 Colorado winters. They\u2019re skiing (most of every day), staying, tipping, eating, playing and shopping. While I haven\u2019t actually looked in their wallets, I\u2019m confident their money is green. They also say \u201cplease\u201d and \u201cthank you,\u201d ooh and aah sufficiently at all the right scenery and landmarks, and not once have they remarked anything about Aspen being inferior to Vail, which is more than can be said for a woman I encountered over the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Aspen Mountain I was told one thing, on Snowmass it\u2019s another,\u201d she said, her face twisted. \u201cIt\u2019s so much easier at Vail because it\u2019s all just the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which is ironic, because the same could be said for the complaints around here. Aspen may want to start being more careful what it wishes for, because in typical Aspen fashion, we usually seem to get it.<\/p>\n

More at MeredithCarroll.com and on Twitter @MCCarroll.<\/p>\n

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

When I asked the front-desk clerk at the chic Denver hotel where I was staying if my reservation could be amended, he peered down the bridge of his nonexistent glasses, first at a computer screen and then at me. \u201cThere\u2019s no flexibility with the booking,\u201d he announced, his leading-man voice dropping into a stage whisper, […]<\/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-2454716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 14:53:29","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\/2454716","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=2454716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454716\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2454716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2454716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2454716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}