Snowmass, CO – Aspen Skiing Company (ASC) has purchased the rights to water from Ziegler Reservoir for $3.25 million from the Snowmass Water and Sanitation District (SWSD) to augment snowmaking efforts at its Snowmass ski resort in Colorado.

The deal will allow Snowmass to continue to make snow past Dec. 31 each season, a deadline imposed by its permit for withdrawing water from Snowmass Creek, its previous snowmaking water source.

ASC officials indicate that in addition to having less of an effect on stream flows in Snowmass Creek, withdrawing water from the reservoir can be done while expending less energy, meeting two of the company’s environmental goals.

Located near the ski area at an elevation of 8,874 feet, Ziegler Reservoir was expanded in 2010 and 2011 by the SWSD. During construction of the expansion, the fossilized remains of numerous mastodons, mammoths and other prehistoric Ice Age animals and plants were unearthed at the site and were processed by scientists with the Denver Museum of Science & Nature.