Aspen for crowd avoidance

[jimk]

I've been hearing for years that Aspen is good for crowd avoidance during Holiday periods in Colorado and it sure proved true during my recent visit in between Christmas and New Years. We were at Ajax on 12/29/13 and saw very small lines. Rode Gondi twice and it was walk-on both times. Easily found table space in Bonnie's for lunch.

Snowmass was busier the next day, but back-ups avoidable by staying out of base areas. Found a table with a great view at lunchtime at the pizza joint above Big Burn, 11800'.

Aspen Highlands on Dec 31 was also good. Good number of people on the mtn, but not overwhelming. Biggest line was waiting for the cat to Highland Bowl. We later heard the Ajax gondi was down the two days we were at Snowmass and AH and supposedly driving up crowds at those mtns. [-(

Overall, very manageable crowds during the Holidays at Aspen and this was when it was widely known to have some of the better conditions for resort skiing in the Lower 48 at the time. Do you think the Epicpass is the main reason? I know it's pricey and a little further from Denver, but still? The terrain and ambiance is first class.

Random shot from Aspen Highlands depicting crowds on NY's Eve:

 

[egieszl]

Excuse me... Aspen-Snowmass was very busy during the holidays. Lift lines were bloody long.

Please in the future advise people to go elsewhere... like Vail or Breckenridge or any of those god awful places in Utah (Snowbird, Park City, Deer Valley). We don't need to advertise the best four-mountain ski resort in North America.

 

[jimk]

Excuse me....

:-#
Egie, how is the condo real estate market doing in Snowmass village? My suspicion is that the town of Aspen may have never really dropped, but did Snowmass get hurt by the recession and has it bounced all the way back yet? If your answer is too encouraging you could send PM. :mrgreen:

 

[Admin]

There were some Snowmass projects that developers started but never completed.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 3 using Tapatalk

 

[Tony Crocker]

There are a couple of Snowmass projects on the drawing board.

My visits to Aspen have been more sporadic than egieszl's but there never seem to be lift line issues. You might wait to get into a nice restaurant but not to get on a ski lift! As most of you know I avoid holiday skiing, but when Liz wanted to go Aspen's reputation for handling crowds was a key factor in the decision. It did not disappoint, even on New Years Day at Highlands with the Aspen gondola closed.

One restaurant waitress was impressed we had skied 7 consecutive days. "So many of our holiday visitors hardly ski at all."

Distance from Denver is an obvious plus. Expensive reputation deters some people. Both marketing directors since 2000 have worked hard to dispel the stereotypes. As noted in my other post the Mountain Collective was initiated by Jeff Hanle at Aspen.

I'm also thinking maybe having the 4 mountains helps spread people around.

 

[egieszl]

My post was full of sarcasm. A long wait is 5 minutes and Christmas this year was very busy for Aspen standards. No wait is what I consider normal. The waitress was correct when she said that many holiday visitors in Aspen don't ski at all or ski only a day or two.

The key factor is the accessibility. It's too far to be a day destination from Denver. The area does have an expensive reputation, but that's nonsense. A ski vacation to Aspen can be done on a budget. The town has a number of affordable hotels and in general pricing is no more than any of the other major resorts throughout the US. If you can afford Park City, Alta, Tahoe or Mammoth then you most likely can afford Aspen.

As for the condo market. Snowmass has recovered, but I wouldn't say it is back to pre-2008 levels. I don't know about condos in Aspen, but I can say that homes in Snowmass and Aspen didn't really take much of a hit.

Snowmass does have some unfinished projects. The Base Village is only about 1/3 done. The Viceroy condo hotel is only half-built and they are now talking about finishing the second tower since sales in the original tower are going well and the hotel is in high demand. Aspen Skiing Company is now seeking approval to change a few undeveloped lots in Base Village that were approved for condos and retail into a hotel instead. The hotel will be similar to their Limelight Hotel in Aspen.

The reason I visit Snowmass so often is because my parents live in Snowmass Village.