First half of Aspen's ski season great for skiers, good for tourism
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- Created on Monday, 14 February 2011 16:26
- Written by Nathan
By SCOTT CONDON, THE ASPEN TIMES
The ski season passed the halfway point last week with the first half receiving good but not great marks from Aspen tourism officials.
The Aspen Skiing Co.'s skier visits were up 7 percent through Dec. 31 over the start of the prior season, but business faded a bit last month. “January was not as strong overall as we had hoped,” Skico spokesman Jeff Hanle said.
Don't blame the snow. Although warm weather has kept the Roaring Fork Valley floor free of snow throughout much of the season, it's a different picture on the mountains. The snowpack above 9,000 feet in elevation has generally ranged between 25 and 40 percent above average in the Aspen area. All skiers but the most fussy have agreed ski conditions have been fabulous.
Aspen Mountain has recorded 144 inches of snow since Nov. 1 and Snowmass has recorded 172 inches, Hanle said. That is tracking slightly ahead of the pace that produces about 300 inches of snow per ski season. Other resorts report their snowfall starting in October, but the Skico thinks that is irrelevant since snow falling that early often melts, Hanle previously explained.
The snow depth reached 69 inches at the top of Snowmass this week and 46 inches at mid-mountain. One year ago, the depths were 54 at top, 35 at mid-mountain.
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