The Silver Queen Gondola opened an hour late Monday morning, leaving hundreds of powder hounds waiting - toward the end somewhat impatiently - for their first taste of 13 inches of fresh snow that had fallen on Aspen Mountain.
It was at least the second major delayed opening of the gondola this season - the first falling on the first major powder weekend of the winter in early December, and a few shorter delays. But yesterday's was unique, said Aspen Mountain Manager Peter King.
Following a 10- or 15-minute delay getting the gondola cabins back on the cable because of a rail freezing (gondola cars are pulled off overnight during winter storms), "the real delay was avalanche control," said King.
Ski patrollers arrive at work at 7:30 a.m., and on Monday at 8:15 a.m. made their first pass through an area called the "Spar dumps" - the steep terrain above the flatter section of Spar Gulch and below the ski runs called the Dumps. After setting off a slide with explosives, said King, "They weren't comfortable saying it was safe."
Patrol ended up cycling through the area five times - in a couple of different crews - twice with explosives and three times ski cutting to test the stability of the terrain.
"It's unusual because it's not stuff we ski, it's above stuff that we ski," said King, adding that none of the mountain could be opened while such a high-traffic area was being controlled.
In addition, crews were doing avalanche control work in Kristi, Walsh's, Trainor's and other areas on the mountain.
The December delayed opening was due to icing problems on the grips, said King, and none of this season's minor issues point to any underlying problem with the gondola, which is in its second winter with new cabins. (All other parts of the mechanism are the same.)
"We've just had an unusually cold and snowy winter, and when we get this kind of weather it just takes longer to get things rolling," he said.
The Aspen Skiing Co. reported yesterday that nearly 300 inches of snow - its season-long average - has fallen on local slopes since November.
