There will be no bonus opening at Aspen Highlands this Memorial Day weekend, Aspen Skiing Co. officials announced Friday.
Although the SkiCo had an operating plan in place and was hoping to open the mountain for spring skiing on the still-robust snowpack, a lack of capacity to pool enough staff to run the mountain for three days prevented the opening, SkiCo spokesman Jeff Hanle said.
“Despite our best efforts and how much fun it would have been and the great snow, we just can’t make it work,” Hanle said.
While SkiCo does have personnel in town and working, all man hours are dedicated to the capital improvement projects under way, such as improvements to the Aspen Mountain gondola plaza and the construction of a new high-speed quad to replace the Sheer Bliss lift at Snowmass, Hanle said. Staffing up Highlands for three days would mean pulling people off other projects, he added.
“We just don’t have the time to sit idle on the lift and the rest of the projects,” Hanle said. “Everything would have to come to a halt for three days.”
Noting temperatures that are forecast to warm into the 70s next week, Hanle said the best hope for lift-accessible late-season skiing would be the weekend of June 14-15 on Aspen Mountain, when work on the gondola plaza is scheduled to wrap up. It is also the weekend of the Food and Wine festival.
“(Memorial Day) would have been fun,” Hanle said, “but the best we can do now is cross our fingers and hope for June.”
curtis@aspendailynews.com
