Skico’s president and CEO, Mike Kaplan, stood in front of the Aspen City Council on Monday to address specifics about last season’s surge of Ikon Pass holders at Aspen-Snowmass resorts.

The Aspen Times reports Kaplan noted that skier visits were up 20% last season over the previous one but mostly because of ideal snow conditions. Local passholders were about 45% of that increase and 40% of the skier visits over the weekends were Ikon Pass holders (most hailing from the Front Range and California). 70% of the Ikon pass holders were new to Aspen-Snowmass with the largest demographic between 25 and 34 years old.

To combat the growing crowds Kaplan said Skico plans to hang more chairs on chairlifts that have capacity at Highlands and Snowmass to help with liftlines. Also additional buses will run from the Brush Creek Park and Ride lot. Skico plans on looking into message signs on Maroon Creek Road to alert motorists with realtime information about Aspen Highlands parking garage is full before traffic backs up. Skico may also use social media platforms to inform motorists about traffic information.

Whether or not you think Skico’s plan is enough to curb headaches created by the uptick in visitors to Apsen, you can at least know they aren’t brushing it under the rug. What would be some suggestions you would propose if you had Kaplan’s ear? I found the Instagram post below by The City of Aspen to be quite interesting:

images from aspensnowmass IG &The Snow Report Youtube

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