Aspen launches tourism for athletes

ASPEN – Aspen’s city government has invested $50,000 this year in special events intended to draw competitive athletes. The strategy has worked, reportsThe Aspen Times, as the events have attracted record numbers of people, despite the recession.

The events targeted residents along Colorado’s urbanized Front Range and Utah’s parallel Wasatch Front and included a cross-country ski race in January, a cycling criterium in May, a triathalon in August, and a half-marathon in September.

Each of the events have attracted anywhere from 100 to 850 participants, and city officials believe the participants – or their companions – spend extravagantly while in Aspen. The half-marathon, for example, is expected to draw nearly 700 people, bringing in nearly $216,000 in taxable revenue.

Hoteliers like the shoulder-season events, economic development officials tell theTimes, because it produces vitality. The May bicycle competition included races in the downtown area but also a ride 4,000 feet up Independence Pass. Hoteliers eager for any business during the sluggish days of May were willing to give participants what was described as phenomenal deals.

“This is a market that previously was traveling farther for their athletic events, and it’s more open to traveling closer to home in this economic climate,” said Nancy Lesley, director of the city’s special events and marketing department.

The Times notes that Aspen has been putting on special events designed to draw tourists for 58 years, and even longer if you count the summer events that arrived after World War II. Mick Ireland, the mayor, says special events remain important, because they expose new people to Aspen. “They help overcome the notion that Aspen is inaccessible or stodgy or exclusive.”

Hotelier Dale Paas, whose family has operated a lodge in Aspen for more than 50 years, said the recession has reminded Aspen “that we need an economic driver, and that is special events.”

Whistler suffers pre-Olympic jitters

WHISTLER, B.C. – Whistler has been jittery of late, worrying about every little thing having to do with the Winter Olympics, which it will host next February. But at least some of that anxiety has eased as community leaders take special steps to dispel rumors, such as that the highway will be closed and that residents will be unable to get around.

Space will be limited in Whistler. Organizers expect that Whistler will have 55,000 daily guests, plus many thousands of reporters, police and event volunteers.

To prevent a Woodstock-type situation, in which people have to walk for miles to get to the resort, a check-point will be erected on the highway from Vancouver. Drivers will be required to show evidence of permits for parking their vehicles once in Whistler. Each Whistler resident will be given two-transferable passes.

Unlike Aspen, Telluride and Crested Butte, which are all located at the end of the road during winter months, the road through Whistler continues on to other communities. But the traffic to those other places is light.

To get people to Whistler, the community plans to have 139 buses operating round the clock, compared to 35 normally.

Meanwhile, real estate sales picked up substantially during July in Whistler, and tourism hasn’t been too bad either. Sales have been particularly strong with people from the Vancouver area, which comprises 60 to 70 percent of real estate buyers.

“You can’t understate the power of buyer psychology,” said Pat Kelly, owner of Whistler Real Estate Co. “If they are scared or unsure about the future, they are not going to make any big decisions. I think we have gone through that period where the buyer is unsure about the future and is now prepared to make commitments again. But they are cautious, and they aren’t chasing things.”

Sales are strongest to people expecting to use the real estate for personal use. Sales of condominiums have been far weaker, as uncertainty remains about the potential to rent the units.

But Kelly remained wary about the future. “I don’t want to use the word fragile, but it wouldn’t take much for it to slow down again,” Kelly said.

Vail Resorts to brush up its amenities

VAIL – Vail Resorts intends to do a better job of parting money from its customers this winter.

With its new low-cost Epic season pass, the company’s attendance at its five resorts held up reasonably well, sagging just 5 percent. But business at the ski school – a major revenue center for the company – plunged 20 percent, reports Rob Katz, the company’s chief executive, in a recent meeting in Vail.

With this in mind, Katz told an audience, company officials have been working on plans to more aggressively market both ski schools and mountain restaurants.

Like Aspen Skiing, Vail Resorts will make a point of holding onto staff, the better to deliver service. Katz, however, has declared mandates for reduced energy and paper use.

“The last year taught us that standing still is not an option,” he said. “Absolutely everything has to be thrown on the table.”

Intrawest selling off its French assets

VANCOUVER, B.C. – What will Intrawest dispose of? That’s been the lingering question in the ski industry since April, when Intrawest chief executive Bill Jensen told theSummit Daily News that the ski company was examining “all options” to reduce debt.

Part of that answer has been delivered, reportsWhistler’s Pique Newsmagazine. Intrawest has sold lodging and commercial operations at two resorts in France in a deal scheduled to close Oct. 1. This will be in advance of the scheduled refinancing of Intrawest’s debt.

Pierre et Vacance, a French company, will get 655 apartments at Arc 1950 Resort, plus two restaurants, a bar and two commercial spaces. The French company will also get 138 apartments and opera operations at Flaine Montsoleil Resort.

Intrawest was purchased by Fortress in 2006 for $2.8 billion. Fortress assumed $1.7 billion in debt at the time, and had to scramble in October 2008 to refinance.

Crime drops in Jackson Hole

JACKSON, Wyo. – The crime rate in Jackson and surrounding Teton County remains well below what it was a year ago. The jail that serves both jurisdictions shows an average daily inmate population during June and July that was 30 percent less than the previous year.

Teton County Sheriff Jim Whalen, when quizzed by theJackson Hole News&Guide, offered a simple theory: “I think it’s the economy. Some of the jobs have dried up and people have moved on. That’s the long and short of it.”

He suspects that the people most prone to crime have left. Historically, white men between 24 and 35 have been responsible for the largest amount of crime.

The paper also notes that the rentals section of its classified advertising section has six times as many rentals available as last year. The tourism business, meanwhile, has been only a little slower this summer than last year, with 82 percent of lodging units spoken for on the first weekend of August, compared to 95 percent on the corresponding weekend last year, reports the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce.

Eagle weighs plan for big-box complex

EAGLE – As it has done for most of this century, Eagle continues to talk about the devilish details of major commercial development, this time including a Target.

The booming town of 7,000 people located a half-hour down-valley from Vail, previously rebuffed plans that might have included a Costco. Town residents, in a special election, said they wanted to retain the small-town atmosphere.

The adjacent town, Gypsum, wasn’t so fussy. It took the Costco, which is located adjacent to the Eagle town limits.

The current proposal calls for a 552,000 square feet of commercial space, including Target, plus 581 residential units and a 150-room hotel, reports theEagle Valley Enterprise.

If the Target is built, it will be the third one in the mountain corridor along Interstate 70. Others have been built in recent years at Silverthorne and Glenwood Springs.

Wyoming eco-hotel adds more units

JACKSON, Wyo. – Hotel Terra, the first hotel in Wyoming to be certified under the LEED green-building standards, has completed another 60 units on top of the 72 rooms and suites introduced last year. The eco-hotel is the brain-child climber Rob DesLauries, whose Terra Resort Group had previously announced plans to build up to 15 eco-boutique hotels. A company spokeswoman told theJackson Hole News&Guide that the organization has feelers out in other communities to either build a new hotel or renovate an existing property.

Silverthorne extends growing season

SILVERTHORNE – Community gardening is getting a boost in Summit County, where $25,000 has been appropriated to build three greenhouses. With the greenhouses, the gardening season could be extended into October. Elevation there is about8,700 feet.

In reporting the item, theSummit Daily News makes no mention of the expected crops, but presumably even something as exotic as tomatoes might be possible. The average annual frost-free growing season in nearby Dillon was, at least until the climate began changing, 21 days.

Steamboat library shifts slightly to solar

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS – The roof of the Bud Werner Memorial Library in downtown Steamboat Springs has gotten shiny, thanks to photovoltaic solar panels installed. The panels and installation cost $82,000, all but $4,000 of that covered by grants from the Colorado state government, reports theSteamboat Pilot & Today. But there’s still good reason for the three coal plants just to the west of Steamboat: The panels offset only about 4 percent of the electricity used at the library.

— Allen Best