News from Aspen Skiing Company Summer 2016

Food & Beverage

Expanded Farm to Table Dinners
Last August, Elk Camp restaurant located mid-mountain on Snowmass introduced Farm to Table Dinners. Due to popularity, the dinners will not only be back, but will include an expanded schedule that kicks-off Tuesday, Jul. 19 and runs every Tuesday until Aug. 23. The culinary experience includes a free ride up the Elk Camp gondola to the restaurant where guests can enjoy locally-sourced ingredients in a farm-to-table inspired à la carte dinner format with full cash bar, outdoor family activities and live music. Food and beverage options are sourced from local farmers and companies such as Crystal River Meats, Rock Bottom Ranch, Farm Runners, Woody Creek Distillery, The Roaring Fork Beer Co, Marble Distillery, Aspen Beer Co. and more. Five percent of food sales will go to Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES) and The Roaring Fork Conservancy. Each organization will have representatives on site to speak about the various food and beverages.


Snowmass Bike Park

Snowmass Bike Park Trail Extension
The Snowmass Bike Park offers a network of lift-served downhill mountain bike trails that range from Valhalla, a gravity-defying world-class downhill trail complete with elements such as berms, jumps and table tops, to Verde, a gentle single-track flow trail that helps new bikers gain important fundamentals. Spanning from the top of the Elk Camp chairlift to the bottom of Snowmass Base Village, the trail system offers 2,893 ft. of vertical descent that spans across 50 miles of trails. New this summer, the Snowmass Bike Park has rerouted the Vapor trail to include two new flow segments that increase the mileage from 2.9 to 3.3. Vapor is an intermediate trail that is accessed from the top of the Elk Camp chairlift and includes 1,400 feet of vertical descent as well as features such as bridges and berms.
Snowmass Bike Park Nights
In conjunction with the Farm to Table Dinners at Elk Camp restaurant, the Snowmass Bike Park will extend the park hours to stay open until dusk every Tuesday from Jul. 19-Aug.23.
Snowmass Demo Days
Snowmass Demo Days returns Jun. 25-26 for a two-day sponsored bike event in Snowmass Base Village. Bike enthusiasts are encouraged to come out and demo the latest bike equipment provided by featured exhibitors. Demo mountain bikes, road bikes, downhill bikes, fat bikes or try out the latest in components and equipment on the Snowmass Bike Park trails or paths.


Air Service
Two New Non-Stop Flights Added into Aspen/Pitkin County Airport
American Airlines and United Airlines are scheduled to expand flight schedules into Aspen/Snowmass (ASE) for the 2016 summer and fall seasons.

American Airlines New Service from Chicago/O'Hare and Expanded Service from DFW
American Airlines will offer new summer nonstop flights from Chicago/O'Hare International Airport (ORD), expanding their existing daily flights from both Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport (DFW). American's summer seasonal service from DFW, LAX and now ORD begins June 2, 2016. Flights from LAX and ORD are scheduled to operate daily through Aug. 15, 2016, while daily nonstop flights from DFW are now scheduled to continue into the fall season, daily through Oct. 5, 2016.

United Airlines New Service from San Francisco and Expanded Service from Chicago and LAX
United Airlines will offer new summer non-stop flights from San Francisco International Airport (SFO). This will add to their existing summer service from Denver International Airport (DEN), Chicago (ORD), Houston (IAH) and Los Angeles (LAX). New nonstop flights from SFO are scheduled to begin on June 9, 2016 and continue through Aug.15, 2016. Seasonal nonstop flights from Houston resume on June 3, 2016, while flights from ORD and LAX are scheduled to resume on June 9, 2016. While the Houston flights are scheduled to operate through Aug. 15, 2016, nonstop flights from both Chicago and LAX are being extended into the fall with Chicago flights continuing through Oct. 4, 2016, and LAX flights continuing through Oct. 29, 2016. United will continue to operate daily year-round service from Denver with as few as four flights daily at times during the spring to as many as nine daily during the summer.


New Events

Aspen Snowmass Slated to Host Enduro World Series Mountain Bike Race
Aspen Snowmass will host the only U.S. stop of the Enduro World Series Saturday, Jul. 30-Sunday, Jul. 31, 2016. The Enduro World Series continues its proud tradition of uncovering the world's best mountain bike destinations with its 2016 calendar. The new season will feature eight rounds across three continents, including four completely new venues in Chile, Argentina, France and the USA (Aspen Snowmass, Colo.). Aspen Snowmass has been chosen to host round five (out of eight rounds) of the prestigious Enduro World Series that will feature some of the best mountain bike athletes in the world. The two-day event will blend high altitude riding adventures mixed with some of the biggest descents and best riding in the areas.
Stars Above Aspen—Community Astronomy Night
In conjunction with Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES) and the Aspen Science Center, Stars Above Aspen is a new community astronomy night that will take place Aug. 10 on top of Aspen Mountain. After a ride up the Silver Queen Gondola, guests will have the opportunity to gaze through telescopes, learn about the constellations and enjoy presentations from scientists. The evening will also include dinner options at the Sundeck restaurant and family-friendly entertainment.


Headliner Events

Audi Power of Four Mountain Bike Race
This unique 33-mile point-to-point mountain bike race combines single and double track trails across the four ski areas of Aspen Snowmass (Snowmass, Buttermilk, Aspen Highlands and Aspen Mountain) into one grueling course with almost 10,000 ft. of vertical gain/loss. The diversity of the terrain and the challenge of tackling the four distinct mountains has placed this race in a category all its own. Participants have the option of racing a shorter course (18-miles) that covers the first two mountains of the full route, Snowmass and Buttermilk, including the famed Government Trail. The sixth annual Audi Power of Four Mountain Bike Race will be held on Saturday, Aug. 6. Categories will be broken into male, female, male singlespeed and female singlespeed. 
Audi Power of Four Trail Run Race
Aspen Snowmass presents the 2016 Audi Power of Four Trail Race scheduled to take place Saturday, Aug. 6 and Sunday, Aug. 7. The event's signature race is a challenging 50K Ultra that has been once again named the US Skyrunner Series North American Continental Championships and covers the four Aspen Snowmass mountains (Snowmass, Buttermilk, Aspen Highlands and Aspen Mountain) utilizing a mix of single track and dirt road. The event also offers a 25K race along the famed Government Trail that covers the mountains of Buttermilk and Snowmass, a new 10K race at Snowmass as well as a Vertical K race up Aspen Mountain, also part of the US Skyrunner Series. The Vertical K race will be held on Saturday, Aug 6 with the 50K, 25K and 10K races scheduled for Sunday, Aug 7. 
Red Bull Rise
Aspen Snowmass will host the 2016 Red Bull Rise on Aspen Mountain Sunday, Aug. 28. Now in its second year, the 12 hour endurance race invites runners from around the world to compete in solo, duo and team divisions. Competitors will run up Aspen Mountain that spans 3,000 vertical feet of elevation gain and then download on the gondola. At the end of the 12 hours, the runner/runners with the most number of laps will win.

Summer Operations