Ski more; complain less

Dear Editor:

Here we go again, with somebody complaining about the price of a lift ticket.

I spent several years working for a local real estate company in guest services. I know firsthand that the cost of a daily lift ticket is the least part of the cost to come here and enjoy the greatest ski area in the country if not in the entire world. When you factor in the cost of lodging, the cost of meals and other related expenses, like traveling here, the lift-ticket price is the least part of the expense of what it takes to come here for a ski vacation.

We should instead be thankful that Aspen Skiing Co. has spent tens of millions of dollars to develop the very best overall ski area in North America. I spend 80 or more days skiing on the four mountains we have here. When one does so, you hear what others, from all over our planet, have to say about their experience coming here. Nothing but praise. They do not complain about the price of a lift ticket but instead say the same: “Nowhere else have we been treated so well, had so much fun and had such great snow.”

I remember one family saying something that has stuck with me. It went something like this: “We don’t understand why you locals complain about things like traffic on Highway 82, about ticket prices, about the cost of so many other things. Why you locals do so is a mystery to us when you guys live in a permanent vacation.”

What they were telling me was that coming here on a ski vacation once was their dream vacation, something that they had planned on doing, something they might only be able to do once in their lifetimes.

Sorry if you who complain about the price of a ticket don’t like what I write, but instead, be thankful for what has been given to us locals to enjoy what lies out our back doors. Complainers need to get a grip – the cost of a lift ticket cannot be what it was when I came in 1967.

Second: It would have been great, on the night of the torchlight parade and fireworks in Snowmass, for someone to explain what did not happen and why. There were 100-plus people, mostly tourists, wondering what was going on.

This is the fault of the so-called whatever they call themselves – Snowmass Tourism. I think that is what they call themselves. There is no excuse for none of your staff being slopeside that night.

Harry Temple III

Snowmass Village