SkiCo agreement with Pitkin County assures free Buttermilk parking for winter season

Pitkin County ended its consideration of implementing paid parking at the Buttermilk parking lot after agreeing to an offer of $200,000 from Aspen Skiing Company to keep the lot free for the upcoming winter season. 

SkiCo also committed to take responsibility for liability and insurance costs associated with operating the lot for the 2025-26 ski season. 

“Buttermilk has always been in the winter, at least in the minds of the people that use it, free,” Aspen SkiCo CEO Geoff Buchheister said in the meeting. “It’s a beginner ski area, it’s where people learn to ski, and I think some of those elements are super important, and I maintain that we should respect that in our future planning.”

The county had been operating the lot via a joint agreement with the city of Aspen until 2023. Since then, Pitkin County has been exploring the idea of charging for the lot. 

According to a county document, revenue generated by a $15 per day charge would have helped pay for increased transit services from the Brush Creek Park Intercept Lot. Additionally, the county hoped that daily parking charges would further incentivize people to use alternative transportation options like buses.

“This is not an attempt to get money out of skiers,” Pitkin County Public Works Director Brian Pettet said. “This is an attempt to manage transportation demand beyond where the free parking is at the Intercept Lot. The whole idea of having the Intercept Lot was to intercept cars before they got into the entrance to Aspen.”

He continued, “We can use that money then to provide more incentive to get people out of their cars by having direct shuttles.”

The county calculated that the Buttermilk lot could generate a “conservatively estimated” $425,000 in the winter. They arrived at this number by assuming 80% of the 300 parking spots would be filled per day, at $15  per day. 

Pitkin County commissioners expressed that they would still like to explore the option of using the funds provided by SkiCo to fund increased transit services for the ski season. 

“I, for one, would certainly applaud shuttles from Brush Creek to Buttermilk and Highlands on a regular basis, because it is nice to not have to try to drive anywhere if I can get on at Brush Creek,” Pitkin County Commissioner Greg Poschman said. 

However, Chief Operating Office of the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority Dave Pesnichak noted that implementing a new bus schedule for this winter would not be possible due to the current stage of bus schedule planning. 

“We’re finalizing our winter schedule now, we’re at the tail end of that,” Pesnichak said. “At this point, the nearest point where we could add additional service, from a scheduling standpoint, would be spring.”

SkiCo and Pitkin County are entering into the agreement for the upcoming ski season, but are seeking to have a more robust planning process that incorporates feedback from a wider group of stakeholders in the future. 

“I think our proposal is not to do this every year for the foreseeable future,” Buchheister said. “It’s a responsible stop gap that requires us to be back at the table and discuss and invite more people in (to discuss) — whether with RFTA, the high school, health and human services — and ask ‘how do we do this the right way?'”