Top 5 most-read stories last week
Staff report Follow
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
Stories in this list received the most page views on aspentimes.com from April 27 – May 4:
The Colorado Supreme Court had tough questions for lawyers representing Vail Resorts and a Texas man suing the ski company after he was hit by an employee on a snowmobile at Breckenridge Ski Resort.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in John Litterer v. Vail Summit Resorts Inc. on April 16 at a high school in Holyoke. The case could further test the limits of the liability waivers ski resorts require customers to sign when buying passes. It comes two years after the state’s highest court ruled in another case, Miller v. Crested Butte, that the blanket waivers do not protect resorts in all cases when a customer is injured.
Litterer sued Vail Summit Resorts Inc., a subsidiary of Vail Resorts, which owns the Epic Pass, six ski resorts in Colorado and dozens across the U.S. and the world. He claims he was hit by an employee driving a snowmobile around a “blind corner” at Breckenridge in 2020.
— Ryan Spencer
2. Highway 82 reopens after vehicle fire
Update: As of 8:03 a.m., the vehicle fire has been cleared from Highway 82 in Snowmass Canyon and all lanes in both directions are now open.
Highway 82 is closed at the intersection with Lower River Road due to a vehicle fire as of 6:34 a.m., according to a PitkinAlert.
“Use alternate routes to go upvalley,” the alert states. “Use caution as winter conditions exist.”
— Staff report
3. Pitkin County P&Z determines Aspen Airport plan to be ‘not in conformance’
Pitkin County’s Planning and Zoning Commission found significant portions of the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport modernization project to be non-conforming with two local Master Plans ahead of the Board of County Commissioners’ consideration next month.
In their Tuesday meeting, the Planning and Zoning Commission conducted a Location and Extent Review of three projects within the modernization plan – the runway reconstruction and expansion, the terminal upgrades and the Fixed Base Operator upgrades.
According to Planning and Zoning, the 2012 Aspen Area Community Plan and the 2013 West of Maroon Creek Master Plan both outline guardrails that the airport modernization project, as proposed, appears to push against.
— Colin Suszynski
Colorado forecasters expect the recent pattern of wetter, cooler weather to continue into the start of May, offering relief — but not real healing — from drought conditions after a historically hot, dry winter.
National Weather Service meteorologist Lucas Boyer said that the mix of snow and rain that Colorado mountains have seen this week is expected to continue as a storm hits Thursday and Friday, with showers through the weekend.
“The truth of the matter is that we’ve been so dry that it does feel wet right now,” Boyer said. “But it’s not going to be enough to move the needle because this is not a storm that has excessive amounts of water wrapped up in it.”
— Ryan Spencer
5. APCHA Board removes ‘longest work history,’ updates ownership lottery
The Aspen/Pitkin County Housing Authority Board approved a series of regulatory changes on April 15 with the aim of improving fairness in housing access, increasing predictability for homeowners and renters and supporting long-term housing stability for the local workforce.
The approved changes impact tenant selection for APCHA-managed rentals, appreciation and rent increase calculations, income requalification rules and ownership lottery chances, according to a press release.
“The local workforce has changed over time, and APCHA is trying to respond to several realities at once: the need to fill rental units more efficiently, the need to support current residents as incomes change, the need to preserve affordability and the need to give both long-term workers and newer workers a reasonable path into housing,” APCHA Deputy Director of Housing Bethany Spitz told The Aspen Times.
— River Stingray
