Top 5 most-read stories last week

Stories in this list received the most page views on aspentimes.com from April 28-May 5.

1. New Colorado Gun law triggers response in Pitkin County, Basalt 

One of Colorado’s new laws introduces sweeping restrictions on the manufacture, sale, and ownership of certain semiautomatic firearms and devices designed to increase firing speed. It represents one of the most significant overhauls to firearm regulation in state history.

Colorado Senate Bill 25-003, signed into law in early April, takes effect Aug. 1, 2026.

Under the new law, the commercial manufacture, sale, transfer, distribution, or purchase of “specified semiautomatic firearms” is prohibited. 

-Westley Crouch 

2. Injured skier has ‘incredible’ self-rescue below Castle Peak 

There wasn’t much Marieta Bialek and Austin Zedak were concerned about. 

They had just successfully skied their two objectives around 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 22: Conundrum and Castle Peaks, about 31 miles south of Aspen. Joining another couple, they were about to head down to the hut they’d stayed at to grab their stuff and go home. 

Then, Bialek hit a compression in the snow. Her right binding failed to deploy correctly, resulting in her tumbling three times with the ski still on and snapping her leg and ankle

“It was so much pain in there, but I couldn’t quite tell what had happened,” she said, although she ultimately learned she had broken her tibia, fibula, and ankle.

It took the group some time to assess and make a decision about what to do next, according to her. After the group’s search-and-rescue message did not go through via satellite phone, they decided to self-rescue after determining it wasn’t a life-threatening injury.

-River Stingray 

3. Kemo Sabe wants ‘more of a community’ with locals weekend event 

Since Tom and Nancy Yoder opened the first ever Kemo Sabe store in Aspen, the company’s mantra has been “make everyone feel important.” 

But, over the decades, the flagship shop might have appeared to cater primarily to the big-name celebrity and well-off tourist culture with its hand-made hats that blend beaver and rabbit felt with hand-molded cowboy and softened flat-brimmed styles.

This weekend, however, the locals’ event is proving that locals matter to Kemo Sabe just as much as its more affluent and visiting clientele.

-River Stingray 

4. Roaring Fork Transportation Authority to begin rail dismantling project  

The Roaring Fork Valley’s Rio Grande Railroad will potentially be seen for the last time as the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority commences plans to remove it this year. 

The tracks, which currently sit in pieces overgrown by vegetation, will be dismantled and sold. The money that RFTA makes from this project will go toward paying for the work it took to remove them in the first place. If there are any remaining funds, those will go toward restoring the land through reseeding of native vegetation. 

Phase 1 of the salvage project is set to begin on June 1 and go through the end of the month. In this phase, crews will be working on clearing the rails of vegetation that could impede future rail removal efforts from Glenwood Springs to Wingo Junction in the Basalt area.

-Colin Suszynski 

5. Armada skis co-founder Alex Kelloff to run for U.S. Congress

Old Snowmass’ Alex Kelloff announced on Wednesday he will run for U.S. Congress. 

The fourth-generation Coloradan and co-founder of Armada Skis formally entered on Tuesday into the race for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District. He will run as a Democrat in the November 2026 election.

“Everything that holds this country together — honor, integrity, common sense, the rule of law, mutual respect — is under attack,” Kelloff said in a press release. “Donald Trump and his followers, including Lauren Boebert and her successor, Jeff Hurd, are tearing at the fabric of our democracy and undermining the very institutions that protect our freedoms. I can’t sit back and watch it happen.”

-Skyler Stark-Ragsdale