When the sizzling temperatures hit most parts of the country, tourists are resorting to the mountain ski resorts so that they can find relief. Most resorts from Californian to Oregon and Colorado are on course so as to set a record during the summer business this year. Brandon Wike is one of the people who are turning to resorts to escape from the hot temperatures. He is spending a weekend at a resort located a few meters down the road from Aspen in Colo. Wike came from a wedding but he and his brother-in-law decided to bring mountain bikes so that they can try out some of the bike tracks at Snowmass Ski resort.
Wike says that at first, he did not know that biking was an option offered at the ski resort. He went to the resort’s website to check the kind of activities that they had and it was there that he saw gondolas and mountain biking. It was then he decided mountain biking was the best activity for him and he decided to take his bike to the resort.
During the summer season, Aspen Skiing Co. permit mountain biking on the terrain that is normally used for skiing purposes. Jeff Hanle, of Aspen Skiing, points from a gondola car trails of dirt that crisscross the mountain. Jumps, wooden-banked turns and bridges have been tucked in between the pine trees. Hanle says that all the trails were there the previous summer and some were there even the year before that. Hanle says that the resorts are still driven by the winter and it is where the most income comes from but adds that they have facilities they can use to expand and expand the business season.
The operator of the ski resort is not the only one who is benefiting from the stretched offerings of the summer. Restaurants, shops and hotels in Aspen and Snowmass are currently taking pleasure in a banner summer. Bill Tomcich, who follows the visitors’ number using his company for booking resort, also noticed the trend. He says that the numbers of visitors in the town are unparalleled to those that they are used to the previous years. According to Tomcich the resort is recovering from recession and this is partly because of the activities such as the mountain biking. During the summer, it is also cheaper, with a typical summer stay in a hotel at Aspen being 40% cheaper than during the winter.
Heavenly Resort, in California, is also stretching its activities during the summer vacation. A law passed in 2011 allowed the resorts that operated on the land owned by US Forest Service to offer other activities save for skiing. For Heavenly Resort, this meant offering activities such as summer tubing. The resort’s spokeswoman, Sally Gunter, says that the visitors tube down a long plastic mat. She said that the tube is the same as one used in the winter and the tourists sit down on it and are then pushed down the hill of the tube. With the tube being 500 feet long and the vertical drop 60 foot, she says that the experience is very exhilarating.
