Alex Hager

Sunlight Mountain is opening up new runs for the first time since 1993, as part of a four million dollar expansion. The Glenwood Springs resort will open five new runs this season, adding 500 vertical feet to the mountain’s East Ridge section. 

Wednesday and Thursday night, the City of Aspen is hosting public open houses to gather input input on an affordable housing development at the Aspen Lumberyard near the Aspen Airport Business Center. 

Previous meetings gave the city guidance on what kind of facilities will be included in the project. Public input and conversations with city council identified desires for housing, parking space, childcare facilities and easy access to public transportation.

Four teams carved elaborate snow sculptures in downtown Aspen over the weekend, competing in Wintersculpt, part of the Wintersköl celebration. One team made up of students at Aspen Middle School called themselves “Need for Green."

The 43rd annual Aspen Gay Ski Week kicks off Sunday. Over the decades, it’s evolved, and this year, that means an increased push to welcome families. Kevin McManamon, AspenOUT executive director, says 25 families will attend Gay Ski Week this year. He stressed the importance of creating a space where LGBTQ people with kids can come to connect.

Aspen played host to plenty of visitors between Christmas and New Years, with upwards of 90% of hotel rooms booked in that time frame. While the busy holiday period made for crowded roads and sidewalks, Aspen police say it didn’t lead to a significant increase in traffic accidents.

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The Roaring Fork Transportation Authority is making some upgrades to its maintenance facility in Glenwood Springs, right across the street from the West Glenwood Park and Ride. The renovations will more than double the building’s capacity for repairs.

Last week, the Aspen Pitkin County airport unveiled a series of upgrades just in time to accommodate holiday travelers.

Airport administrators moved their offices across the street, making way for 109 new seats in the lounge and expanded floor space. In hopes of easing traffic congestion, the airport also added 100 new parking spaces and a cell phone waiting lot.

Holiday crowds are are descending on the valley by the thousands. Aspen Chamber lodging data from the end of November showed 70% rooms already booked for Christmas Day, with a peak of 79% booked on December 28th.

Across the nation, upgrades are coming to the way wireless signal reaches the phone in your pocket. Small cell technology, as it’s called, will lead to the installation of lots of new transmitters. Due to a combination of state and federal regulations, Aspen will not have much control over that process when the cells come to town.

Colorado has the highest rate of youth electronic cigarette use in the nation, and use among high schoolers in Pitkin County is among the highest in the state. Now, the county is considering measures to change that.

Last week, private garbage and recycling company Waste Management said it would cost $120,000 to operate a public recycling drop-off center in Basalt next year, more than double what it cost in 2019. The firm says that comes in response to higher drop-off fees at a larger facility in Denver.

The City of Aspen released the results of its latest citizen survey this week. The annual questionnaire measures resident attitudes about living in Aspen and the city’s government.

Overall, respondents gave the city high marks in categories such as safety and protecting the environment, but were dissatisfied with livability.

Learning to ski can be awkward. After squeezing into a tight pair of boots and waddling to the lift, a first trip down the bunny hill can be full of challenges. But once you start getting the hang of things, there’s that unbeatable rush.

“Your heart starts racing,” said 18-year-old Alisha Geary. “Your mood changes, your attitude shifts. It's just amazing. You kind of have to experience it yourself, you know?”

As the professional ski season gets underway, some of the world’s best racers have been training at Aspen Highlands. The list of skiers who trained on Golden Horn in the early season includes the Swiss men’s alpine team and American star Mikaela Shiffrin. 

A recycling center in Basalt is set to close at the start of 2020 after Pitkin County decided to stop funding it, and residents are now turning to Eagle County in hopes of a solution.

The Roaring Fork Transit Authority unveiled its new electric buses in a ceremony at Rubey Park on Tuesday. Over the course of the next month, eight new electric buses will join RFTA’s fleet of about 90 total buses.

On Monday, the Snowmass Town Council got a look at the size and location of buildings that would make up a proposed overhaul of Snowmass Center. Richard Shaw, a landscape architect working with Eastwood Snowmass on plans for the renovations, led a tour for council members and residents. 

The City of Aspen hosts a “Feedback Forum” next week, where officials are hoping to get public input on four different city projects. The open meetings will be held on Dec. 4 at the Limelight hotel in Aspen.

The news website Vox recently published an article titled “Colorado’s cleanest energy options are also its cheapest.” The author, David Roberts, spoke with Aspen Public Radio about his findings. Roberts’ full article can be read here.

Tuesday night, the Carbondale Board of Trustees was presented with a year-end rundown of accomplishments by Clean Energy Economy for the Region (CLEER). The Carbondale-based organization collaborates with the Town of Carbondale and Garfield County to assist in the adoption of renewable energy.

Almost a million Coloradans will travel for Thanksgiving this year, according to AAA Colorado. But heavy snowfall could complicate travel ahead of the holiday.

The City of Aspen is asking if dockless mobility is a good fit for its streets.

From Seattle to Miami, and plenty of cities in between, there has been buzz abound about dockless mobility. The term refers to bikes and scooters that riders pick up using an app on their phones, and then abandon at their destination.

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Molly Dove, Morning Edition Host: In its meeting a couple of weeks ago, the Pitkin County Board of Commissioners talked about whether or not to accept a piece of donated land, just upvalley of Woody Creek off of Juniper Hill Road. When they first considered accepting the donated land, there were some questions raised as to whether or not the county should do so. To help break it down, we're joined by reporter Alex Hager. Give us some background on this, where exactly is this land that we're talking about?