Aspen Expands Horizons

ASPEN/SNOWMASS VILLAGE, Colo. -- Aspen Skiing Company has established an environmental consulting practice as part of its Environmental Affairs Department. The newly formed Aspen Sustainability Associates will assist other businesses, governments, and individuals in greening their operations, providing assistance in green development and building design, corporate climate change strategies, LEED certification, improving community communication, renewable energy procurement and generation, and a host of other environmental issues.

Auden Schendler, who will direct the consulting practice, says: "What makes us unique is that we've done what we're talking about. That differentiates us from many consulting firms, because we've hit every barrier and land mine in the book. We're offering to help other businesses do what we've done, minus the pitfalls and obstacles."

Many of the programs Aspen Skiing Company offers save money, like the comprehensive lighting retrofits and energy management program undertaken at the The Little Nell hotel. Others cost money but address major corporate environmental impacts, such as using renewable energy to offset fuel combustion or electricity use.

The announcement comes at a time when mounting evidence on climate change suggests that the industry-so dependent on stable weather patterns-is under increasing pressure from global pollution trends.

Aspen Skiing Company President and CEO Pat O'Donnell notes: "First, we're not going to solve the world's environmental problems alone, we need others on board. Second, from the volume of phone calls we get requesting advice; we simply don't have the resources to provide it for free. And finally, we've developed a huge reserve of experience and credibility in the past few years."

Since creating the industry's first Environmental Affairs Department in 1997, Aspen Skiing Company has established a track record of environmental innovation. The company established the industry's first, and only, green building policy, and constructed one of the world's first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified buildings (it is now working on a second); it pioneered industry use of biodiesel in snowcats, which was soon copied by half a dozen resorts nationally; it established the concept and practice of sustainability reporting in the ski industry, and created a foundation to support local environmental causes. More detail on these and other programs, as well as a copy of the Aspen Sustainability Associates brochure, is available at www.aspensnowmass.com/environment. In addition to having won 17 environmental awards, ASC has published articles on environmental business in Harvard Business Review, the LA Times, the Denver Post, the Journal of Industrial Ecology, Corporate Environmental Strategy, and many other journals.

Aspen Skiing Company operates the four mountains in the Aspen/Snowmass area - Snowmass, Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands and Buttermilk - as well as the award-winning Ski & Snowboard Schools of Aspen. The area offers unparalleled night life and off-slope activities as well. Aspen/Snowmass is accessible by two of the most convenient airports in the mountains - Aspen Sardy Field (3 miles from Aspen) and Eagle County Airport (70 miles from Aspen). For more information on Aspen Skiing Company, please call 800/525-6200 or 970/925-1220, or visit the company's website at www.aspensnowmass.com.