Upstaging Coachella: Mayor Steve Skadron Plans Aspen Uphill Festival

Aspen, despite its Gucci shops, is still holding on to its mountain town roots. Part of that effort is thanks to the work of Mayor Steve Skadron, who this year, is introducing Aspen’s first uphill-themed festival. The event, which will take place February 27 and 28 around the town’s popular Power of Four Skimo Race, is designed to spur economic development without any physical construction. “My goal is to foster a business culture, so that Aspen is the nexus for uphill research and development,” Skadron says. “I see it as an effort to help the preservation of mountain town culture.” The two-day event at the base of Aspen Mountain will feature uphill gear clinics, a gear swap, the Power of Four race and live music. 

Backcountry: Where is the uphill festival at right now, in terms of preparing for the event? 

Steve Skadron: Right now, we’re putting together the nuts and bolts. This is tentative, because they’re still hammering out stuff. It starts with kind of an industry meeting, a little bit like the Outdoor Retailer show or SIA. This will be a mini version of that. Over the summer, I had a bunch of the big players here: Dynafit, La Sportiva, SCARPA, all the heavy hitters, to talk about this general concept. The objective is to discuss ways to grow the [uphill] industry. Later that day, we hope to be doing a film screening and asking filmmakers questions and answers, and also making a little history of AT skiing in Aspen.

Then [on Saturday] from, say, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., there’s going to be a demo day and uphill ski swap. We were able to guarantee uphill gear demos on the Little Nell portion of Aspen Mountain during the day (currently prohibited), allowing the event to be concentrated at the base of Aspen. So I would go there, bring all my gear, anything I wanted to swap out. This could be a really cool thing. We have so many locals saying “Yeah, I really want to try this; I want to get in and just buy some cheap gear.” We’ll continue on with more gear clinics and things where I hope some of the industry players will be participating. I’d love to see Dynafit out here. There will be some stores in the upcoming season where they’ll have gear for people to try out.

Then around this whole thing there’s going to be a kind of a live music, art festival thing. It’s going to have a really cool, local, organic feel to it. Not Gucci, high-end stuff.

So that’s the rough framework. My goal behind this; I want to get it rooted. Parts of this might be a success and parts of it not, but I wanted to initiate the program and start the momentum so we can build on it for next year.

BCM: How are you balancing big business like SCARPA and Dynafit with local businesses and local interest in uphill culture?

SS: Everybody’s included. And the enthusiasm from each industry sector has been really reassuring. I had a meeting here in August; we do this big bike race, the USA Pro Challenge. I invited everyone up to the bike race and we had all of these big players, the small little shops, local athletes and other sort of film people, and everyone worked really well together. There’s opportunity for all the players, big and small alike as the market grows. While they will compete within that market, at this point it’s everyone’s benefit as I see it, and mine, too. Aspen’s as well—and other ski areas—to grow the entire industry.

BCM: Thinking long term, how do you expect this uphill festival to impact Aspen’s economic development? What are the benefits of focusing solely on uphill movement?

SS: My interest as the mayor of Aspen is on the economic development side. And I want to see more economic development without the actual physical development. Ideally, I would love to see companies relocate, or locate part of their operations here. My goal is to foster a business culture so that Aspen is the nexus for uphill research and development. I don’t expect someone like SCARPA to set up a manufacturing operation in Aspen—that won’t happen—but there’s no reason why storefronts couldn’t be balanced by the presence of these brands.

I see it as an effort to help the preservation of mountain town culture, as much as capturing the enthusiasm around ski mountaineering and uphill. Our town is full of these shops, so I thought we don’t only have to be for Prada. I would love to have more mountain culture. The next time a store opens, have Dynafit rather than Prada.

BCM: What are you personally most excited about?

SS: I’m going to be doing the Power of Four. I do the Grand Traverse, and then I’ll probably participate in the America’s Uphill. I’ll probably be selling gear at the gear swap. My partner in the Grand Traverse and the Power of Four is the Mayor of Crested Butte, and we did both races together last year, because we’re sister cities and we’re mountain towns.

We wanted to bring attention to the preservation of winter and climate change; show how important the winter seasons are. We did a little thing on POW, Protect Our Winters, and we just wanted to take advantage of our proximity. We both do this stuff, so it’s pretty cool that two mountain town mayors are able to participate in it.