Snowmass Village to Host Mountain Travel Symposium

Snowmass Village will host the largest gathering of mountain travelers in the nation this week, as the annual Mountain Travel Symposium (MTS) kicks off.

For 38 years, the MTS has brought together ski groups, travel agents and resort representatives to network. This year will be no different, says MTS President Michael Pierson, who recently spoke to the Aspen Daily News about the symposium.

When it first began in the 1970s, MTS was merely an excuse for marketing directors from big-time resorts to join up and ski, Pierson said.

Since then, the gathering has become more refined, and has grown; in 2009, over 1,200 professionals participated and Pierson projects the numbers to be no less this year.

Each year, resorts put bids in for a chance to host the symposium. This time, it's Aspen, Colorado's chance to shine.

Snowmass won this year because of Colorado's age-old fame for mountain sporting, and because the village will have enough means to accommodate the large number of professionals in attendance.

Naturally, the town also has the propensity to offer skiing and other snow activities.

"Many resort towns don't have the kind of infrastructure or conference center capacity to allow for a gathering of this size," Pierson said. "What's great about Snowmass is that we have the new base village here...The new Viceroy Hotel and the town is all bright and vibrant."

All who attend the symposium receive free ski lift tickets, and are invited to events on the mountain throughout the week. Attendees have full access to the aforementioned Viceroy Snowmass resort hotel and Snowmass Base Village.

Not only will this hosting bring networkers and businesspeople to a town that hasn't held a symposium for 12 years, it will also bring revenue and an economic wellspring to the town.

"There's nothing like fresh tracks," the MTS website boasts. "New look. New spirit. More freshies than a pow morning."

The Mountain Travel Symposium is on now, and will run through April 13.