ONE of the many free services that the Little Nell, a luxury hotel at the base of Aspen Mountain, offers its guests is a ski concierge, someone who handles tasks like booking your lift tickets or snapping up your boots.
Jason Dewey
Ray McNutt, a ski concierge in Aspen.
"My little motto is: we do everything for our guests but ski for them," said Ray McNutt, the ski concierge manager. And in the 10 years he has worked as a concierge, he said, there has never been a request he said no to. "If it's legal, we'll do it for you."
Below are edited excerpts from a conversation with Mr. McNutt on what a ski concierge can do for you.
Q. How do ski concierges help guests get ready for skiing?
A. We book their lift tickets and their lessons. If they brought their own skis here, we pick them up at the airport and get them ready. If they rented skis from a ski shop in town, we'll pick those up, too. We also store skis for guests who come a couple times a year. We tune up skis at night, or if a guest likes a certain shop, we'll bring them there to be tuned up and get them the next morning.
The ski concierge room is at the back of the hotel, so in the morning, you come down from your room in your slippers, and we help you get your boots on, if you need that assistance. We give any information about the mountain, the conditions, good runs, any advisories. We hand you your skis, and the gondola is just 30 steps away. If you're skiing one of the other three mountains in Aspen, we'll have your skis ready at the front door for when your shuttles depart.
We keep a history on each guest, so you don't even have to call to ask for these things if you're a returning guest. We're proactive. The days I grew up skiing, getting out at a dirt parking lot and schlepping all your stuff, it's not at all like that. Guests don't even have to touch their skis, just concentrate on skiing.
Q. Any other perks?
A. Guests can sign up for the First Tracks program to do one run down the mountain before it opens at 9 in the morning. It's beautiful: the light is different; it's quiet; you're the only person on the run. That's part of the complimentary service. On Saturdays, we set up a nice breakfast at the top of the mountain for $25. You start skiing right when the mountain opens. You have free range of it.
Q. If you're renting a house in Aspen, are there any concierge services you can hire?
A. Ski Butlers and Black Tie Ski Rentals are two companies that will come to your house with all of the equipment and size them up for you there. But then you're on your own. And regulars often rent lockers in ski shops in town, so they can keep their stuff up there.
Q. What's one of the crazy requests you've gotten?
A. About five years ago, I got a call on Christmas Eve from a woman who desperately wanted to get a pair of Völkl skis for her 6-year-old daughter for Christmas morning. I called all over Aspen, and they were sold out, but I found a store in Vail that had them. I sent a driver over to Vail. He picked them up. I pulled some strings with a ski shop here to open early to put the bindings on. Got the skis drilled, had the concierge help me wrap them up, and had them in the room at 6:45 with 15 minutes to spare. That was above and beyond.
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