Amerlux Helps Ski Resort Protect Dark Skies

Snowmass Village, a picturesque ski town nestled in the Rocky Mountains near Aspen, Colo., wanted to redevelop its town center with new buildings for a hotel, condos, town hall and an outdoor ice rink. The challenge? Built around a 35,000 square foot plaza, the town needed a way to illuminate the space while still preserving the area’s iconic night skies.

Construction on the hotel ran over budget and the developer called on Innovative Lighting Consultants (ILC) for help. The Denver-based lighting design firm found a ready answer for the dark skies and budget issues in Amerlux’s Passo LED step light.

“There are beautiful night skies in the mountains and the town officials and developers wanted to minimize light pollution,” said Mike Kershner, founder of ILC. “There is some pedestrian lighting in the area, but the lights are very spread out. To maintain the natural darkness, we used step lights along the paths between buildings and in the plaza area. We needed an inexpensive step light with a high-end finish and top performance. Amerlux’s Passo step lights had way more light output than the competitors we were looking at and they were half the price.”

So far, Kershner and his team have used 125 Passo step lights. As the village project continues, Kershner expects to use another 500 of them by the time it finishes. Using a combination of Passo’s 8-inch and 12-inch models, Kershner deployed the smaller lights throughout the plaza and placed the larger Amerlux fixtures near the buildings where they needed more light.

The Passo lights preserve natural night skies with louvers that cut down on glare and since they are not scoop step lights, there is no upward reflectance. “With Passo step lights, people can walk around Snowmass at night without intrusive lighting,” said Kershner.

Reducing glare and light pollution was just part of the environmental equation. The other half were Passo’s energy-efficient LEDs, which will provide Snowmass Village with years of maintenance-free light and minimal energy costs.

Given that the step lights were being installed in the snow-capped Rockies, Passo’s rugged construction was also important. Built to last, its sealed optical chamber keeps the snow, salt, and water away from the LED optics – preventing the most common reason for failure in other step lights.

Passo lights are ideal for steps, staircases and adding ambience lighting to building façades. Designed with high-quality faceplates, Passo lights enhance safety and security, while adding a touch of beauty to the space.

During construction in Snowmass Village, the timeframe became crunched and Kershner’s team needed the lights right away. “We had to get the lights very quickly, because some of the back boxes had to be installed as the concrete was poured. Fortunately, Amerlux delivered them pretty quickly,” said Kershner.

“Amerlux is really about quality, which is why we always use them. The ratio of affordability to performance and appearance is really good,” said Kershner.