Crj-700 captain reported receiving a low altitude alert on arrival into ase even though a previous c...

Narrative:

We had asked for the visual 15 into ase. Ase approach was closed and we were handled by den center. We were taken off the den SID and given direct dbl direct ase. Then a different controller gave us a descent to 15000'. We were VMC and clear of terrain and weather so we went down. When we leveled off; another controller gave us an altitude alert and told us to climb back up to 16000 ft. We climbed back up briefly; then a hand off to the next controller where we received our approach clearance once we had the field in sight. Continued in landing ase.incorrect altitude issued by ATC.not knowing the MVA's ATC uses in that area I would've questioned their clearance if I was IMC. We would've been on the airway to zakor with an MEA depicted. The MOCA's for this area on our efb's are not really depicted. We were set up perfectly to cross dbl at the recommended altitude of 14000 and we were clear of terrain and clouds. Not being an ase regular; I'm not familiar to what ATC does when ase approach is closed. Next time I'll just stay on the airway till I see the field even when I'm visual.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CRJ-700 Captain reported receiving a low altitude alert on arrival into ASE even though a previous Controller had issued a clearance to that altitude.

Narrative: We had asked for the visual 15 into ASE. ASE approach was closed and we were handled by DEN center. We were taken off the DEN SID and given direct DBL direct ASE. Then a different controller gave us a descent to 15000'. We were VMC and clear of terrain and weather so we went down. When we leveled off; another controller gave us an altitude alert and told us to climb back up to 16000 FT. We climbed back up briefly; then a hand off to the next controller where we received our approach clearance once we had the field in sight. Continued in landing ASE.Incorrect altitude issued by ATC.Not knowing the MVA's ATC uses in that area I would've questioned their clearance if I was IMC. We would've been on the airway to ZAKOR with an MEA depicted. The MOCA's for this area on our EFB's are not really depicted. We were set up perfectly to cross DBL at the recommended altitude of 14000 and we were clear of terrain and clouds. Not being an ASE regular; I'm not familiar to what ATC does when ASE approach is closed. Next time I'll just stay on the airway till I see the field even when I'm visual.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1456902
Time
Date	201706
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZDV.ARTCC
State Reference	CO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Dusk
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Regional Jet 700 ER/LR (CRJ700)
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

Crj-700 captain reported receiving a low altitude alert on arrival into ase even though a previous controller had issued a clearance to that altitude.