Around the Mountains: Silverton film festival focuses on short shorts

SILVERTON - Tiny Silverton, with a year-round population of about 600 people, now has two ski areas and a budding ski movie festival.

The new film festival is certainly not big budget. Films at the inaugural festival on Dec. 2 will be limited to five minutes. The winner gets $500, but also gets a day in the headquarters of a Los Angeles firm, Studio 411, to gain insights into the business side of action sports films.

The town has both ends of skiing. Silverton Mountain is a double-black diamond ski area with the steepest lift-served terrain in Colorado, if not North America. (The ski area, and Silverton, were profiled in a travel piece in the Sunday New York Times, with unflattering comparisons to Aspen, Telluride, and Mammoth Mountain).

Within Silverton is a second ski area, Kendall Mountain, whose slopes can best be described as forgiving. Community organizers are trying to raise $150,000 for the ski area's first chair lift. It is currently serviced by a 950-foot-long rope tow.



Taos Pueblo opposes expansion of airport

TAOS, N.M. - A proposal to expand the runway at Taos Regional Airport is running into opposition of the same sort that delayed airport modifications 20 years ago. The Taos Daily News says the most significant objection is coming from the Taos Pueblo. The pueblo is one of only 20 United Nations World Heritage Sites in the United States.

Writing in the Taos Daily News, a local artist, poet and sculptor named Thomas French sees airports as producing nothing of much good for the community. "With greater air transportation accessibility, Taos will likely go through a change culturally and economically on an accelerated pace similar to Vail, Aspen, Grand Junction or Woods Hole (Mass.), yet with a greater cultural and historical loss. The airport will be a doorway for the very wealthy to access second homes in Taos by air."



Resort area lags nation in fast-food franchises

KETCHUM, Idaho - The Wood River Valley, with a permanent population of more than 20,000, has only a McDonald's and a Subway. Why not more?

Local zoning rules discourage national franchise fast-food eateries, explains the Idaho Mountain Express. In Ketchum, at the base of the Sun Valley ski area, drive-through windows are prohibited except at banks. The McDonald's down-valley at Hailey doesn't look much like a McDonalds. Plus, perhaps the fat-food franchisers would expect few patrons. After all, the valley has four health clubs. Sweat and thin seem to be exalted more than deep-fried and thick fries.



Realtors already thick, but more still arriving

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. - A two-week real estate class in Jackson Hole recently drew 71 students, the largest class ever at the school. But the field of real-estate agents is already crowded, reports the Jackson Hole News&Guide, with 691 agents registered as of September with the Teton Board of Realtors.

Not all these registered agents are actually working. Estimates of working agents range from 262 to 375. Nor are all working agents making gobs of money. David Viehman, owner and broker for Jackson Hole Real Estate & Appraisal, speculated that very few make $1 million, close to 10 percent are reaching $100,000 in annual income, and about half make less than $30,000.

"I tell everybody I interview, plan on taking about two years of income out of your savings to make it in this business," Viehman told the newspaper.

"You can be as sharp as a tack and it still doesn't mean you'll make it," he said. "It all boils down to luck. My definition of luck is 'preparation meets opportunity.'"



Would Targhee drown views of the Milky Way?

GRAND TARGHEE, Wyo. - The proposal to vastly expand the base village at Grand Targhee continues to be debated. The resort is located in Wyoming, on the west side of the Teton Range, but most directly affects Idaho's Teton Valley.

The Jackson Hole News & Guide reports a substantial turnout of opponents for the first time from Alta, the community closest to the resort. One neighbor, Dana Wilson, a rancher, expressed fears that the expanded expansion will cause pollution, including loss of the night sky. "I want to look up at night and see the stars and not have to look at smoke pollution, not have to look at light pollution."

Another Alta resident, Jim Farrier, said the expansion will result in the rich crowding out the middle class at the resort. The resort now has 96 lodging units, but the plan calls for 725 residential units, plus more than 100,000 square feet of commercial space.

But others in the valley have testified in support of the family of George Gillett, the owners of the resort. Represented by Geordie Gillett, the family has given generously for medical, affordable housing, and other causes Ð and some are sure it's not part of a public relations campaign.

Regardless of whether Targhee's upzoning is approved, the Teton Valley is already changing rapidly and promises to change even more. "We are platting thousands of lots in the valley," pointed out Doug Self, the planning and zoning administrator for nearby Driggs, Idaho. "There are 1,000 from here (Grand Targhee) to Driggs alone," he said.



Banff wants growth exemption for car wash

BANFF, Alberta - Banff is without a car wash, and local councilors are trying to make it a federal case to get one.

The town is located within Banff National Park, which specified limits on commercial growth in 1998. That cap allowed an additional 350,000 square feet of commercial development, but that space has been snapped up. Meanwhile, the one car wash closed - and municipal councilors think it is an essential service. Locals are urging a more flexible cap on commercial expansion, reports the Rocky Mountain Outlook.