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CANMORE, Alberta — A new roundabout has gone online in Canmore, but with dissent from one commuting bicycle rider. “The roundabout is great for motor vehicles,” says Karen Rollins, writing in the Rocky Mountain Outlook. “It controls the intersection without the need for traffic lights, and it slows down traffic coming into town.”
“However, as far as bicycles are concerned, the roundabout fails,” she says, especially in early morning, when it is still dark. She predicts injuries or worse.
<b>Whistler air quality still good but for how long?</b>
WHISTLER, B.C. — Air quality between Whistler and Vancouver, called the Sea to Sky Corridor, remains quite good, but could well deteriorate given the doubling of population expected during the next 25 years.
At Whistler, the greatest potential concern is with ozone. Down-valley at Squamish the problem is of airborne particulates, which nearly warranted a health advisory last summer.
Cars, trucks and buses are responsible for about 80 percent of all air pollution, explains Cindy Walsh, a provincial official, although wood-burning stoves are also a concern. Cars can be expected to produce less pollution in coming years because of improving fuels and engines that burn those fuels most efficiently.
Pique newsmagazine reports a long list of recommendations, among them more mass transit and greater use of existing mass transit, and laws that reduce vehicle idling.
<b>Welder busy making bear-resistant boxes</b>
NEVADA CITY, Calif. — James L. Lester, 24, a welder, used to drive monster trucks, but he has little time for that since he began welding bear-resistant trash enclosures under the name Iron Bear.
Lester tells the Tahoe Daily Tribune that he has sold 500 of the steel enclosures for use in national parks and forests, as well as at mountain homes. He’s been at it about a year, one of five companies in the nation catering to a burgeoning market to bears and humans separate.
The steel boxes are heavy, weighing 350 pounds, and large enough to hold two 32-gallon garbage cans. A detachable handle locks the steel door to keep stinky trash safe from marauders. His creations go for $650 each.
To test his boxes, he took one to a zoo, and tempted a 300-pound bear with salmon inside the box. It withstood that test, and has withstood every other test in the market place of the Sierra Nevada, where he seems to sell many of his trash enclosures.
<b>Telluride frets about loss of hot-bed base</b>
TELLURIDE — The ski area operator at Telluride has started a property management business. The purpose is not to take business away from existing property managers, said an executive with Telluride Ski & Golf. Instead, the company wants to staunch the erosion of the bed base by working directly with the new owners of hotel rooms that are being condominiumized, persuading them to retain the condos in a rental pool.
“We’re really just trying to get some more active bed base,” said Ken Stone, vice president for sales and marketing.
Rooms at the Peaks Hotel, Hotel Telluride, and the Ice House are being condominiumized. The Telluride area has only about 400 hotel room.s
Stone calculated that the loss of one room from the rental pool can, based on previous winter occupancy of 68 percent, cause a loss of $107,000 to local businesses.
Aspen and Vail have also been challenged by the loss of bed base during the last 20 years, although both resorts are now taking measures to add new beds.
Telluride is also trying to redefine itself more carefully as a destination-oriented boutique resort. The rebranding of Telluride now focuses on the “exceptional experience” available to visitors. To that end, the owners are putting more money into on-mountain restaurants and other peripherals to the ski experience.
The ski area itself has a capacity to accommodate 10,000 people a day, but it averages 3,000 a day.
<b>Wolf Creek project on hold until at least May</b>
WOLF CREEK PASS — No dirt will fly for the planned real estate development at Wolf Creek Pass until at least next summer, after a lawsuit between the developer and the ski area operator is settled.
The project, called (what else?) the Village at Wolf Creek, proposes up to 2,000 homes, most of them in a time-share configuration, and up to 260,000 square feet of commercial space.
The argument about broken promises between the ski area and the developer is scheduled for Durango in May. A settlement expected to be approved by Federal District Court Judge John Kane bars any ground-disturbing activity until after that case has been decided.
Meanwhile, the Forest Service has awarded permits for the developer to build two roads across national forest land to service the project. In response, Colorado Wild, a non-profit group, has sued the Forest Service, arguing that the agency approved the roads without fully considering the environmental consequences of the roads.
Without the new roads, the development would have no winter access – tough in a place where winter lasts seven to eight months a year.
<b>Snowmass aims to get back into million club</b>
SNOWMASS VILLAGE — Call it extreme makeover. The Aspen Skiing Co. is in the midst of a giant re-do of the Snowmass ski area.
The most immediate functional change is a $13 million gondola that is to debut in mid-December, the largest single part of $46 million in upgrades to the skiing infrastructure at Snowmass, explains The Aspen Times.
But an even bigger change is underway at the base of the mountain, where a project called – what else – Base Village is the mother of all hard-hat zones. When complete in four years, the project will add roughly 1,100 bedrooms to Snowmass Village – and perhaps make Snowmass competitive once again with the newer kids on the resort block, particularly Colorado’s Beaver Creek and Utah’s Deer Valley.
While Ajax, the mountain immediately adjacent to the town of Aspen, is the Aspen Skiing Co.’s best-known product, much of the terrain is too difficult for easy intermediate skiing. For the masses, Aspen has Snowmass.
But from a million skier days more than a decade ago, Snowmass has skidded to less than 800,000 skier days most years. This re-do is expected to reverse that slide, putting Snowmass back into the million club within possibly four years. Vail and Breckenridge are firmly in the club, and so are Mammoth and Steamboat. Others sometimes hitting the million mark have been Keystone, Copper Mountain, and Winter Park.
<b>Crested Butte drops ban on new offices</b>
CRESTED BUTTE — The Crested Butte Town Council has withdrawn its ban of new real estate and other offices on the ground floor of the Elk Avenue business district.
The council adopted the ban in August, but in response to opposition had allowed existing uses to be grandfathered. Faced with a special election initiated by citizens, the council backed away entirely, reports the Crested Butte News. The goal was to retain the retail vitality of the town core. Vail and Aspen have such bans.
<b>New Taos law aims to reduce light pollution</b>
TAOS, N.M. — After being lobbied for a decade, the Taos County commissioners have approved regulations that restrict outdoor lighting. All new and replacement lighting fixtures must shield light sources to minimize light broadcast upward.
Exempted, reports the Taos Daily News, are agriculture lighting, seasonal decorations, sports fields, and a molybdenum mine.
<b>Maker of snowboards relocating to Silverton</b>
SILVERTON — Silverton’s reputation as a center for extreme sports continues to grow. The latest addition is Venture Snowboards, which makes boards that cost between $515 and $675. The company, which previously was located about 50 miles south at Durango, is building a 4,000-square-foot factory in a new industrial park, reports The Denver Post.
Silverton had a year-round economy until the last mine closed in the 1990s, when it fell back to a summer-only proposition, dependent overwhelmingly on tourists from the narrow-gauge train from Durango.
The double black-diamond ski area called Silverton Mountain opened several years ago, and the town is also home to ScottyBob Skis and Mountain Boy Sledworks, two specialty manufacturers.
“However, as far as bicycles are concerned, the roundabout fails,” she says, especially in early morning, when it is still dark. She predicts injuries or worse.
<b>Whistler air quality still good but for how long?</b>
WHISTLER, B.C. — Air quality between Whistler and Vancouver, called the Sea to Sky Corridor, remains quite good, but could well deteriorate given the doubling of population expected during the next 25 years.
At Whistler, the greatest potential concern is with ozone. Down-valley at Squamish the problem is of airborne particulates, which nearly warranted a health advisory last summer.
Cars, trucks and buses are responsible for about 80 percent of all air pollution, explains Cindy Walsh, a provincial official, although wood-burning stoves are also a concern. Cars can be expected to produce less pollution in coming years because of improving fuels and engines that burn those fuels most efficiently.
Pique newsmagazine reports a long list of recommendations, among them more mass transit and greater use of existing mass transit, and laws that reduce vehicle idling.
<b>Welder busy making bear-resistant boxes</b>
NEVADA CITY, Calif. — James L. Lester, 24, a welder, used to drive monster trucks, but he has little time for that since he began welding bear-resistant trash enclosures under the name Iron Bear.
Lester tells the Tahoe Daily Tribune that he has sold 500 of the steel enclosures for use in national parks and forests, as well as at mountain homes. He’s been at it about a year, one of five companies in the nation catering to a burgeoning market to bears and humans separate.
The steel boxes are heavy, weighing 350 pounds, and large enough to hold two 32-gallon garbage cans. A detachable handle locks the steel door to keep stinky trash safe from marauders. His creations go for $650 each.
To test his boxes, he took one to a zoo, and tempted a 300-pound bear with salmon inside the box. It withstood that test, and has withstood every other test in the market place of the Sierra Nevada, where he seems to sell many of his trash enclosures.
<b>Telluride frets about loss of hot-bed base</b>
TELLURIDE — The ski area operator at Telluride has started a property management business. The purpose is not to take business away from existing property managers, said an executive with Telluride Ski & Golf. Instead, the company wants to staunch the erosion of the bed base by working directly with the new owners of hotel rooms that are being condominiumized, persuading them to retain the condos in a rental pool.
“We’re really just trying to get some more active bed base,” said Ken Stone, vice president for sales and marketing.
Rooms at the Peaks Hotel, Hotel Telluride, and the Ice House are being condominiumized. The Telluride area has only about 400 hotel room.s
Stone calculated that the loss of one room from the rental pool can, based on previous winter occupancy of 68 percent, cause a loss of $107,000 to local businesses.
Aspen and Vail have also been challenged by the loss of bed base during the last 20 years, although both resorts are now taking measures to add new beds.
Telluride is also trying to redefine itself more carefully as a destination-oriented boutique resort. The rebranding of Telluride now focuses on the “exceptional experience” available to visitors. To that end, the owners are putting more money into on-mountain restaurants and other peripherals to the ski experience.
The ski area itself has a capacity to accommodate 10,000 people a day, but it averages 3,000 a day.
<b>Wolf Creek project on hold until at least May</b>
WOLF CREEK PASS — No dirt will fly for the planned real estate development at Wolf Creek Pass until at least next summer, after a lawsuit between the developer and the ski area operator is settled.
The project, called (what else?) the Village at Wolf Creek, proposes up to 2,000 homes, most of them in a time-share configuration, and up to 260,000 square feet of commercial space.
The argument about broken promises between the ski area and the developer is scheduled for Durango in May. A settlement expected to be approved by Federal District Court Judge John Kane bars any ground-disturbing activity until after that case has been decided.
Meanwhile, the Forest Service has awarded permits for the developer to build two roads across national forest land to service the project. In response, Colorado Wild, a non-profit group, has sued the Forest Service, arguing that the agency approved the roads without fully considering the environmental consequences of the roads.
Without the new roads, the development would have no winter access – tough in a place where winter lasts seven to eight months a year.
<b>Snowmass aims to get back into million club</b>
SNOWMASS VILLAGE — Call it extreme makeover. The Aspen Skiing Co. is in the midst of a giant re-do of the Snowmass ski area.
The most immediate functional change is a $13 million gondola that is to debut in mid-December, the largest single part of $46 million in upgrades to the skiing infrastructure at Snowmass, explains The Aspen Times.
But an even bigger change is underway at the base of the mountain, where a project called – what else – Base Village is the mother of all hard-hat zones. When complete in four years, the project will add roughly 1,100 bedrooms to Snowmass Village – and perhaps make Snowmass competitive once again with the newer kids on the resort block, particularly Colorado’s Beaver Creek and Utah’s Deer Valley.
While Ajax, the mountain immediately adjacent to the town of Aspen, is the Aspen Skiing Co.’s best-known product, much of the terrain is too difficult for easy intermediate skiing. For the masses, Aspen has Snowmass.
But from a million skier days more than a decade ago, Snowmass has skidded to less than 800,000 skier days most years. This re-do is expected to reverse that slide, putting Snowmass back into the million club within possibly four years. Vail and Breckenridge are firmly in the club, and so are Mammoth and Steamboat. Others sometimes hitting the million mark have been Keystone, Copper Mountain, and Winter Park.
<b>Crested Butte drops ban on new offices</b>
CRESTED BUTTE — The Crested Butte Town Council has withdrawn its ban of new real estate and other offices on the ground floor of the Elk Avenue business district.
The council adopted the ban in August, but in response to opposition had allowed existing uses to be grandfathered. Faced with a special election initiated by citizens, the council backed away entirely, reports the Crested Butte News. The goal was to retain the retail vitality of the town core. Vail and Aspen have such bans.
<b>New Taos law aims to reduce light pollution</b>
TAOS, N.M. — After being lobbied for a decade, the Taos County commissioners have approved regulations that restrict outdoor lighting. All new and replacement lighting fixtures must shield light sources to minimize light broadcast upward.
Exempted, reports the Taos Daily News, are agriculture lighting, seasonal decorations, sports fields, and a molybdenum mine.
<b>Maker of snowboards relocating to Silverton</b>
SILVERTON — Silverton’s reputation as a center for extreme sports continues to grow. The latest addition is Venture Snowboards, which makes boards that cost between $515 and $675. The company, which previously was located about 50 miles south at Durango, is building a 4,000-square-foot factory in a new industrial park, reports The Denver Post.
Silverton had a year-round economy until the last mine closed in the 1990s, when it fell back to a summer-only proposition, dependent overwhelmingly on tourists from the narrow-gauge train from Durango.
The double black-diamond ski area called Silverton Mountain opened several years ago, and the town is also home to ScottyBob Skis and Mountain Boy Sledworks, two specialty manufacturers.
