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CRESTED BUTTE - Little by little, the argument is shaping up at Crested Butte about the wisdom of expanding the ski area.
Even before Tim and Diane Mueller bought the ski area in 2005, ski area representatives have been arguing that the ski area needs the expansion on Snodgrass Mountain in order to attract week-long destination skiers. The existing mountain, while long on double-black-diamond terrain, is short of ski terrain sufficient to hold the attention of an intermediate-level skier for more than about three days. Snodgrass would almost exclusively be of intermediate difficulty.
With more terrain, goes their argument, Crested Butte can become just big enough - perhaps 500,000 to 600,000 skiers a day - to operate on an efficient scale. That's not quite double the existing skier-day total.
But a group called Friends of Snodgrass questions whether the expansion is justified. At a recent town meeting, representative Chuck Shaw pointed out that destination ski resorts in Colorado increased their amount of skiable acres by 64.5 percent from 1994-95 to 2005-06 while actually declining in skier days.
Recycling operation a tough go in Fraser
FRASER - Recycling in the Fraser Valley has been far more popular than profitable, notes the Sky-Hi News.
The owner of a recycling operation based in Fraser called Valley Recycling is closing after having spent $31,000 since last summer to stanch the red ink. The bottom line there, as elsewhere in the land-rich West, is that transportation costs chew away any profits. The closest alternative is in Granby, 17 miles away.
Durango hopes to let sun heat the showers
DURANGO, Colo.- Durango city officials are contemplating whether to outfit the municipal recreation complex with solar panels to heat water. The hot water could be used for showers and sinks, and possibly the three swimming pools.
When the complex was authorized in 1999, energy cost less and global climate change was less prominent as an issue. Lacking both sufficient energy and alternative energy features, the complex last year cost $5.28 per square foot to heat, cool, and light. Similar recreational complexes in the Colorado city of Boulder used only $2 to $2.50 per foot.
"If you build these things in from the beginning, it's a lot more cost-effective than adding them later," engineering consultant Mark Stetz tells the Durango Telegraph
Durango did not trip on the same stone twice. The new city library is a LEED certified to the gold level, which is the third highest of four levels. Only a few public buildings in Colorado are certified to that level.
New highest-ever tornado noted in the Sierra Nevada
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. - If you're out for one-upping somebody at a mountain town cocktail party, this item surely will be a mind twister, so to speak.
In 1987, a tornado carved a path for 24 miles and 1.6 miles wide across the Continental Divide in the Teton Wilderness before entering Yellowstone National Park.
The tornado lasted an estimated 26 minutes, felling a million trees with winds of 207 to 260 mph. The Jackson Hole News&Guide says that tornado sent a backcountry ranger and his horse skittering for safety in a meadow two miles away.
With trees damaged to an elevation of 10,070 feet, it was believed to be the highest tornado ever recorded in the world.
But it has been surpassed. The News&Guide tells of new information about a tornado observed on July 7, 2004, in California's Sequoia National Park. A backpacker, Scott Newton, photographed a twister as it formed over Rockwell Pass. It touched down at an elevation of about 11,500 feet.
Climbers see, hear and feel rockslide on Grand Teton
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. - Those who have traipsed in the alpine precincts know well the sound of tumbling rocks. A few basketball-sized stones can cause a tremendous racket when bouncing down a couloir.
But the spectacle was intensely personal for Idaho climbers Roy and Sally Miller as they returned from a climb on the Grand Teton.
On Labor Day weekend, , reports the Jackson Hole News&Guide, the couple were near their campsite, several thousand feet below the summit of the 13,770-foot mountain, when they heard the thunder. About 50 feet away car-sized boulders rolled. As his wife took a photo of the maelstrom, she looked at me in horror," Roy Miller wrote in an on-line forum.
"It sounded like jets, a herd of jets," said Paul Horton, a guide with Jackson Hole Mountain Guides, who watched the phenomenon from a campsite. Two climbers were who in their tent quickly evacuated it to take shelter behind a boulder and watched as rocks pelted the tent.
Black bear rescued from perch on bridge girders
TRUCKEE - The Sierra Sun reports a most unusual, maybe even unique, occurrence. A black bear was on the road of a bridge near Donner Summit on Saturday afternoon. Oncoming traffic pinched the bear's route, so it hopped the guard rail, then became trapped on the concrete girders below, with no way to safety. Below it was 80 feet to a gorge strewn with granite boulders.
Rescuers bought a 20- by 40-foot nylon net from an Army surplus store and then, assisted by rock and tree climbers, strung the orange cargo mesh beneath the bridge. They shot the bear with a tranquilizer dart and then nudged it off the ledge.
The net was then lowered to the ground, and the groggy bear staggered out as 100 spectators lining the road cheered.
Police can't unriddle gang-related activities
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. Ð Police report proliferating graffiti and fighting among several dozen young men, high-school aged or younger, in an area of South Lake Tahoe populated by Latinos. Police tell the Tahoe Daily Tribune that the case is difficult because there are neither victims nor witnesses in what they suspect is gang-related violence.
Hotel developer yanks plans from Ketchum
KETCHUM, Idaho Ð Of the five proposed hotels in Ketchum, only three remain. The developer of two of the potential hotels, Dallas-based Open House Partners, has yanked the projects. The cause seems to be a dispute about whether the condo-hotel would be allowed to go to five stories, as the developer had wanted, or four stories, long the limit in Ketchum.
The cause is one of those he-said, she-said stories. Mark Masinter, chief executive officer of the development company, blamed the city. "We spent a bunch of time and money .. but the town wasn't ready to do a project of this nature," he told the Idaho Mountain Express.
Ketchum's mayor, Randy Hall, tells the newspaper another story. He said Masinter said he was unable to reach an agreement with the seller. The asking price for the land alone is $260 per square foot, or $12.8 million.
The mayor speculated the national credit crunch may have also played into Masinter's decision. As for Ketchum, he said the city was "bending over backwards to give these guys every opportunity to get his project off the ground."
Several conflicting statements suggest that height and mass are the major Ð but not only Ð source of friction. Masinter said he needed five stories to make the project work. Ketchum has been hesitant about going that high, although a proposal to raise the bar is scheduled for consideration.
Mining town shifting to amenity-filled town
KELLOGG, Idaho Ð Kellogg, located along Interstate 90 in the Idaho panhandle, is getting gussied up. Three installments of condominiums have been sold at the base of the ski gondola, and an indoor water park Ð the first at a ski resort in the West Ð is now being built.
That's quite a change from 1981, when the silver mine shut down, putting 2,00 people out of work and leaving a Superfund cleanup in its wake. But whether Kellogg truly deserves to be called a "swanky ski resort," as an Associated Press story describes the town, is another matter.
The story acknowledges such a description is relative. But the trend is clear. The first batch of condominums, which sold in 2004, went for as low as $100,000. Prices exceeded $800,000 for several condos sold last year.
The story observes that what makes Kellogg attractive is its relative accessibility. Travelers can fly from Southern California to Spokane, Wash., located about an hour east along the interstate.
Hoteliers want long-term economic plan for Banff
BANFF, Alberta Ð The lodging sector in Banff and Lake Louise is asking the Banff municipal council to develop a long-range economic strategy that will instill more business confidence and help Banff compete against other North American tourist destinations.
Darren Reeder, executive director of the Banff Lake Louise Hotel Motel Association, said the town is taking an ad hoc approach. "This is concerning from a business standpoint, as long-range political agendas are often driven by a three-year election cycle, and long-range business decisions are made looking 5 to 10 years in to the future," he said.
But the Rocky Mountain Outlook says others in the community continue to be worried about the arrival of chain store such as Starbucks and the Gap.
Gondola perceived as change in relationship
WHISTLER, B.C. Ð A gondola that will connect the Whistler and Blackcomb ski areas - and in the process set world records for aerial height of such things - is being erected. It is also ruffling a local sensibility. Writing in Pique, Mike Quinn said the first tower now visible "foreshadows a profound change in the relationships that we all share with the mountains."
"For many, if not most of us, the mountains have represented purity, challenge and raw nature. Putting the hand of man in the high alpine in such a blatant way for all to see will alter our perception and the reality of the wilderness."
Even before Tim and Diane Mueller bought the ski area in 2005, ski area representatives have been arguing that the ski area needs the expansion on Snodgrass Mountain in order to attract week-long destination skiers. The existing mountain, while long on double-black-diamond terrain, is short of ski terrain sufficient to hold the attention of an intermediate-level skier for more than about three days. Snodgrass would almost exclusively be of intermediate difficulty.
With more terrain, goes their argument, Crested Butte can become just big enough - perhaps 500,000 to 600,000 skiers a day - to operate on an efficient scale. That's not quite double the existing skier-day total.
But a group called Friends of Snodgrass questions whether the expansion is justified. At a recent town meeting, representative Chuck Shaw pointed out that destination ski resorts in Colorado increased their amount of skiable acres by 64.5 percent from 1994-95 to 2005-06 while actually declining in skier days.
Recycling operation a tough go in Fraser
FRASER - Recycling in the Fraser Valley has been far more popular than profitable, notes the Sky-Hi News.
The owner of a recycling operation based in Fraser called Valley Recycling is closing after having spent $31,000 since last summer to stanch the red ink. The bottom line there, as elsewhere in the land-rich West, is that transportation costs chew away any profits. The closest alternative is in Granby, 17 miles away.
Durango hopes to let sun heat the showers
DURANGO, Colo.- Durango city officials are contemplating whether to outfit the municipal recreation complex with solar panels to heat water. The hot water could be used for showers and sinks, and possibly the three swimming pools.
When the complex was authorized in 1999, energy cost less and global climate change was less prominent as an issue. Lacking both sufficient energy and alternative energy features, the complex last year cost $5.28 per square foot to heat, cool, and light. Similar recreational complexes in the Colorado city of Boulder used only $2 to $2.50 per foot.
"If you build these things in from the beginning, it's a lot more cost-effective than adding them later," engineering consultant Mark Stetz tells the Durango Telegraph
Durango did not trip on the same stone twice. The new city library is a LEED certified to the gold level, which is the third highest of four levels. Only a few public buildings in Colorado are certified to that level.
New highest-ever tornado noted in the Sierra Nevada
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. - If you're out for one-upping somebody at a mountain town cocktail party, this item surely will be a mind twister, so to speak.
In 1987, a tornado carved a path for 24 miles and 1.6 miles wide across the Continental Divide in the Teton Wilderness before entering Yellowstone National Park.
The tornado lasted an estimated 26 minutes, felling a million trees with winds of 207 to 260 mph. The Jackson Hole News&Guide says that tornado sent a backcountry ranger and his horse skittering for safety in a meadow two miles away.
With trees damaged to an elevation of 10,070 feet, it was believed to be the highest tornado ever recorded in the world.
But it has been surpassed. The News&Guide tells of new information about a tornado observed on July 7, 2004, in California's Sequoia National Park. A backpacker, Scott Newton, photographed a twister as it formed over Rockwell Pass. It touched down at an elevation of about 11,500 feet.
Climbers see, hear and feel rockslide on Grand Teton
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. - Those who have traipsed in the alpine precincts know well the sound of tumbling rocks. A few basketball-sized stones can cause a tremendous racket when bouncing down a couloir.
But the spectacle was intensely personal for Idaho climbers Roy and Sally Miller as they returned from a climb on the Grand Teton.
On Labor Day weekend, , reports the Jackson Hole News&Guide, the couple were near their campsite, several thousand feet below the summit of the 13,770-foot mountain, when they heard the thunder. About 50 feet away car-sized boulders rolled. As his wife took a photo of the maelstrom, she looked at me in horror," Roy Miller wrote in an on-line forum.
"It sounded like jets, a herd of jets," said Paul Horton, a guide with Jackson Hole Mountain Guides, who watched the phenomenon from a campsite. Two climbers were who in their tent quickly evacuated it to take shelter behind a boulder and watched as rocks pelted the tent.
Black bear rescued from perch on bridge girders
TRUCKEE - The Sierra Sun reports a most unusual, maybe even unique, occurrence. A black bear was on the road of a bridge near Donner Summit on Saturday afternoon. Oncoming traffic pinched the bear's route, so it hopped the guard rail, then became trapped on the concrete girders below, with no way to safety. Below it was 80 feet to a gorge strewn with granite boulders.
Rescuers bought a 20- by 40-foot nylon net from an Army surplus store and then, assisted by rock and tree climbers, strung the orange cargo mesh beneath the bridge. They shot the bear with a tranquilizer dart and then nudged it off the ledge.
The net was then lowered to the ground, and the groggy bear staggered out as 100 spectators lining the road cheered.
Police can't unriddle gang-related activities
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. Ð Police report proliferating graffiti and fighting among several dozen young men, high-school aged or younger, in an area of South Lake Tahoe populated by Latinos. Police tell the Tahoe Daily Tribune that the case is difficult because there are neither victims nor witnesses in what they suspect is gang-related violence.
Hotel developer yanks plans from Ketchum
KETCHUM, Idaho Ð Of the five proposed hotels in Ketchum, only three remain. The developer of two of the potential hotels, Dallas-based Open House Partners, has yanked the projects. The cause seems to be a dispute about whether the condo-hotel would be allowed to go to five stories, as the developer had wanted, or four stories, long the limit in Ketchum.
The cause is one of those he-said, she-said stories. Mark Masinter, chief executive officer of the development company, blamed the city. "We spent a bunch of time and money .. but the town wasn't ready to do a project of this nature," he told the Idaho Mountain Express.
Ketchum's mayor, Randy Hall, tells the newspaper another story. He said Masinter said he was unable to reach an agreement with the seller. The asking price for the land alone is $260 per square foot, or $12.8 million.
The mayor speculated the national credit crunch may have also played into Masinter's decision. As for Ketchum, he said the city was "bending over backwards to give these guys every opportunity to get his project off the ground."
Several conflicting statements suggest that height and mass are the major Ð but not only Ð source of friction. Masinter said he needed five stories to make the project work. Ketchum has been hesitant about going that high, although a proposal to raise the bar is scheduled for consideration.
Mining town shifting to amenity-filled town
KELLOGG, Idaho Ð Kellogg, located along Interstate 90 in the Idaho panhandle, is getting gussied up. Three installments of condominiums have been sold at the base of the ski gondola, and an indoor water park Ð the first at a ski resort in the West Ð is now being built.
That's quite a change from 1981, when the silver mine shut down, putting 2,00 people out of work and leaving a Superfund cleanup in its wake. But whether Kellogg truly deserves to be called a "swanky ski resort," as an Associated Press story describes the town, is another matter.
The story acknowledges such a description is relative. But the trend is clear. The first batch of condominums, which sold in 2004, went for as low as $100,000. Prices exceeded $800,000 for several condos sold last year.
The story observes that what makes Kellogg attractive is its relative accessibility. Travelers can fly from Southern California to Spokane, Wash., located about an hour east along the interstate.
Hoteliers want long-term economic plan for Banff
BANFF, Alberta Ð The lodging sector in Banff and Lake Louise is asking the Banff municipal council to develop a long-range economic strategy that will instill more business confidence and help Banff compete against other North American tourist destinations.
Darren Reeder, executive director of the Banff Lake Louise Hotel Motel Association, said the town is taking an ad hoc approach. "This is concerning from a business standpoint, as long-range political agendas are often driven by a three-year election cycle, and long-range business decisions are made looking 5 to 10 years in to the future," he said.
But the Rocky Mountain Outlook says others in the community continue to be worried about the arrival of chain store such as Starbucks and the Gap.
Gondola perceived as change in relationship
WHISTLER, B.C. Ð A gondola that will connect the Whistler and Blackcomb ski areas - and in the process set world records for aerial height of such things - is being erected. It is also ruffling a local sensibility. Writing in Pique, Mike Quinn said the first tower now visible "foreshadows a profound change in the relationships that we all share with the mountains."
"For many, if not most of us, the mountains have represented purity, challenge and raw nature. Putting the hand of man in the high alpine in such a blatant way for all to see will alter our perception and the reality of the wilderness."
