Aspen Skiing Co. expands green theme

ASPEN - In its winter marketing program, the Aspen Skiing Co. is tooting the horn even more loudly this year about the dangers of global warming. Advertisements warning of the dangers were placed last winter in two magazines, Ski and Outside. This year, similar "save snow" ads are planned in six ski and outdoor magazines, plus newspapers. In addition, the company is sending compact fluorescent bulbs to 40,000 of its most loyal customers.

The Aspen Times that while the ski company may have the zeal of a reformist on this issue, it also makes good business sense. An annual survey of the company's customers two winters ago showed that 36 percent were more likely to return because of the company's environmental practices, and last winter that number rose to 39 percent.

The implication is simple, says The Times: If the company is recognized for its green stance, it could lure prospective customers as well as satisfy many of the existing ones.

In Vail, there was a bit of skepticism about Aspen Skiing's marketing initiative. The resort experience is nothing if not carbon intensive, noted the Vail Daily in an editorial, so if Aspen's advertisements succeed in drawing more customers, they will be counter-productive to the stated mission of saving snow.



Upgrade of electrical line to Telluride not welcomed

OPHIR - Change is coming to Ophir, a mountain-side town about 10 miles from Telluride, and the locals don't much care for it.

The old electrical transmission lines that run through Ophir, on their way to Telluride, are being upgraded. The wooden poles, which some residents had come to think of as being like dead trees, are being upgraded with steel plating and crossboards. "It's an eyesore," said Ophir Mayor Jon Gerona.

For the moment, the power line is also Telluride's Achilles heel. An avalanche near Ophir took down the power lines a couple of years ago, demonstrating just how vulnerable Telluride's economy is to its electrical supply in the outside world. Tri-State Generation and Transmission wants to upgrade a more direct line into Telluride, but has been opposed by landowners on the mesas that the line would traverse. Those landowners want to see the power line underground as it crosses their property. Tri-State says that would be prohibitively expensive.



Idea of new ski area in Utah still pursued

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - The idea of another ski resort in the Oquirrh Mountains, southwest of Salt Lake City, continues to be pursued. The proposed resort is on land owned by Kennecott Land, an arm of the same company that owns the world's largest open-pit copper mine, which is located nearby. The base area would be 6,200 feet, reports the Salt Lake Tribune, rising up to 9,350.



Wildlife DNA work hopes to document use of overpasses

BANFF, Alberta - In the effort to make sure that populations of wildlife don't bear the full brunt of our highways, Banff surely is the leader in North America, and probably the world.

Banff National Park now has 24 structures intended to make the four-lane Trans-Canada Highway more permeable to wildlife. Two of them are broad overhead structures, similar to what is being proposed across Colorado's Interstate 70, near Vail Pass, while the other 22 are underpasses made up of open-space bridges and large culverts.

But how well do they work? Since 1997, the structures have been used 400 times. What isn't clear is whether it's 400 different grizzlies that are crossing, or one bear that is crossing 400 times.

Researchers have documented a dramatic increase in grizzly bear use of the structures in the last decade, with more and more crossings recorded every year. But now, using barbed wire that snags grizzly hairs, they are doing genetic studies to document who is using the structures and how. For example, is crossing the structures a learned behavior and is it being passed along from mother to offspring, explains Mike Sawaya, a wildlife researcher in the midst of a three-year cutting-edge DNA project.

"Obviously, these structures are expensive, what we really need is more scientific data to show what the benefits are, and at least objectively evaluate the merit of these mitigation efforts," said Sawaya.

In Colorado, wildlife activists are monitoring the work in Banff to see if it will provide evidence for their efforts to get overpasses across I-70 near Vail and elsewhere between Denver and Grand Junction. Monique DiGiorgio, executive director of the Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project, said the DNA research is "dealing with a complex issue at its core."

Biologists call I-70 the "Berlin Wall to wildlife." Proving their point is the road-kill deaths of three imported lynx and also the first documented wolf in Colorado in about 60 years. Congress last year allocated $420,000 to study the feasibility of a highway overpass.



25 mph limit becomes a very, very big deal

HAILEY, Idaho - Surely the law of inverse proportions was at work in Hailey, located 18 miles downvalley from the resort towns of Ketchum and Sun Valley. There, town authorities have posted a speed limit of 25 mph on the highway through the town. This is the same highway that connects Ketchum/Sun Valley with the outside world.

Town authorities say the slower speed limit was posted to improve safety, not to inconvenience commuters or tourists

But an Idaho state legislator is so annoyed he intends to sponsor legislation that would remove authority from towns for setting the speed limits of highways that run through them. He, and many others, think the speed limit should be increased.

Judging by the comments blogged on the Idaho Mountain Express website, this is a very, very important issue to the locals.

"The only thing they are protecting are the drunks stumbling from one bar to another across the highway," wrote one blogger. "Bellevue has always marched to the beat of a different drummer," said another blogger scornfully. "Get a life Š aren't there more important things to worry about?" questioned another.



High-end condo-hotel planned in Truckee

TRUCKEE, Calif. - An upscale boutique condo-hotel of 35 rooms is being planned for Truckee. The goal is to keep some travelers who would normally go to the Squaw Valley ski area or Incline Village, an upscale town along the shores of Lake Tahoe, says Art Chapman, president of FMA Ventures. The Sierra Sun reports support from other businesses in rapidly upscaling Truckee.



Outlying spec houses get only half of asking prices

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. - The real-estate market in ski towns of the West has been humming along, despite the shudders nationally. The high-end market seems unaffected.

But the first evidence is coming in that the national woes are affecting the outlying areas. The Jackson Hole News & Guide reports that two speculatively built homes in Victor, Idaho, which is located across Teton Pass from Jackson Hole, have been sold for less than half.



Latino population now more likely to be families

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. - Some 33 percent of kindergarten students in Jackson Hole schools are Latino, but only 11 percent of senior high students are Latinos. Are they dropping out?

Not so, say Teton County School District officials. The story, says Gary Elliot, principal of Jackson Hole High School, is that the number of Latino students in lower grades is increasing more rapidly.

That said, the newspaper cites evidence that the Latino population, after growing rapidly during the late 1990s, is now leveling off. However, the demographics within the Latino population are changing, with more young women now arriving, in addition to the young men.