BANFF, Alberta – What would you do if you were by yourself, skiing at dusk in the backcountry, and a trio of wolves stepped onto the same trail?

In a case in Banff National Park, the lone skier turned around, the wolves a respectful 100 feet (30 metres) behind her, and made her way back to the trailhead, stopping after 20 minutes to wave her poles and yell. That did the trick, reports the Rocky Mountain Outlook. The wolves themselves headed off trail, and that's the last she saw of them.

Officials in Banff National Park say they don't believe the wolves meant the woman harm. They were just going in the same direction and, since it was cold, they got on the packed trail because it took less energy.

“In the winter, every calorie counts for wolves,” said Melanie Percy, senior park ecologist.

Steve Michel, human-wildlife conflict specialist for Banff National Park, said wolf attacks are extremely rare. That said, he advised anybody seeing wolves to keep their distance – and not to get excited and start running. As in dogs, he said, that could trigger a predatory response by the wolves.

In Utah, however, a very different view was being expressed. “Wolves are ruthless,” said Sen. Allen Christensen, a state legislator who is sponsoring legislation that, if approved, would declare that all wolves in Utah be destroyed or removed.

Christensen, who represents a portion of the Park City area, told the Park Record that he expected litigation between Utah and the federal government over his proposal if it gets approved.

Plenty of beds and seats in ski towns

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. – Nobody expected a gangbuster Christmas week this year in ski towns. And, from all available evidence, that's just the way it turned out.

Here and there have been crowds, but people continue to count nickels, unlike the days of old.

Consider Crested Butte, where skier days, spending, and occupancy were somewhat on par with the previous year – when the dimensions of the Great Recession were being understood.

Still, the Crested Butte News ominously tells about one shuttle plane to Denver that had only four passengers. The passengers had to sit in the back rows of the plane, to balance the crew in the front.

Meanwhile, room rates continue to slide. One hotelier at Snowmass Village reports that even after discounts, tour operators now return wanting further discounts. The new normal is still in flux.

Telluride mayor makes case for hikers in Iran

TELLURIDE, Colo. – Telluride this winter has already hosted its first-ever World Cup competition, for snowboarders, but before that happened the mayor of Telluride was contacted by an emissary representing two snowboarders from Iran.

The Iranians hoped to compete in the World Cup event, and they were trying to secure visas for themselves, their coach and their manager. The snowboarders, Mayor Stu Fraser was told, needed a letter of invitation from a local official sent to the U.S. Consulate in Dubai.

Fraser, reports the Telluride Watch, agreed to write the letter. “Why couldn't I make the effort to be a friend,” he said. “Politics shouldn't have anything to with this. Athletes should be able to do what it is that they do and what they're all about.”

At length, the request was noted by the U.S. Consulate, although nothing ever seemed to come of Fraser's good gesture. But the case got him to thinking. He wrote a letter to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, asking for the release of the four American hikers seized after they crossed into Iran while trekking in the northern reaches of Iraq.

“Please set aside with me, for a short while, the tensions between our two countries and consider this humanitarian request,” Fraser wrote.

So far, nothing has come of that, either.