1 year ago: Bad directions lead driver to park on Schoolmarm ski trail at Keystone Resort

Guests skiing Schoolmarm trail at Keystone Resort had to avoid an Audi sports car Jan. 6, 2025, after a bad set of directions led the vehicle’s driver to abandon it the previous night. Summit County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Mike Schilling said the driver from Boulder was following GPS directions to the Sagebrush employee housing complex Sunday night, when a directions app told them to turn onto the ski area. The driver followed the directions and eventually became stuck in deep snow. Schilling said the driver abandoned the car and left a note with a phone number. The Summit County Sheriff’s Office chose not to cite the driver or tow the vehicle since it was on ski area-permitted property.

— From the Jan. 7, 2015, edition of Summit Daily News

5 years ago: Summit County moves into ‘level orange’ as COVID-19 numbers decrease by half

Summit County, along with other Colorado counties that previously were in level red COVID-19 restrictions, saw reduced restrictions after moving to level orange Jan. 4, 2021 at the direction of Gov. Jared Polis. The Summit Chamber of Commerce hosted a town hall that day to discuss the move, which includes capacity changes for businesses. Commissioner Elisabeth Lawrence said the county’s COVID-19 incidence rate had dropped by half since cases peaked at the end of November 2020, but the figure is still double what level orange officially allowed. On Dec. 30, Summit County’s case number had dropped to 723.2 new cases per 100,000 people — down 50% from the peak of 1,352 new cases per 100,000 people.

— From the Jan. 5, 2021, edition of Summit Daily News

10 years ago: Dinosaur statue is knocked over and breaks window at Breckenridge store

An officer was dispatched to Nature’s Own, a science and nature store, on the evening of Jan. 4, 2016, to investigate a broken window. The officer arrived and saw a dinosaur statue leaning against the store’s front window, which was cracked in many places. The statute did not appear to be damaged. The man who called the police said he had talked to a group of 20 college-aged individuals outside of the store, who said the suspect who knocked over the statue had run away before they left. Shortly after, the owner arrived to board up the window.

— From the Jan. 9, 2016, edition of Summit Daily News

15 years ago: Arapahoe Basin ski instructor dies in a tree well at Steamboat Springs

Gracie Lynn McNeil, 23, a ski instructor at Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, was found dead in a tree well at Steamboat Springs early on Jan. 6, 2011 after being missing since the afternoon of Jan. 5. Originally from Cedar, Michigan, McNeil had been working as a children’s instructor at A-Basin since April 2010. She and four other ski-instructor friends had been skiing at Steamboat before they got separated. Patrollers found her body positioned head-down in about 2 feet of snow at the base of a tree well — an area of loose snow at the base of an evergreen tree. (A coroner’s report later determined that she had died of suffocation.)

— From the Jan. 7, 2011, edition of Summit Daily News

30 years ago: Heavy mountain snow closes Vail Pass and cancels schools in Summit County

A week’s worth of relentless snowfall triggered a morning avalanche on Vail Pass and prompted a shutdown of Summit County’s schools on Jan 5, 1996. The avalanche closed the highway in both directions and efforts to open the interstate were hampered by poor visibility and continued late into the evening. Avalanche mitigation efforts had originally been scheduled to happen later that morning in the area before nature set its own schedule and the avalanche broke loose before crews could arrive. Superintendent Nadine Johnson said the rare move to cancel classes was related to the poor visibility and the fact that several bus drivers were unable to dig out of their homes. More than 4 feet of snow had fallen in the mountains since Dec. 30, 1995.

— From the Jan. 6, 1996, edition of Summit Daily News

125 years ago: Methodist minister calls on congregation to boycott the Summit County Journal

After the Summit County Journal published a few guest writers who expressed criticism of the church and Christianity, Mr. Harned — a local Methodist minister — called on his congregation to boycott the Journal from the podium on Jan. 6, 1901. According to the Journal, Harned said it was unfit to be read in homes where the true Christ was recognized. O. K. Gaymon, the editor of the Journal, printed a response, stating “The Journal is here to stay, and will be here years after Mr. Harned is forgotten in Breckenridge.”

— From the Jan. 12, 1901, edition of Summit County Journal