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Top 5 most-read stories: Another chairlift fall, land exchange and a ski injury support group

Rocky Mountain Underground (RMU) in Breckenridge Jan. 8, 2025 was packed with dozens of people at a time during a 3-hour showcase Summit High School's ski and snowboard manufacturing class.
Kit Geary/Summit Daily News

Stories in this list received the most page views on SummitDaily.com from Jan. 12-18.

1. Copper Mountain confirms snowboarder fell from American Flyer chairlift

Copper Mountain Resort ski patrol responded to an 18-year-old snowboarder who fell from a chairlift Monday, Jan. 6, according to a statement from the resort.

The fall occurred on the American Flyer chairlift as the snowboarder was preparing to unload. No significant injuries were reported, the statement says.



The Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board said the fall occurred between towers 25 and 26. The fall was caused by the snowboarder scooting forward to prepare to unload and sliding from the chair after the restraint bar had been raised, according to the state tramway safety board. The chair was inspected, and no issues were found.

This is the fourth fall from a ski lift documented in Summit County so far this season. In December, a snowboarder was airlifted after falling 47 feet from the Ruby Express chairlift at Keystone Resort, and in separate instances two people fell from nearly the same spot on the Beaver Run Chair on Peak 9 at Breckenridge.



While falls from chairlifts injure skiers and snowboarders every year in Colorado, the state tramway safety board says the number of falls is low compared to the number of people who ride on chairlifts.

— Ryan Spencer

2. Summit High School students are producing twice as many skis and snowboards as learning opportunities expand

Bauer Dunnum started the first semester of his senior year with a plank of wood but ended it with an all-mountain ski that can navigate variable conditions.

Thomas Lutke’s career and technical education class at Summit High School provides students like Dunnum with hands-on experience in both manufacturing and marketing skis and snowboards. This year, Lutke said the class size doubled, helping students produce nearly 30 handcrafted skis and snowboards. 

The high school tested a new co-teaching model for the 2024-25 school year and added a section to the class taught by graphic design teacher Erin Scott-Williams, who focused on the media and marketing aspects of the industry. 

Senior Annika Kramer was in Scott-Williams’ portion of the class when she learned how to advertise her snowboard. Her design reflected her love of both the oceans and mountains by bringing together magazine clips and photographs. She didn’t really have an interest in graphic design until she worked with Scott-Williams. Now she’s considering it as a career. 

Senior Autumn Alcock, similar to Kramer, was the only female in her ski manufacturing class. She said she entered the semester intimidated, but Lutke helped ease her concerns early on. 

— Kit Geary

3. Federal government says land exchange proposed by billionaire in Grand and Summit counties is complete

Officials in Colorado are applauding after the federal government announced Monday Jan. 13 that it has completed a land exchange trading parcels of private land for public land in Summit and Grand counties.

The Bureau of Land Management said in a news release Monday that it has closed on the land exchange with Blue Valley Ranch, which is owned by billionaire Paul Tudor Jones II. The Blue Valley Ranch land exchange, which has been decades in the making, trades nine parcels of federal land totaling 1,489 acres in Grand County for nine parcels of private land totaling 1,830 acres in Grand and Summit counties. 

The exchange will be implemented on public lands as weather allows, according to the news release.

“We congratulate the Colorado Bureau of Land Management and other local stakeholders in finalizing this exchange,” Colorado Department of Natural Resources Executive Director Dan Gibbs said in a statement. “The Blue River is treasured by Summit and Grand County residents and all Coloradans.”

The land exchange was first proposed in some form in 2001, with the stated purposes of addressing the “checkerboard nature” of ownership in the area.

— Ryan Spencer

4. ‘I thought the pain was never going to end’: Woman starts support group after recovering from life-changing ski injury

It is an experience Betsy Meredith will not soon forget. 

As skiers and riders loaded onto lifts at Keystone Resort, Meredith stared up at the mountain and shook with anxiety. Categorizing herself as an experienced skier, Meredith was not scared about her ability to ski down the green trail she had planned to go down, but was rather scared to return to the snow after suffering a significant injury the previous season.

Nearly a year prior on Jan. 25, 2024, Meredith was out at Keystone enjoying a morning of skiing. Wanting to complete a warm-up lap, Meredith — who splits her time between Denver and Summit County —ventured down the Last Alamo trail located on Keystone’s North Peak.

Meredith started skiing down the blue-level trail that features some bumps before getting turned around on her skis. However, before Meredith could correct herself, the seasoned skier went over the side of the trail and into a ravine.

Not in control of her movements or trajectory, Meredith crashed rib cage first into a stump in the middle of a pile of snow, halting her progress further down the mountain. 

“I broke eight ribs in 21 places and punctured a lung — I didn’t know it at the time,” Meredith said. “I should have lost consciousness, but I was able to get myself off the stump and get to my cell phone.”

— Cody Jones

5. ‘I’m concerned about the secrecy:’ As more wolves come to Colorado, Western Slope lawmakers react with trepidation 

As Colorado Parks and Wildlife carries out its second gray wolf release in just over a year, Western Slope lawmakers continue to raise concerns with the agency around transparency and preparedness. 

The episode is the latest in the state’s contentious wolf reintroduction saga as Parks and Wildlife implements a voter-approved mandate that was widely opposed by the Western Slope communities where wolves are now being dropped. 

Last weekend, Parks and Wildlife announced that an operation to capture and bring up to 15 wolves from Canada had begun on Friday, Jan. 10, and could last up to two weeks. The agency hasn’t disclosed the timing or locations of the wolf releases but officials had been eyeing drops in EaglePitkin and Garfield counties where unverified claims of wolf sightings are now spreading.  

Sen. Dylan Roberts (D-Frisco) said it remains to be seen how much Parks and Wildlife has prepared communities for the second round. Roberts represents broad swaths of the central and northern mountain region where much of the wolf activity has been concentrated since the first wolf release in December 2023.

“Did enough site assessments get done in the areas where wolves are being dropped? Are the nearby ranchers in this new part of the state prepared with conflict minimization resources, and tools and training?” Roberts said. 

— Robert Tann


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